cylinginhants said:Due to number of fatalities including cyclists, on a short stretch of a
B road, my County Council have recently implemented a central hatching
scheme along it (about a half a mile or so.)
I've done some investigation into the pros and cons of such a scheme of
similar design and circumstances through the web and talking to people,
but I thought I would get some feedback from this group, prior to making
any submission.
Detail:
B2150 between Denmead and Waterlooville, central line replace by central
hatching, leaving a lane width of about 3m (I measured 3.04m in one
location). As far as I can establish no cycling groups were involved
with the decision making process.
First, the hatching needs to be at least 1.5m wide, so that drivers
can pass cyclists with enough space if they drive on it.
Second, it must not have any islands in it, as they will stop drivers
going into the hatching, or make them cut in.
After that, it depends - but I'm not sure what on. Here in London
drivers seem to be happy to drive on hatching to pass cyclists. That
could be cultural, or because speeds are low, or because sightlines
are good, or for some other reason.
The effect we want is of a suicide lane which can only (and only needs
to) be used for passing cyclists. This may work better where the odds
of simultaneous overtaking of cyclists in both directions are low.
An alternative approach, whioh may be better where cycle flows are
high, is wide cycle lanes but no centre line.
I suspect the best approach, though, is a 9 metre-wide road, with no
obstructions and strict enforcement of whatever speed limit is set.
Cycling is comfortable when
- drivers don't overtake
or
- drivers can easily overtake with sufficient clearance
Colin McKenzie
--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.
