Discussion
Boring I know, but next time anyone wants to know why more people use cycle paths on the continent this is why: this one runs through the industrial part of west Berlin:
Ok that was amongst the best but it wasn't unusual either. Even the shared use footpaths are shared much better than we manage and where they're demarked by coloured pavements everyone obeys them.
Now, if only we had that much space on the roads!
Ok that was amongst the best but it wasn't unusual either. Even the shared use footpaths are shared much better than we manage and where they're demarked by coloured pavements everyone obeys them.
Now, if only we had that much space on the roads!
If only we had cycle lanes like that. They mean sod all to me when I'm cycling, I ride where I feel is safest for me. Too many of them have cracks/potholes or man holes that are either too deep or poking up out of the road where it has been deformed by the weight of a double decker bus.
Quite but look closer.
It's a nice wide road, immaculately smooth with plenty of car parking.
Looks like the industrial estate was properly planned and accepts the fact that people like cars and they won't go away anytime soon.
How many of our roads are like that.
Most of our newer industrial estates were purposely built to discourage the car.
It's a nice wide road, immaculately smooth with plenty of car parking.
Looks like the industrial estate was properly planned and accepts the fact that people like cars and they won't go away anytime soon.
How many of our roads are like that.
Most of our newer industrial estates were purposely built to discourage the car.
Mr Will said:
mcdjl said:
Perhaps I should have said: if only our roads and pavements were big enough for this to be an option/possible!
It's more than possible. We just have to sacrifice a small amount of space for motor vehicles (often of the stationary, just clogging up the place, kind).Brand new housing estate near my work, there are a lot of employers at one end of a short dual carriageway and then the housing extends along the dual carriageway for about 2 miles. Guess what? Absolutely no provision for cycling, walking, or public transport. The other day I watched a woman walking along the central reservation carrying a baby with a maybe 4 year old trundling along on his scooter :-(
Craikeybaby said:
On the other hand, since getting my bike I'm surprised at how many cycle paths/routes there are in here Coventry, there's hardly any need to mix with cars.
It's the same here in Redditch. There must be 100 miles of cycle pathways but they are seldom used. I think that's because they don't follow the roads and people simply don't know they exist unless they specifically go looking for them which we do but that's because we cycle for leisure.The new cycling option on Google Maps is really good and Coventry Council have also published a cycling map.
I tried exploring some of Swindon's (tarmac) cycle paths a couple of weekends ago. West-Swindon, which was built in the 80s, and the newer norther development are mostly pretty great but the rest of the town is crap. I'd follow a sign saying 'town centre' for example. Then after half a mile the cycle lane would just end. No signs, no lane, no nothing. After a few of those I gave up and eventually found a main road.
Near me there's a bridlepath which is quite pleasant, and a handful of ASZs.
Other than that there is some atrocious shared use pavements, which are not only unsatisfactory for both cyclists and pedestrians, but have the usual problem of having to yield priority at every side road. Yeah, I'll use the road thanks.
Then there is a nice bit of painted cycle lane that goes right alongside a long row of parked cars. As anyone who has cycled for a while will tell you, you should never cycle in the door zone. So when I correctly ignore that crap lane, I get aggro from drivers behind me to "get in the f
king cycle lane". Crap infrastructure is usually worse than nothing at all.
Other than that there is some atrocious shared use pavements, which are not only unsatisfactory for both cyclists and pedestrians, but have the usual problem of having to yield priority at every side road. Yeah, I'll use the road thanks.
Then there is a nice bit of painted cycle lane that goes right alongside a long row of parked cars. As anyone who has cycled for a while will tell you, you should never cycle in the door zone. So when I correctly ignore that crap lane, I get aggro from drivers behind me to "get in the f
king cycle lane". Crap infrastructure is usually worse than nothing at all.^^^ Sympathies with this. Although Redditch does have a number of very good cycle paths, there are some stupid ones too like the painted/segregated lane that runs outside my son's school - the school where THE only parking is (yep, you guessed it) right outside the school. So, between 8am-9am and 3:15pm-6pm, the lane is unusable for cyclists. And I don't blame the drivers either - there is absolutely nowhere else for them to park unless they pull into people's driveways.
Sat at the roundabout at the top of this road, the window of the car alongside me rolls down.
"You should use the cycle path" says the driver. Confused, I asked if he meant the one that had just randomly ended, but it was too late, he roared away, spinning his wheels as he went.
The thing is, this 'cycle facility' is only of any use to someone trying to get to The Meadows shopping park from Sandhurst village. For me, intending to go through College Town and on up to Swinley, but avoiding the busy main road, it's useless. I'd have to go out of my way to get onto it in the first place, only for it to end, and dump me onto the carriageway within 50 metres or so anyway.
"You should use the cycle path" says the driver. Confused, I asked if he meant the one that had just randomly ended, but it was too late, he roared away, spinning his wheels as he went.
The thing is, this 'cycle facility' is only of any use to someone trying to get to The Meadows shopping park from Sandhurst village. For me, intending to go through College Town and on up to Swinley, but avoiding the busy main road, it's useless. I'd have to go out of my way to get onto it in the first place, only for it to end, and dump me onto the carriageway within 50 metres or so anyway.
The separate cycle paths just give car drivers the wrong impression. If you want to go from A to B you are better off on the roads. Oddly enough many were paths, then tracks, then Roman roads too.
The shared use paths are such a stupid idea I think we should try to find out by trial and error whether or not it is possible to stick them up the planners' arses!
The shared use paths are such a stupid idea I think we should try to find out by trial and error whether or not it is possible to stick them up the planners' arses!
grumbledoak said:
The separate cycle paths just give car drivers the wrong impression. If you want to go from A to B you are better off on the roads. Oddly enough many were paths, then tracks, then Roman roads too.
The shared use paths are such a stupid idea I think we should try to find out by trial and error whether or not it is possible to stick them up the planners' arses!
They are awful, and are basically the physical manifestation of the "Why can't cyclists just fThe shared use paths are such a stupid idea I think we should try to find out by trial and error whether or not it is possible to stick them up the planners' arses!
k off out of my way" mentality.If by "shared paths" you mean cyclists and pedestrians sharing, then I think you're both wrong. Shared paths work very well for 90% of cyclists. They only cease to work if you can and do maintain high average speeds.
For most people, cyclists and pedestrians sharing the same space makes miles more sense than cyclists and motorised traffic.
For most people, cyclists and pedestrians sharing the same space makes miles more sense than cyclists and motorised traffic.
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