What exactly is the problem at Bow roundabout?

[Mandat]

There has been a lot of news reports about the recent deaths of two cyclists at the Bow roundabout, and that the design cycle super highway lanes was at fault. However, unless I have missed it, the news reports don't give specific details as to what is actually wrong with the cycle lanes.

I rarely have cause to use the roundabout but I was there this morning, which prompted the question.

[bga]

It's a nasty, busy roundabout at the best of times. It becomes lethal when you add in:

- Cyclists ignoring right of way
- Drivers ignoring right of way
- Lack of observation and awareness from both parties.

That was when I used to ride it. Now there is the cycling superhighway which appears to consist of blue paint crossing some exits/entrances to the roundabout. What a great idea!

I used to cycle around the Elephant & Castle set of roundabouts & junctions and that could be very hairy at times. The configuration and lack of marked lanes made for a lot of crossing traffic.

[eybic]

One issue I saw on BBC is that I think the lane just stops in the middle of the roundabout at one point.

[WeirdNeville]

The cycle superhighway encourages timid and inexperienced cyclists into a situation tha they should not be it.
Just one of many 'main road' cycle routes that has been ill thought out and badly implemented.

[Mr Gear]

I'm not convinced by the cycle super highways at all. In some parts, it's good, but follow the one that goes from Clapham Common to Elephant and Castle and there are a number of points that are clearly problematic.

I don't know the Bow one very well, but they are not as good as they should be.

[dougc]

WeirdNeville said:

The cycle superhighway encourages timid and inexperienced cyclists into a situation tha they should not be it.
Just one of many 'main road' cycle routes that has been ill thought out and badly implemented.

This.

And Mr Gear is right - so called 'superhighways' like the Bow one are generally st. Blue paint that means fk all. It gets cut by buslanes and is usually full of glass and crap road repairs.

At Bow, the best thing to do is go over the flyover and ignore the blue route entirely.

The really dangerous bit is coming down the flyover towards Stratford and trying to cross the traffic infeed by the Porsche garage. You're travelling quicker than the cars and they tend not to like it....

eta - Sorry misquoted Mr G, he didn't imply they were all st. Just in parts...

[Gizmo!]

I'm yet to come across a cycle lane that was wide enough for primary position.

However I can vouch that even cabbies think twice about hitting a Boris Bike.

[okgo]

Not had any issues with cs8

Mind you I don't give a feck what's painted on the road, I ride where I feel is safe. Sometimes that's not in the path at all.

Bit of a joke when the bike lane is full of parked up meat wagons like it
Is by parliament square!

[Hackney]

Slightly O/T but I saw my first cycle superhighway last Sunday as I cycled through South London.
Amazed at how often it wasn't a superhighway at all but a very short bits of blue paint on a road.

Useless.

[Mr Gear]

Hackney said:

Slightly O/T but I saw my first cycle superhighway last Sunday as I cycled through South London.
Amazed at how often it wasn't a superhighway at all but a very short bits of blue paint on a road.

Useless.

Exactly. I thought the "superhighways" were going to be cycle-only paths that ran uninterrupted into London. You know, alongside railway lines, and up roads completely closed to traffic.

More paint on roads achieves very little. The way buses and taxis treat this blue paint with utter contempt shows what a let down it is.

[Gizmo!]

Mr Gear said:

Exactly. I thought the "superhighways" were going to be cycle-only paths that ran uninterrupted into London. You know, alongside railway lines, and up roads completely closed to traffic.

More paint on roads achieves very little. The way buses and taxis treat this blue paint with utter contempt shows what a let down it is.

Sadly London doesn't really have the space for completely separate routes. And as the few completely disused rail lines are mostly used for recreational murdering, I think I'd rather stay on road...

[Mr Gear]

Gizmo! said:

Sadly London doesn't really have the space for completely separate routes. And as the few completely disused rail lines are mostly used for recreational murdering, I think I'd rather stay on road...

This is what we were promised:



This is what we (frequently) got:

[khushy]

I am sorry, but any cycle super-highway that even comes close to the main road, intersections, kids, dogs, runners, walkers, tourists, old-people, stupid-people, junctions etc is absolutely crazy and just asking for trouble - its a stupid idea.

All you have to do is WALK around Hyde Park, where there are so called bicycle & pedestrian "lanes" and no doubt, after a short while, you will have a brush with some cock/hen on a bicycle who thinks he/she owns the park and can ride like a god, defying the basic laws of phyics by using the fking "force" to navigate their way through even the busiest of pedestrian-heavy gates and byways without a care in the world for their fellow human being.

I am a cyclist of many years and love cycling - but some of the cyclists in London should be banned from riding a bike - yet alone being allowed on a road in a busy city - pedestrians are worse, tourists even more so and dont even get me started on the hazzards that dogs, skaters (again I am one of them) kids and old-ladys pose.

Cycling (especially) in London is dangerous and unpredictable, we should all try and use our brains and be kind to our fellow humans, after all we do have to share the space with them, however much they annoy the fk out of us FFS!

PS - a velodrome probably constitutes the ONLY true cycle-super-highway and look how dangerous that can be!

Edited by khushy on Saturday 26th November 16:24