Cycle lane on Priory Lane, Roehampton

whyohwhy10

Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth cyclists don't use the lovely wide SAFE cycle lane on this road?? Instead cyclists are cycling in the road and holding up traffic on a narrow road while the cycle lane (on the very wide pavement) is unused.

I cycle all the time and always use cycle lanes and would love MORE cycle lanes - how can we ask for more lanes when people persist in not using them?!!! Am I missing something? It makes me so angry that cyclists have a safe, well-laid out lane and more cyclists are on the road than in the lane.

Any thoughts on this from regular road users in this area are most welcome.

toontra

By cycle lane do you mean the pavement? If so, I'm not riding on a pavement even if it is designated by someone as "dual use facility". Firstly, the surface is dreadful and covered with debris. Secondly, you have to navigate the driveways, side roads, etc. Thirdly, if there are pedestrians you have to slow down to a crawl in case they don't realise it is a "shared use facility" (you can hardly blame them!). Fourthly, I like to ride around 20 mph - it's not possible to do that on this particular "shared use facility" (i.e. pavement).

Anyway, why shouldn't I ride on the road if I choose? Riding at 20mph I'm not holding anyone up. In any case, many of the vehicles on Priory Lane are using the park as a rat-run, not something I want to encourage!

jibberjim

whyohwhy10 wrote:

Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth cyclists don't use the lovely wide SAFE cycle lane on this road??

Because it's decidedly unsafe at any speed above 12mph - remember cycle routes are only designed for this speed, riders riding faster, which includes most commuters are advised not to use them. The particular problem with this one is the roundabout in the middle of it, and the junctions at the end to rejoin the carriageway.

OldSkoolKona

whyohwhy10 wrote:

Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth cyclists don't use the lovely wide SAFE cycle lane on this road?? Instead cyclists are cycling in the road and holding up traffic on a narrow road while the cycle lane (on the very wide pavement) is unused.

I cycle all the time and always use cycle lanes and would love MORE cycle lanes - how can we ask for more lanes when people persist in not using them?!!! Am I missing something? It makes me so angry that cyclists have a safe, well-laid out lane and more cyclists are on the road than in the lane.

Any thoughts on this from regular road users in this area are most welcome.

You aren't the cyclist that had a rant at me one day for cycling on the road instead of a glass infested pavement with a bike painted on it? No, you sound like him :? With people like you ranting at me, I don't even need motorists to give me a hard time..

When cycle lanes are designed properly, are gritted and cleared of snow in winter, and generally taken seriously by councils rather than an excuse to get cyclists off the road, then I might consider using them. In the mean time, ponder the following quote:

There are things that look dangerous and are (base jumping)
Things that look dangerous and aren't (fairground rides)
Things that look safe and are (drinking tea and listening to radio 4)
Things that look safe and aren't. (Cycle lanes)

A case shown by the sad fatality on the A4 cycle lane a couple of years ago:
http://www.bikeradar.com/commuting/foru ... highlight=

You might also want to read up on the following:
http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/cfi_jaf.pdf
http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?met ... l&id=81935

whyohwhy10

Thanks to you all for letting me know why cyclists aren't in the cycle lane - that does explain it a bit. I still think that we should be using lanes where they have been designated and that if they aren't safe or suitable then we need to change that directly and not by riding on the road instead. But I am not cycling at 20mph (I'm much slower!) so can understand why the pavement lane must be frustrating if you are going at speed.

OldSkool - I am definitely not the cyclist who ranted at you

jthef

I don't know the track you are on about but the 2 people above I agree with completely.
Cycle lanes are made for mother and child, not some one doning an average of 15 miles an hour. The traks have no right of way you have to stop,look or risk traffic at every junction etc. These joint path cycle track should ONLY!!!!!!! be used as a last resort not the standard,
also there is too much debury on cycle tracks leading to more punturs etc. You can then start to worry about the dog walkers, the older genreration and the young ones all which have there own dangers for the cyclist and them.

Round me I use 2 cycle tracks 1 is 40 m long, this means we aviod a round about and have right of way the second is a pain to use as it gets over grown and if there is another cyclist or ped its a tight squese but it takes out 2 juunctions and is a bit shorter. The rest I dont use as they are not suitable.

cedargreen

Toontra is spot on in his analysis. The Priory lane 'cycle lane' is a perfect example of why I don't want segregated cycle lanes. A useless green strip painted on the pavement so you have to give way to traffic from numerous driveways. Cycle on the road and you risk the ire of motorists who believe you should be on the cycle lane nomatter how crap it is.
As cyclists we have a right to be on the road which is undermined by 'facilities' like this.

random man

The subject of cycle lanes alongside busy roads was on my mind today as I was riding from Llangollen to Shrewsbury. I avoided the A5 where I could but did use the cycle lane at one point as it looked wide, smooth and clear of debris and safer than the A5.
After about 1/4 of a mile it got narrow and overgrown with nettles and brambles so I thought 'sod it' and went back on the road.

Cycle lanes are no use to cyclists if they are not maintained or wide and smooth. While in Wales last week I had to use the cycle lane when crossing the toll bridge at Pembroke Dock on the A477 and continued to ride on it for the next few miles as it is the only time I've found a cycle path that is smooth, wide and safe.

With the impending spending cuts I expect to see many cycle paths lose out on maitenance and fall into disrepair but this may actually be a good thing.

rick_chasey

whyohwhy10 wrote:

Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth cyclists don't use the lovely wide SAFE cycle lane on this road?? Instead cyclists are cycling in the road and holding up traffic on a narrow road while the cycle lane (on the very wide pavement) is unused.

Motorpacing.

Duh...

hstiles

Priory Lane is one of my routes into work. I rarely use the cycle lane for the following reasons.

1) Most cyclists using the cycle lane have atrocious lane discipiine (or are just being t*ssers). I frequently have to either swerve onto the pavement because some cretin is deliberately cycling right up the centre of the cycle lane.

2) There are several blind corners if you use the cycle lane and even though the give way lines for the mini roundabouts are set some way back, drivers typically brake far too late. If I cycle in the road I have a clear view of cars approaching from the left.

3) I'm usually doing between 20and 23 mph down priory lane andI would rather be a minor inconvenience to speeding motorists than a risk to pedestrians.

4) The cycle lane is on the one side of the pavement, so if I'm heading back towards Richmond Park, I have to veer across both lanes onto the cycle lane and then back out across both lanes onto the road when the cycle lane vanishes 3/4 of the way along priory lane.

pinkbikini

whyohwhy10 wrote:

Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth cyclists don't use the lovely wide SAFE cycle lane on this road??

I'll add the the chorus of "unsuitable for cycling" comments. The bike path forces you to cross the road twice to use it heading towards the park. It crosses many roads and driveways which have limited visibility to cars driving onto the road and is therefore far more dangerous to any bikes going above walking pace.

Motorists heading towards the park are likely to be held up anyway once they enter the park, which they typically use as a shortcut (so I have little sympathy with them). I've never felt hassled by cars anyway when cycling along the road there at ~20mph. I don't want to be siphoned away from the main flow of traffic just so that motorists can concentrate even less than they already do.

If a car wants to drive at 30mph and overtake me (going at 20mph) they can wait for a suitable gap and do so safely. That's what you're supposed to do when you're driving. It's really not that difficult.

georgee

One more voice to add to the 'why not use this debate'

I commute both ways along it and appart from the poor lane discapline, hidden entrance, appalling surface. No one has pointed out it is used by kids cycling and walking to work, last thing they need is me holding a steady 35kph towards them. Well done to the parents of these kids, rather than the buffons parked on the pavement outside the school.

Also, there are only two more holes in the carriageway remaining, e-mail Steve Jolly at wandsworth to ask what he's doing about them

sjolley@wandsworth.gov.uk

It only took 4 months of pester power to make them tackle the others.

NWLondoner

I've often wondered why roadies USE that poor excuse for a cycle lane.

I would't touch it with a bargpole. If anything it puts you in MORE danger!!

Mind you that that mini roundabout just before you reach RP always concerns me

:shock:

spen666

whyohwhy10 wrote:

Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth cyclists don't use the lovely wide SAFE cycle lane on this road?? Instead cyclists are cycling in the road and holding up traffic on a narrow road while the cycle lane (on the very wide pavement) is unused.

I cycle all the time and always use cycle lanes and would love MORE cycle lanes - how can we ask for more lanes when people persist in not using them?!!! Am I missing something? It makes me so angry that cyclists have a safe, well-laid out lane and more cyclists are on the road than in the lane.

Any thoughts on this from regular road users in this area are most welcome.

TROLL, TROLL, TROLL, TROLL, TROLL


Please, please, please can someone explain to me why on earth motorists don't use the lovely wide SAFE motorways instead of this road??


You use the unsafe, slow, badly designed and incomplete cycle lanes, I will carry on using the part of the highway designed for traffic, as I am part of the traffic



Why oh why do motorists insist on using

spen666

whyohwhy10 wrote:

Thanks to you all for letting me know why cyclists aren't in the cycle lane - that does explain it a bit. I still think that we should be using lanes where they have been designated and that if they aren't safe or suitable then we need to change that directly and not by riding on the road instead. But I am not cycling at 20mph (I'm much slower!) so can understand why the pavement lane must be frustrating if you are going at speed.

OldSkool - I am definitely not the cyclist who ranted at you

Too late Turkey - you've missed the vote for Christmas this year

The road was designed for traffic. Cyclists are traffic QED

mattsaw

Just to add to the list of faults with the Priory Lane bike lane, during autumn there is a 2-3 week period where wet decomposing leaves are left on the surface. Trying to negotiate these at speed is as bad as finding yourself on black ice.