Cycle lanes

Schwarz Baron

Hi all! I'm new to the forum, but not to cycling, enjoying the read so far, great website. Been MTBing for a while, but now back where my heart lies, on the road. Just started commuting again to work, a 22 mile round trip, per day. Loving it so far, but detesting one thing, and that is the aggression of car drivers. Over my 11mile urban trip to work, I've got the pleasure of riding in a cycle lane for about 400 yds. I find this a totally pathetic effort on the part of Belfast City council, or the Dept of Transport whoever has responsibility. What I want to do now, is start lobbying(annoying) those who have the clout to do something about it. Has anyone any experience in doing this. How best do I approach it, other than just a letter to the local MP. What information or ammunition should I use to strengthen my argument. It is becoming a more popular route amongst the cycle to work crowd, so there is a strong argument for one already. Any hints tips would be most appreciated!

regards SB

littleandy0410

Just go out in the middle of the night with a tin of white paint and a brush!

(Just remember not to do your exact route door-to-door, otherwise they'll know it was you!)

HTH

Crapaud

Schwarz Baron wrote:

... What I want to do now, is start lobbying(annoying) those who have the clout to do something about it. Has anyone any experience in doing this. ...

Hi, Schwartz Baron. Welcome to the forum!

I doubt that you'd achieve much on your own. I'd suggest Googling for a local cycle campaigning group and joining that - strength in numbers and all that jazz. My own local group has regular contact with the local worthies and quite often they come to us and ask our opinion on some of their proposed planing. It's a good, but not perfect, way to get your voice heard.

Beeblebrox

I should think it's the County Council who would put in new paths, but it depends on the road and (probably) all manner of inane regulation.

It is probably worth having a word with them, as any specific request would (should) be logged and when maintenance comes round it may be considered. Also, if someone else has already pointed out the pathetic nature of the lane, then it will add more weight for action.

alfablue

In Bath we have a local cycling campaign that has regular input into the council, you have a similar organisation - http://www.nici.org.uk/ could be a good place to start.

Nick6891

in leeds we have alot of bus lanes which we can use

Schwarz Baron

alfablue wrote:

In Bath we have a local cycling campaign that has regular input into the council, you have a similar organisation - http://www.nici.org.uk/ could be a good place to start.

Cheers for that alfablue, you learn something new everyday, I didn't even know they existed. I'll have a look!

Slow Downcp

I've started doing the 16 mile each way commute to my office the other side of Birmingham, and traffic is a problem. There are some bike/bus lanes, but they're so badly planned it's safer not to use them IMHO. Cars parked in them, debris, people pulling across them to turn left without looking etc - it's not a pleasant ride but 90% of the time I just stay in the main traffic flow. At least I get 32 miles a day with no time sacrifice as I can do it quicker by bike than car.

chuckcork

Suggest maybe joining the CTC, would get 3rd party and legal cover, and they do a fair bit of campaigning, and would probably have someone in your area who does that just that who you could talk to.

For what its worth I've been moaning to Cork County Council about their sometimes poor and occasionally dangerous road design efforts and have been pretty much 100% ignored. Ditto when I contacted the Road Safety Authority, they just passed it back to those who didn't want to know.

At least though if there is an accident my ignored queries should I hope be logged on a file somewhere to make someone feel ashamed. Its a long shot though, given that road safety tends be done on the autopsy approach, i.e. work out what killed someone after their dead, and promise to do better next time. Not encouraging!