Cycle Lanes

freddye

I try to use the cycle lane when I can, but am fed up with broken bottles, screws and badly maintained tarmac. Seems safer just to ride on the road. Any advice when approaching roundabouts as cars just don't seem to think the highway code applies to them when I'm waiting and have right of way. I do drive a car occasionally and can't believe the attitude of some drivers.

Yorkshireman

I think that some posters are possibly using incorrect terminology here, leading to others getting the wrong idea. A 'Cycle Path' is constructed away from the carriageway (often running alongside it), and is variously shared with pedestrians, separated from pedestrians (by a solid white line) or a path purely for cyclists. These paths are designed/intended for cycling speeds up to 18mph (a speed which in many cases is too high for such paths in my opinion). A 'Cycle Lane' is a section of carriageway marked by either a broken white line or a solid white line. A solid white line denotes a Mandatory Lane. Motorised vehicles may not use Mandatory Lanes (that's where the 'mandatory' bit comes in) unless there is a time exception posted. A cyclist is not legally obliged to use any of these 'facilities' (other than if a local bylaw is in force). Worth having a browse here for those with sufficient interest :-
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070202

CrookedCucumber

babyshambles wrote:

Cycle lanes in this country are a complete waste of time for a training ride. However, there is a 5mile costal cycle path which I take my young kids and is very usefull.

To be fair, I don't think any local authority installs cycle lanes for training rides. They are installed to (a) encourage inexperienced cyclists to use their bikes for shopping and commuting and (b) to prevent slow cyclists holding up cars. If well located they can succeed in both. But from a transport planning perspective, the number of people who cycle as a form of sport is vanishingly small, so little or no provision is made for those people.

bilbo.baggins

rjcastillo wrote:

I'm afraid I'm with Carl_P on this. As a cyclist/motorist/biker I'd like to think I can see from all aspects.

No offence, but I think you'll find a lot of those commenting on this thread are both cyclists and motorists so your attempt to claim the intellectual high ground is a little wanting. However, I agree if there is big tailback and no opportunity for overtaking for a *long* time, pull in and let traffic past. It saves unnecessary frustration and risk on the cyclists part from inexperienced drivers.

dessertwarrior

Cycle lanes in & around Lincoln vary from a complete joke to smooth & wide (if a bit short). I rarely use the 'shared use' type so-called cycle lanes for all the reasons that have been aired previously but I will use a specifically designed lane off the side of the road or the 'dotted line' variety as part of the road itself (even if most car drivers see them as parking bays!).

However, I do pull over if I feel I am holding up traffic. I have pulled off the road to let a truck past (he had been patiently waiting behind me for a suitable overtaking opportunity) & allowed a bus past me in a bus lane.

Whilst I defend my right to use the road, I also believe that there should be consideration on both sides. Lincolnshire drivers have a very poor reputation for their driving skills but I have generally found them to give cyclists room (there are exceptions of course!).

___________________________________________________________________
Ban 'Cyclists Dismount' signs!!! Give cyclists right of way!

mr_hippo

Carl_P
If you were being held up by a tractor, would you be complaing about it in Farmer's Weekly? After all, there are fields he can drive on.
If you were being held up by a rag & bone man, would you write a complaint to the letter's page of the Totter's Times?
If your answer to the questions is 'No', why not?
You say that he was 'going quite quickly' and let's assume that it was 20mph+, could he safely maintain that speed on a cycle path?

Carl_P wrote:

I'll be using it [I assume you mean the cycle path] for a few sprints when I get me new bike (during a quiet period of course) as it's only a mile or so from my home and is super smooth!

.
I certainly hope not! It is not a race track but a cycle path.

spen666

Carl_P wrote:

...Not annoyed because he was holding me up but of the perception this gives motorists of cyclists. ....

Ahh yes

We can't have cyclists giving the perception of riding lawfully can we

Parkey

A big problem with cycle tracks is junctions.

Near where I live there's a section of 2 metre wide pavement cycle track, well surfaced and straight. Wonderful.

Wonderful, that is, until you reach a junction. Lets imagine you were set on using the cycle paths and then, say, you wanted to turn right from a cycle track on the left side of the road. You'd find yourself inventing all manner of bizarre manoeuvres to cross the pedestrian part of the pavement and then cross the main road to get to the side road you want. In the process this worryies a lot of motorists because it's very difficult for them to tell what the bike that's suddenly entered their world is doing.

If you're on the road, you're a vehicle that's signalling and manoeuvring in a completely predictable manner.

That's why even the best made cycle track is very often an accident waiting to happen.

NWLondoner

Here in the big smoke many cycle lanes are the shared bus lanes which can be both good and bad. I always ride in these if they are available as they are wide and keep me away from the main drag of traffic.

I tend to avoid cycle paths that share the pavement. I tried the dreaded/loved (delete as appropriate) Cable Street while coming back from the Isle Of Dogs on Thursday. TBH I was not as bad as I thought it would. Okay overtaking the slower cyclist took some careful timing but it was at least clear of litter/glass. However like most shared cycle paths it starts/ends all of a sudden in the most stupidest of places. In this case a busy pedestrian island crossing. Why they can't be designed to filter to and from the flow of traffic?

Has anyone actually used the cycle path on the Kingsbury Road NW9??