Cycle lanes at quiet junctions
Discussion
Aberdeen roads rant, and I'm not even getting started on potholes! 
Cycling to work the last few days, and I really have to say that even as a cyclist I'm f
ing baffled by the cycle lanes that are getting put down by the council.
The junction between king street and merkland road is now getting marked up for a cycle lane. Just where the roads cross, so 50/60 feet or so? I have no idea what difference this is supposed to make. I'm not sure I've ever seen a car pulling out of there in the rush hours.
This is up there with cycle lanes alongside traffic islands which appear to have the intent to force traffic through the road furniture on the island. Again, only on relatively quiet junctions. Why? I've never had an issue with these before with either 2 or 4 wheels.
As the pavements/vegetation along the sides of the road are more than ample both along the ellon road and the parkway, surely a cycle path along these would be a no-brainer? I'd certainly feel much safer than having trucks squeezing past at the moment, and I certainly don't like having to try pass cyclists on the parkway.
Also, pedestrians *will* cross the road in front of you regardless of what you're driving/riding/pedalling!
Cycling to work the last few days, and I really have to say that even as a cyclist I'm f
ing baffled by the cycle lanes that are getting put down by the council.The junction between king street and merkland road is now getting marked up for a cycle lane. Just where the roads cross, so 50/60 feet or so? I have no idea what difference this is supposed to make. I'm not sure I've ever seen a car pulling out of there in the rush hours.
This is up there with cycle lanes alongside traffic islands which appear to have the intent to force traffic through the road furniture on the island. Again, only on relatively quiet junctions. Why? I've never had an issue with these before with either 2 or 4 wheels.
As the pavements/vegetation along the sides of the road are more than ample both along the ellon road and the parkway, surely a cycle path along these would be a no-brainer? I'd certainly feel much safer than having trucks squeezing past at the moment, and I certainly don't like having to try pass cyclists on the parkway.
Also, pedestrians *will* cross the road in front of you regardless of what you're driving/riding/pedalling!
I read about these when they were first being put in, they are there to let people know a cyclist could be there and that you should give them room if they are. What a waste of bloody money. How much has it cost to have these things painted on the roads when they will have to be dug up soon anyway to fix the potholes? Total pish.
danrc said:
I read about these when they were first being put in, they are there to let people know a cyclist could be there and that you should give them room if they are.
That's what I don't understand with these, there is no space to get a car and a cyclist through anyway. So instead of hanging back until you're past the traffic island as you would have done before, what are you supposed to do? Blunder through the bollards/ lamposts on the traffic island to give them space? 
Probably the main point of the rant, a lot of these things just don't seem to work from any point of view.
slipstream 1985 said:
sorry ian i wasnt listening, get back to using your car and youl have an opinion that matters to me again 
When I get the car back I may bung my bike through a council window.well i have been hit by a car on north deeside road going into aberdeen. at a part where there is an island in the middle of the road and motorists are meant to give cyclists room. The driver blamed me even though he hit me from behind. i drive too and i always give them room and have never hit anyone. im pretty tired of stupid, impaitent drivers scuffing past me only for me to pass them a minute later when they are stuck in traffic jams. they have no consideration!!!!!
Ian974 said:
danrc said:
I read about these when they were first being put in, they are there to let people know a cyclist could be there and that you should give them room if they are.
That's what I don't understand with these, there is no space to get a car and a cyclist through anyway. So instead of hanging back until you're past the traffic island as you would have done before, what are you supposed to do? Blunder through the bollards/ lamposts on the traffic island to give them space? Probably the main point of the rant, a lot of these things just don't seem to work from any point of view.
Agreed. The new lanes don't give the cyclist any more room so what is the point? I wouldn't be surprised if they put them in going down Holburn Street towards Garthdee at the bus stops. The bus stops which are next to islands so that when a bus stops all of the traffic behind the bus has to stop.
I agree also a cyclist, used to commute when i lived in town on the bike. The lane layoputs where nuts then with the cycle path just stoppoing at junctions, then what you get off and walk over? Majority of the time i would treat the road as a car and cycle in a similar fashion, stopping and starting endlessly over a few yards used to piss me off endlessly.
Problem is there are retrospecitve cycle lanes, added to exiting roads which are already tight, and when space gets small some imaginative road planning starts to happen. I would be that there would have been hefty grants from EU/government to the region if they had xyz miles of new cycle lanes, but the startard is far from the same across the UK.
Slipstream, prepare for some mountain biker grief as we pass your house every week
Problem is there are retrospecitve cycle lanes, added to exiting roads which are already tight, and when space gets small some imaginative road planning starts to happen. I would be that there would have been hefty grants from EU/government to the region if they had xyz miles of new cycle lanes, but the startard is far from the same across the UK.
Slipstream, prepare for some mountain biker grief as we pass your house every week
And I'm pretty tired of cyclists that ignore red lights/pavements/one way signs while I'm trying to cross the road with my dog when the traffic lightis red.
Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
Dave_Eastcroft said:
well i have been hit by a car on north deeside road going into aberdeen. at a part where there is an island in the middle of the road and motorists are meant to give cyclists room. The driver blamed me even though he hit me from behind. i drive too and i always give them room and have never hit anyone. im pretty tired of stupid, impaitent drivers scuffing past me only for me to pass them a minute later when they are stuck in traffic jams. they have no consideration!!!!!
J888SXY said:
And I'm pretty tired of cyclists that ignore red lights/pavements/one way signs while I'm trying to cross the road with my dog when the traffic lightis red.
Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
you would be amazed, i have seen tossers in cars, vans, motorbikes, lorries, taxis and tractors as well... but luckily i recognise that not everyone is the same. Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
J888SXY said:
And I'm pretty tired of cyclists that ignore red lights/pavements/one way signs while I'm trying to cross the road with my dog when the traffic lightis red.
Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
Idiot. If anything, in Aberdeen I see more cars going through red lights! So you saw a cyclist going through lights so you kicked him off his bike, risking braking bones? Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
No wonder us car drivers have a bad name with cyclists with people like you going about.
J888SXY said:
And I'm pretty tired of cyclists that ignore red lights/pavements/one way signs while I'm trying to cross the road with my dog when the traffic lightis red.
Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
Especially the tosser that nearly ran me over outside Duthie park yesterday evening.
While I was working at Kvaerner in London many years ago a cyclist decided to ignore a red light while I was crossing Hammersmith Road. He was a bit surprised to find himself lying in the road after I kicked his bike as he went past.
Get off yours and stop rolling out the stereotypical motorist's argement against cyclists
Just like all walks in life you get a
holes of all types. Just like cyclists who jump red lights, and also motorists like, well you know...I'm as much a cyclist as I am a motorist and see some crazy sights on an almost daily basis - I commute a 9-mile round trip each day and have taken to recording all my journeys on a micro DV camera as a "just in case". Luckily I've had no incidents since, but it's sad I feel the need to do this. Road design in the UK certainly doesn't help though, especially as others mention, those idiotic traffic islands in the middle of the road where some drivers attempt to squeeze past you when there's blatantly no space.
This was more a moan at ridiculous road design rather than getting into cyclists v pededtrians v cars (though I do actually stop for red lights on the bike. Folk think you're mental! 
)
Looks like they'll be painting big red stripes along most of the junctions onto king street, so that'll be the morning cycle much safer. The markings for the paint going down on the junction with university road are fantastic, actually dodging around the potholes. I'll need to grab a photo, you couldn't make it up!
)Looks like they'll be painting big red stripes along most of the junctions onto king street, so that'll be the morning cycle much safer.
The markings for the paint going down on the junction with university road are fantastic, actually dodging around the potholes. I'll need to grab a photo, you couldn't make it up!OK, was on a soapbox but that was the way I read the original post too, obviously incorrectly it seems. Yes, a lot of drivers are bad, as are a lot of cyclists.
Please don't call me an idiot when you weren't there to see it. I haven't explained the full details. If I was in the wrong, so be it.
Please don't call me an idiot when you weren't there to see it. I haven't explained the full details. If I was in the wrong, so be it.
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