Following on from Mark's message. . .
>Hi,
>
>I'm canvassing for the views of cyclists that use the roads of Denmead,
>in particular the traffic calming measures consisting of the pedestrian
>refuges and the adjacent short cycle lanes.
Firstly a technical point : The red will soon be oily brown and not half
as outstanding as it looks at the moment.
I ask myself "Does it make it easier for people to do the right thing?"
Since the 'wrong thing' is a squeeze by an overtaking vehicle, how does
it make that more difficult? I don't think it does.
Does it encourage cyclists to move out to the centre of the lane (the
right thing) - No. But it might give them confidence that a car behind
will be a bit more patient.
But hold on! A cyclist might say to themselves "Aha a bit of road
specially for me - hooray - the cars have to leave me alone" - Except
that it's clear that cars ARE EXPECTED TO VIOLATE this 'sanctuary'. So
the whole thing is a rather naughty fraud.
The 'race to overtake before the pinch' is now brought back a few yards.
For assertives like me that's not a problem but it means I have to be
OUTSIDE THE LANE before the actual pinch to stop a swerver-overtaker
trying to nip in just in front of me (they can use part of the opposing
lane.) For the less well trained they suddenly find a swerver in front
of them IN THEIR LANE.
The county council thinking is, I suppose, that the dotted edge of the
cycle lane is a 'give way'(to cyclists). But give way markings _go
across_ a road not along, so I don't think this will work very well.
Question to ask County Council: If they expect the lane to be violated
anyway then why not make it full width (nothing's lost) and then the
'Give way dashed lines' on the start of the cycle lane will be more
meaningful. If they say "Oh we could never do /that/ then you say "tell
me again then what's the difference between that and your current
experiment".
PS I hate lanes anyway, but if you're going to install them then setting
them up to be intentionally violated is the height of irresponsibility.
--
PETER FOX Not the same since the e-commerce business came to a .
[email protected]
www.eminent.demon.co.uk - Lots for cyclists