Circumventing Olympic traffic disruption

sketchley

This morning turned off at Stockwell to Vauxhall then Westminster Bridge, Right turn (not allowed offically) onto Embankment then straight through to Canary Wharf. Now this was approx 7.15 / 7.30 am but Embankment was fine, bike lane on left which apart from Motorcycles in mandatory lane was fine, in fact better than fine as the only red light I got was at Southwark Bridge other than that green to the Wharf. Now why both lanes north side of tower bridge are games lanes I do not know you have to go round one way system. The highway was interesting the inside non games lanes is not very wide net result was riding down it in a strong primary at 24mph the whole way, problem was two drivers who objected and despite having to go into games lane to pass me still decided to do it less than 6 inches from me, still at least I had room to bail on the left which I wouldn't riding in gutter and getting a close pass as they try to avoid the games lane entirely. That being said the entire way down the highway i had cyclist on my right in the games lane. It remains to be seen what it is like later in the morning, will give that a go tomorrow or friday, but I can see a few more conflicts happening from riding in a strong primary position if it gets too bad I'll just give up and ride down the games lane. £30 quid fine I can afford that once in the next two weeks so worth a go.....

Paul E

It's £130 for the fine

pangolin

£130 fine I thought?

sketchley

Paul E wrote:

It's £130 for the fine

Nope £130 for motorist and motorcyles. Cycling view same a pavement cycling or red light jumping, £30 fixed penalty notice. I'll try find the link.....

bromyG

Embankment very quiet this morning (east to west) and apart from a slight detour around Tower Hill to get round the no-right turns, it was an easy ride across town.

As Paul E states, just dismounted at Northumberland Avenue and crossed at the ped crossing before carrying on round the corner!

Paul E

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18977640

Near the top, says cyclists too

dhope

Paul E wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18977640

Near the top, says cyclists too

£130? That's enough to buy a good bike with enough left over for elbow and knee pads. Ah, wrong article.

Paul E

Someone has tweeted which the bbc picked up on that is people get used to them after the games they should convert tham to cycle lanes

sketchley

From an admittedly small amount of research.

If you are stopped by the police for failing to observe a road sign or signal, same offence as an RLJ, then likey a fixed penalty notice @ £30 just like an RLJ. Failure to provide your details to said police officer is a also an offence.

Riding in the games lane is from what I can work out a civil offence not a criminal one and therefore should not be enforced by the policy but by a civil enforcer (Cameras? or Parking / Traffic Warden type people employed by the council) they have not right to detain and no right to see ID. So you can just ride off / not stop. Most games lane enforcement will be via Camera and license plates (which provide ID).

I am not a lawyer though so don't take that as gospel, and I would not recommend riding in the games lanes either.....

Paul E

They will be patrolled apparantly by civilian enforcement officers and the traffic part of the pcso brigade, locog have again as part of their power been able to set the fine, they did want it at 200 but were told where to go.

kelsen

Paul E wrote:

They will be patrolled apparantly by civilian enforcement officers and the traffic part of the pcso brigade, locog have again as part of their power been able to set the fine, they did want it at 200 but were told where to go.

So just to clarify, if you are caught cycling in them, just do a runner and they can't stop you?

Paul E

Pcso's can only hold you for a short time, no idea if they can restrain you but with the amount of police about it probably won't be too long till you are surranded and ordered to assume the position.

rick_chasey

Paul E wrote:

Pcso's can only hold you for a short time, no idea if they can restrain you but with the amount of police about it probably won't be too long till you are surranded and ordered to assume the position.

There are special rules and laws in place for the 'Olympics', so, personally, I wouldn't risk 'knowing' the law for this k nd of stuff.

Do what the say and save yourself some cash.

il_principe

Paul E wrote:

Pcso's can only hold you for a short time, no idea if they can restrain you but with the amount of police about it probably won't be too long till you are surranded and ordered to assume the position.

PSCO's can't so much as touch you. I had a row with a couple of them once. Refused to give details, to which they said they'd radio the police. I asked what was to stop me leaving in the meantime, and they said nothing. So the missus and I just rode off.

Edit: from what I've heard, the police are pretty slow at attending radio calls from the PSCO's. They probably have better things to do.

Paul E

Il Principe wrote:

Paul E wrote:

Pcso's can only hold you for a short time, no idea if they can restrain you but with the amount of police about it probably won't be too long till you are surranded and ordered to assume the position.

PSCO's can't so much as touch you. I had a row with a couple of them once. Refused to give details, to which they said they'd radio the police. I asked what was to stop me leaving in the meantime, and they said nothing. So the missus and I just rode off.

Edit: from what I've heard, the police are pretty slow at attending radio calls from the PSCO's. They probably have better things to do.

Just repeating what I had been told, which reminds me of this last year,at the end of northumberland ave to turn left onto VE there was a small section of cones blanking off the inside lane, nothing in it, to stop people using it as there were road works at least 5 metres up the road heading east.

So trying to stay safe I went just inside the last three cones so I wasn't right up against the bus waiting there but outside where the coned area was when I stopped and behind the stop line, next thing I know, 1 copper and 3 pcso's jump out asking why I had done what I had done, I explained etc etc then they went on about people could have been there (which there wasn't and I could see from about 30 metres away that there wasn't anyone or any machinery there and I was going at crawl pace) anyway after he talked at me I was told to give my details to one of the pcso's and he walked away.

I basically said no I'm not and after 10 hours of work I am going home, the lights were red so I dismounted and walked off joining after the lights.

Tw@ts, waste of time and money.

rjsterry

All this talk of sticking two fingers up to the PCSOs (gosh, how brave?) and the ORN, but from my experience this morning, there's just no need.

nich

I don't even get to play alongside the Olympic game lanes! None on my route

Paul E

This morning, the ORN has just been activated and isn't carrying a fraction of the traffic it will be carrying next week as the games aren't even open yet, when they are the situation will be a lot clearer.

unclejimbo1983

Does anyone on here go North over Southwark Bridge (London) and go either straight ahead up Queen Street or right on Upper Thames Street?

They've done loads of work putting cycle specific lights and a big protected right hand lane for cycles, but have rather ruined all the hard work by putting plastic barriers down the centre line of Upper Thames Street making it a test of trials skills to squeeze through the tiny gap.

I thought perhaps I was mistaken, but checked getaheadofthegames and the map says its no right turn except for cycles. How many cyclists were they expecting in rush hour, two or three? Both directions of traffic have to squeeze through the same gap too, seems absolutely mental! :evil:

keyser__soze

Looks like the traffic can't have been that bad and the lights priority for staying on the Highway/Embankment is paying off - some git just stole my KoM from the Wharf to Richmond by 20 seconds, and looking at his trace he only got stopped at one set of lights! Good effort fella, 20.2mph total average (not moving) is some going.

ManiaMuse

Games lanes were open to all traffic on Embankment westbound this evening although no one else seemed to realise. Had a blast sprinting it at 30mph+. Was doing about 35mph sustained behind a games coach.

I saw some games vehicles but not that many tbh. Going eastbound where I think the games lane was operational (hardly clear if you miss the sign) all the mopeds/motorbikes and a lot of cyclists were filtering on the outside and occastionally crossing the lines although a bit more tentatively than normal. I don't see what the police can do about this tbh unless they plan on fining every moped rider in London.

Millbank seems alright because they have only removed the bike symbols and the blue paint is in the middle of the road anyway because of the normal parking spaces so cyclists tended to still follow the blue paint. The sheer volume of cyclists seemed to force traffic to stay back behind.

Technical question: Am I allowed to cycle ON the white lines to overtake traffic? They are nice and wide and the surface is really pleasant to cycle on. If it was a football match it wouldn't count as a goal...

Specialized Needs

ManiaMuse wrote:

Technical question: Am I allowed to cycle ON the white lines to overtake traffic? They are nice and wide and the surface is really pleasant to cycle on. If it was a football match it wouldn't count as a goal...

If you've got odd shaped balls then you're not allowed to play on that part.

ManiaMuse

My balls are shaped like olympic rings.

DonDaddyD

Left work at 6.30pm. Ilford, clear. Ilford - Stratford, clear Startford - Bow, a substantial amount of traffic. The traffic on the other side, that's City - Stratford, so much traffic and more cyclists than I've seen in my 2 years of doing this commute.

Bow - City clear.

What Olympics.

stuj15

What I really want to know is why I counted 12 Olympic BMWs using a non ORN route. The whole point of these lanes is for them to use them and they are sat there a heap off traffic on Mansell St, and the A11. I presume they were heading for the village as they had youngish & fit looking ( ) people in the back of the cars. If they were coming from the city to the village they should have been using the Highway/A12 route. Crazy, absolutely crazy.

Paul E

DonDaddyD wrote:

Left work at 6.30pm. Ilford, clear. Ilford - Stratford, clear Startford - Bow, a substantial amount of traffic. The traffic on the other side, that's City - Stratford, so much traffic and more cyclists than I've seen in my 2 years of doing this commute.

Bow - City clear.

What Olympics.

Starts Friday, the only event is the football which isn't in this area.

cookeeemonster

I cant believe that from lower thames st (tower hill) to the highway is now banned - why the hell do they need two olympic lanes?????? the aldgate one way system is a big diversion in rush hour and the tailback went back to before the blackfriars tunnel...for no benefit.

up until then it was a breeze but any time I gained on millbank/embankment etc was well and truely lost trying to filter inbetween the many lorries and coaches that use this route and the railings on my left...what's that - it's a teeny bit dangerous? nah they'd never have taken away the cycle lanes and banned us from the zil lanes if that were so...grrrrrr etc etc

anyone know whats it's like saath of the river and going over tower bridge instead? According to my maps thy be monsters and so on

ariba

Hi
I went over Tower Bridge & thence along Jamaica Rd at about 5:30 this evening. I've seen worse it was smooth running down to the Rotherhithe roundabout and past Surrey Quays

Actually it was pretty clear all the way down to Deptford Church St, where it splits to go to Greenwich or Lewisham and then it was rammed in al lanes.

If you're not from south of the river, you'll need to remember to take your passport & make sure that your inoculations are up to date as well.

notsoblue

It really has been very quiet so far. My only gripe is Eastbound Millbank. Suspending CS8 basically means that motorised traffic are stuck behind cyclists pretty much all the way to Lambeth Roundabout. This morning a minicab was tailgating and beeping his horn at cyclists before using the ORN lane to overtake and cutting up some cyclists. Its inevitable...

cjcp

My plan: taking holiday.