What can be done to free up cycle lanes that have parked cars on them?

[ufkacbln]

Traffic wardens with cameras, so that the parking offender has no excuse.
Have a larger fine when the illegal parking is causing an obstruction.

Portsmouth has every excuse under the sun for doing absolutely nothing!

The Council denies any responsibility because it is the Police
The Police deny responsibility because it is parking and therefore the Council
The Council now can't do anything as there are no yellow lines, it is obstruction - back to the Police
The Police reaffirm that parking is the responsibility of the Council, even if a cycle route is obstructed
The Council can't enforce cycle lanes, and refuse to enforce the obstruction of dropped kerbs..... the only people who can act are the Police.
The Police reaffirm that they an do nothing

Bsically no-one has any interest in the safety of cyclepaths.

 

[DWiggy]

We have an amazing cycle path that runs down the length of the A2 from Dartford to Cobham but unfortunately its unusable, every time I have tried it i've got punctures as some bright spark decided to use sharp flint as a soak away material to either side of the tarmac now there's more flint and stones actually on the path (useless for road bikes) not to mention the root damage to the tarmac in parts.
Good effort though!

 

[snailracer]

I actually like a lot of cycle lanes .
The crappy, narrow ones in the gutter are good during the rush hour because cars tend to leave them clear which allows me to filter up their nearside (when the offside is not clear).
The ones with parked cars blocking them give me an excuse to point and smirk at following motorists when I ride super-primary around them .

 

[beanzontoast]

Traffic wardens with cameras, so that the parking offender has no excuse.
Have a larger fine when the illegal parking is causing an obstruction.

I kind of agree - the only thing that would really make people think twice is the thought of it hitting their wallet if they got ticketed.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I actually like a lot of cycle lanes .
The crappy, narrow ones in the gutter are good during the rush hour because cars tend to leave them clear which allows me to filter up their nearside (when the offside is not clear).
The ones with parked cars blocking them give me an excuse to point and smirk at following motorists when I ride super-primary around them .

Oh don't get me wrong, there are some really well designed and well thought out cycle lanes, the NCN 6 that pennine_paul and myself have cycled loads is just mostly brilliant.

 

[gambatte]

Swindon does not have any of them as far as I know but we do have cycle lanes at the approach to a few RABs that put cyclists in the perfect position to be left hooked.

Same here. I saw a dual carriageway was being resurfaced. One that previously had cycle lane. When it was reinstated it was 1.5m wide (guidelines say 2m min) and the lanes continued right upto the RAB at either end, causing the ‘killer’ scenario for any inexperienced/unobservant rider.
I emailed the local Highways dept with my concerns. Apparantly the guidelines are just guidelines, they can do what they want and the explanation as to recreating the ‘killer’ situation just showed a complete ignorance of road use/needs.
They’re aware of the guidelines, just don’t seem to make the connection between what they see, whilst they’re planning, on a computer screen and the reality.
Lets get more of ‘em on bikes!

 

[Boris Bajic]

Do you have any constructive suggestions to avoid car owners parking their car on cycle lanes? Thanks from fixbikego mechanic

Why on Earth would a member use a business name as their online ID, use the business logo as their avatar and even sign off a post using the business name?

Someone with a slightly cynical outlook might suspect it was a BS question pitched at gaining a good volume of replies while getting the name of the business out there.

I'm not a cynic myself; I'm just saying....

 

[glenn forger]

Most gutter cycle lanes should be scrapped in this country, they're a bloody hazard. It's like locking and loading the cyclist in to the line of fire.

The worst ones are where the green painted lane is adjacent to the door zone, awful idea, just awful

LBWF:

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

LBWF:

Oooooo they come in red as well, multi coloured stupidness.

 

[glenn forger]

There's a worse one, subaqua will know it, up Alexandra Road I think, as it joins Grove Green, the road is much narrower so you ride clear of the door zone and you get beeped.

 

[glenn forger]

Like this:

Lovely.

 

[mcshroom]

Get some local stunt BMXers to ride down the route and over the cars parked on it. They'll move them fast enough once the dents start appearing

 

[snorri]

Here's one of my local council's attempts:
Most drivers seem to use it to gauge how far they should park on the pavement.

Yebbut there's a 'School' sign on that road which means all rules are void

 

[glenn forger]

Someone planned that, drew up designs, it was approved at council meetings, contractors went out and painted them, and at no stage did someone stop and say:

"This is as much use as Anne Frank's drumkit"

 

[snailracer]

Someone planned that, drew up designs, it was approved at council meetings, contractors went out and painted them, and at no stage did someone stop and say:

"This is as much use as Anne Frank's drumkit"

Motorists have very well-funded insurance companies who can sue the authorities for negligence if they can prove the road layout contributed to a road accident - cyclists don't.