On Sat, 15 Feb 2003 13:00:03 +0100, Jeremy Parker <
[email protected]> wrote:
>> Obviously there are places where cycle lanes are a Good Thing
>That's not obvious to me.
It wasn't to me until I found some which were tolerably useful. The type where you get a lane to
filter in and an ASL are helpful, the type which let you filter round to the left rather than wait
for the traffic lights help too - provided you remember to be far enough from the kerb that Mr Cager
sees you when he comes round the corner.
Instances of useful cycle lanes are rare, but they do exist - or at least, there have been a few
which I haven't actually avoided.
> - in
>> crowded town centres, for example, where the roads are wide enough
>But being crowded is a definition of the roads **not** being wide enough.
Have a look round Reading some time. No, on second thoughts, don't bother - it's a tedious place.
But the roads are mostly reasonably wide in the centre.
>Inserting bikes into an intersection in some weird non standard way invariably makes the
>intersection more dangerous for cyclists.
ASLs are not dangerous. Bike & bus lanes with separate traffic control aren't either. Bike lanes
which alow you to filter left while the cagers wait aren't necessarily dangerous. Mind you, I'm
being charitable here - the point is that it is theoretically possible to create a useful and safe
bike lane, and it's been done in some places, but that just makes it all the more clear that the
vast majority are poorly planned, poorly executed, and the money would have been better spent on
sweeping the roads more often.
>The secret to being seen by a motorist is to be where they look. A cyclist is, afer all, a six foot
>tall two hundred pound object in the road, right in front of them.
Or in my case a six foot *long* two hundred pound object, lit up like a Christmas tree with an
orange mylar flag and enough reflective material to open a 3M stockist.
The secret to being seen by motorists is simple - but the secret of getting /noticed/ is not to give
then any option /but/ to notice you. Which means riding far enough out from the kerb, wearing bright
colours, all that stuff. Make them look at you to work out how fast you are going, and they are
marginally less likely to assume that you are moving at walking pace.
>On the other hand, it is fatal (almost literally) to place yourself where the motorists don't look.
>You may have given yourself an example of this, visiting the continent
Or looking at the poor benighted souls who ride on the "shared use" pavements around here, and
seeing them try to spot the traffic from three directions instead of one as they cross the
side roads.
You may not be aware: I am a daily cyclist. I ride to and from work every day, 15 miles round trip
(unless I decide to get a few extra miles in), all on roads, mostly quite busy ones. I'm a member of
the CTC and a frequent leisure cyclist as well. I ride a recumbent, a tourer and a mountain bike.
Guy
===
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