What's the Point in This?
Discussion
Before I start this isn't an anti-cyclist rant. Near where I used to live the council have installed this cycle lane:
The black Transporter is parked outside a garage whereas the main train station is just further to the right. I really can't see the point in installing it as this is the entire lane, 10 or so meters long. It can't continue around the corner as it would be into the parking spaces for the garage. The whole thing just seems like a complete waste of money - and if they thought there was nothing better to spend it on, then just look at the rest of the road
The black Transporter is parked outside a garage whereas the main train station is just further to the right. I really can't see the point in installing it as this is the entire lane, 10 or so meters long. It can't continue around the corner as it would be into the parking spaces for the garage. The whole thing just seems like a complete waste of money - and if they thought there was nothing better to spend it on, then just look at the rest of the road
lost in espace said:
Possibly put in in response to a cyclist getting run over? The cycle lane does separate the traffic.
This. It's happened on the river bridge near where I live. Someone was knocked off his bike at the roundabout, and not long later they added a cycle lane, to an already narrow enough bridge, that's been that way as long as the thirty years i've lived here, and longer still than that. It's ridiculous. And the b
d school kids still cycle down the middle of the road! Where am I expected to drive - do they assume we breathe in to cross the bridge?Personally I think many cycle lanes get put in due to some "targets" set to the roads department. Instead of thinking of good places to put them, nicely integrated with the road system, they bung them anywhere just to meet their "target". Add to the equation that the designers clearly haven't ridden a bike on the roads they plan to paint, it's a recipe for disaster.
The main problem is crap that gets into the lanes (so understandably cyclists are more reluctant to use them due to risk of punctures and so on) yet they still paint them on the side of the road, there's no kerb between them and the road to prevent them getting clogged with crap.
The problem is, and I don't blame anyone for this, is that the road culture in this country isn't really "cyclist friendly" so cycle lanes are "added on" as an afterthought rather than being designed in properly. See Holland for an example of how things are done well, they are often quite separate from the roads so there's little "tension" between the two sets of travellers.
Anyway, this ends up in a catch-22, people don't want to cycle due to the danger (esp for those not that confident in cycling, youngsters and so on) and because they don't there's "less" cyclists so councils don't want to spend money on a "minority" of road users. The old design of a lot of our roads doesn't help either.
In the OPs example, why isn't the lane on the left of the road? It's not clear. Also, why is there MORE street furniture in form of a "cycle lane" sign, if it really is needed, why not put it on the post that has the hump bridge sign.
The main problem is crap that gets into the lanes (so understandably cyclists are more reluctant to use them due to risk of punctures and so on) yet they still paint them on the side of the road, there's no kerb between them and the road to prevent them getting clogged with crap.
The problem is, and I don't blame anyone for this, is that the road culture in this country isn't really "cyclist friendly" so cycle lanes are "added on" as an afterthought rather than being designed in properly. See Holland for an example of how things are done well, they are often quite separate from the roads so there's little "tension" between the two sets of travellers.
Anyway, this ends up in a catch-22, people don't want to cycle due to the danger (esp for those not that confident in cycling, youngsters and so on) and because they don't there's "less" cyclists so councils don't want to spend money on a "minority" of road users. The old design of a lot of our roads doesn't help either.
In the OPs example, why isn't the lane on the left of the road? It's not clear. Also, why is there MORE street furniture in form of a "cycle lane" sign, if it really is needed, why not put it on the post that has the hump bridge sign.
Edited by Dracoro on Friday 11th February 23:18
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