Five second rule

desweller

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-23723866

How far can you get in 5 seconds? Sounds like the basis of a new Strava metric to me!

moarspeed

That's just going to cause even more resentment against cyclists...... What on earth are they thinking??

Headhuunter

Great idea. This is exactly the sort of thing which will help prevent deaths at junctions by left turning Lorries etc. if motorists resent it then tough. Pedestrians already have all green man phases at lights so why shouldn't cyclists have priority? It's about time car drivers were made second rate citizens in urban areas, cars take up a disproportionate amount of space on roads we ALL pay for and pollute out cities....

meanredspider

Ah - that's Gonville Place (my dad was the first manager of the Lloyds Bank on the corner - the Portland stone building on the right). Last time i was in Cambridge, at that junction I saw a cyclist knock the door mirror clean off a car at that junction. The cyclist picked it up and apologised as he handed it back to the motorist and then cycled off. I was stunned how relaxed the driver was as he'd been stationary in a queue to that junction.

Runtothehills

I use that junction every day and I'm not sure how good an idea it is.

The last plans I saw had advanced stop lines with those stupid 3 m long cycle lanes leading up to them. All I can see this doing is encourage more unexperienced cyclists to undertake traffic when there isn't really room to do so. Then if there isn't room at the front of the queue or if the lights change while they're undertaking they're in a very bad position with the traffic moving off, overtaking too close and cutting across the cyclist (sometimes through no fault of their own, I've seen cyclist try to undertake a slow moving, but still moving, car that's indicating left within 3m of the turning). I try to get into the queue of traffic while it's stationary as then the car driver behind can clearly see me and there's no-one next to me when I move off.

On the other hand the developement doesn't appear to be exactly what was proposed so there may be some hope: although in 3 of the 4 roads I can't see enough room to put a proper cycle lane in (not that it stopped them planning one for one of those roads) and on the 4th there is room as the plan I saw took an entire lane out, but still only a 3m long cycle lane???.

iPete

Not very far if there's a moped blocking me from filtering

That aside, very far...

t4tomo

is this not a thread about picking up food that has momentarily fallen on the floor :?:

ad_snow

I think it's a great idea. Takes a bit of pressure off having to clip in at the first attempt or for all the poor hipster girls riding their Dutch bikes that can't actually get going after stopping as they are too heavy..

Headhuunter

ad_snow wrote:

I think it's a great idea. Takes a bit of pressure off having to clip in at the first attempt or for all the poor hipster girls riding their Dutch bikes that can't actually get going after stopping as they are too heavy..

And all those people on highly geared fixies and SS and people who don't understand bike gears who come to a stop at lights in the big ring little gear at the back without thinking about shifting down as they stop...

corriebee1

meanredspider wrote:

Ah - that's Gonville Place (my dad was the first manager of the Lloyds Bank on the corner - the Portland stone building on the right). Last time i was in Cambridge, at that junction I saw a cyclist knock the door mirror clean off a car at that junction. The cyclist picked it up and apologised as he handed it back to the motorist and then cycled off. I was stunned how relaxed the driver was as he'd been stationary in a queue to that junction.

I work next door. And we (my employers) own that (fairly hideous) Lloyds Bank Building!

corriebee1

So this junction opened yesterday, and i used the "cyclists priority" lights for the first time this morning.

It works great!! I can't see it being appropriate for every junction, but larger junctions where there's a bit of distance to travel between the stop light and the actual point of your turn, i could see it working well. I was in primary (in the cycle area at the front of the queue) and had plenty of time to clip in, set off and get round the corner onto the open road before cars started coming past me.

Okay so it's not a separate cycle junction, but fair play to Cambridge Council for pioneering it and coming up with what is a very good compromise.

rick_chasey

Getting passed the gutter-to-gutter traffic just before the actual junction is the main problem with that junction. Never really felt it was a dodgey junction for safety.

Runtothehills

Rick Chasey wrote:

Getting passed the gutter-to-gutter traffic just before the actual junction is the main problem with that junction. Never really felt it was a dodgey junction for safety.

Same here: main risk was the idiots that think undertaking a lorry indicating left at the front of the queue as the lights turn green is a good idea. I've got to the stage now that I know the timings and how much traffic can get through in each phase. If I'm close enough to get through I just wait in the middle of the lane - much safer than trying to filter up the inside of people who could move off at any time.

I also wish they hadn't re-painted the advanced stop lines on the junction - advanced stop lines with no cycle lane going to them are worse than useless as all they do is encourage unsafe undertaking so inexperienced cyclists put themselves in danger.

corriebee1

Well. I still think it's a huge improvement on what was there previously. Where students would filter down the inside/middle/outside of traffic, then ignore the red lights and pedestrians crossing to jump 10m ahead to the next set of lights, then get swamped by (no doubt irate) traffic when the lights went green.

notsoblue

MOARspeed wrote:

That's just going to cause even more resentment against cyclists...... What on earth are they thinking??

Yes, god forbid we do anything to make cycling safer that may cause resentment from people who *already* resent cyclists for simply being on the same road as them.

Runtothehills

corriebee1 wrote:

Well. I still think it's a huge improvement on what was there previously. Where students would filter down the inside/middle/outside of traffic, then ignore the red lights and pedestrians crossing to jump 10m ahead to the next set of lights, then get swamped by (no doubt irate) traffic when the lights went green.

It's mostly not the students as:

a) It's out of term time at the moment so there are no students about, I haven't noticed substantally fewer cyclists at the junction

b) That junction isn't on the commute for many students. Possibly some of the chemists but most students use Trumpington road.

I agree there are rather dodgy filtering practices going on but I'm a bit tired of some of the Newspapers round here blaming students for everything.

corriebee1

Okey doke

It's not always students (although during term time they do represent a large chunk of traffic on that road too). I commute in every day either through Trumpington or in on the busway and up Hills Road.

Anyway. I'm not talking about at this precise moment. That junction was always a classic for (generic) cyclist RLJ'ing. In fact, red light ignoring really. It seems (although I've only been through it twice so far) as though those who used to filter through the traffic and RLIgnore now filter through and stop in the cyclist zone. Then they get away before the traffic hits the turn. Safer for cyclists and pedestrians, and less frustrating/angering for drivers.

Runtothehills

I also commute across there every day (from Parkers Piece to Lensfield road), agree that some red light jumping occured previously though and that may have reduced.

There are good and bad bits to the junction. I love the way now when I go towards Parker's Piece there's a pedestrian island which forces cars to jink slightly. Before the changes they'd cut into the right turn lane for cars coming towards them to overtake without realising it narrows quickly and cutting me up. Now that can't happen which is fantastic.

I don't like the advaced stop lines without a filter lane as it encourages unsafe filtering.