Worst cycle lanes, even cycle haters should love this

[Acker79]

I think motorcyclists are advised to keep to the middle to hold their ground, but they can go as fast as cars, so shouldn't be an annoyance, perhaps there was some mix up?

 

[CheeseRolls]

Just started this week, London Bridge to BT Tower in the morning, back to Victoria in the evening. Dressed like a total tosspot on a folding bike, pissing people off wherever I go and bloody loving it !

and before you start I don't jump red lights, ride on the pavement or ignore one way signs.

 

[Acker79]

Just started this week, London Bridge to BT Tower in the morning, back to Victoria in the evening. Dressed like a total tosspot on a folding bike, pissing people off wherever I go and bloody loving it !

and before you start I don't jump red lights, ride on the pavement or ignore one way signs.

Y'know, earlier this year shortly after I started cycling to work, I used to get offended when people would attack cyclists. I follow ride signs, I show consideration to drivers and pedestrians, stop at red lights, etc. and hated when people would make sweeping generalisations about us cyclists.

Now I've been going for 6 months, the thing that pisses me off most frequently is other cyclists. It seems from my experience, that responsible cyclists are in the minority.

Having said that, pedestrians in the cycling lane down the seafront are almost as annoying. Especially when they walk towards you and have no excuse for it. It's not like there isn't space beside them, the other side of that white lie, where the pavement is grey and there are no pictures of bikes. I stop at the give way bits to let people cross the cycle lane, like I'm supposed to, I don't deserve people walking in my cycle lane!

 

[London Calling]

Hold ground in the middle? I was always taught in cycling proficiency classes both at school and in the cubs to stay to the left, just far enough away from the kerb to avoid drains.

I'd feel too guilty about slowing cars up by sticking to the middle.

Just the perfect line, to be hit by car doors, to be squeezed by stationery vehicles and overtaking traffic. And perfect to be hit by hgv's turning left, because they cannot see you there?

Nearly all cycling accidents and nearly all deaths are caused within this zone.

Training now puts to straight in the middle, it is hard, because you can feel the frustration emerging from the vehicle behind, but it is safer! And if these drivers can stay behind milk floates, slow hgv's, buses, ambulances, then they can chill behind me!

And to be honest, if the road has lots of humps in it as most of London's residential roads do, I am the quicker vehicle from end to end!

 

[Simster]

Agreed. I've cycled in Holland and it's a pleasure. (They've also got a decent road and rail network to say nothing of canals)

One of the problem with cycle lanes is that the Government keep giving councils money for them. Consequently, as you say, the most stupid schemes get the go-ahead. The ones up by Hollingbury Park are a case in point.

So have I, about 5 times. The Dutch do cycle lanes properly. I love the fact that the entire cycle network almost runs parallel to the main road network. The only city in The Netherlands with crap cycling infrastructure is Amsterdam. You go to The Hague, Utrecht, Arnham and Maastricht and the cycling is amazing, even in city centres.

 

[London Calling]

A list of Cycling Highway code stuff

Though the Cycling Campaigners were very much against the "pushing" of cyclist into cycle lanes for the reasons I stated above and also it marginalises cyclists as a nuisance and not a fully fledged vehce on the road. It also makes turning right on a busy road more dangerous.

So basically for cyclist the highway code, which is written for motorised vehicles, is a dangerous **** up.

But if you don't put in cycle lanes, then cyclist can hold the middle ground quite happily like a buzzing bee.

Rules for cyclists (59-82) : Directgov - Travel and transport

 

[Acker79]

Just the perfect line, to be hit by car doors, to be squeezed by stationery vehicles and overtaking traffic. And perfect to be hit by hgv's turning left, because they cannot see you there?

Nearly all cycling accidents and nearly all deaths are caused within this zone.

Training now puts to straight in the middle, it is hard, because you can feel the frustration emerging from the vehicle behind, but it is safer! And if these drivers can stay behind milk floates, slow hgv's, buses, ambulances, then they can chill behind me!

And to be honest, if the road has lots of humps in it as most of London's residential roads do, I am the quicker vehicle from end to end!

Interesting.

Is this common practice yet? I've heard of policemen charging cyclists for cycling side by side, even though it was perfectly legal to do so.

Admittedly, most of my route has specific cycle lanes, it's only small inter-connecting areas where I'm on the road weiht the rest of the traffic.

 

[Acker79]

But if you don't put in cycle lanes, then cyclist can hold the middle ground quite happily like a buzzing bee.

And a lot of them wear yellow and black anyway, so it's perfect!

 

[London Calling]

Interesting.

Is this common practice yet? I've heard of policemen charging cyclists for cycling side by side, even though it was perfectly legal to do so.

Admittedly, most of my route has specific cycle lanes, it's only small inter-connecting areas where I'm on the road weiht the rest of the traffic.

Not sure, but that's the free training you get in Hackney and in other LOndon boroughs subsidised by the Mayor's Transport for lOndon.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

£1 million bill to scrap Hove cycle lane From The Argus)

A council has put forward a plan to spend more than £1 million scrapping a cycle path while cutting £34 million from its budget.

Brighton and Hove City Council revealed the plans to scrap the designated pathway in The Drive, Hove, despite accidents decreasing since it was introduced, in its budget proposals for the next financial year.

The Conservative administration states the £1.1 million allocated to remove it is responding to residents’ concerns about safety while allowing more traffic to move out of the city.

Yet figures revealed under Freedom of Information Act revealed both numbers of accidents and reported people injured have dropped by 20% since the cycle lane was installed in 2008.