Effect of Cycle Lanes on Cyclist Road Space

Interesting new study on the Warrington Cycle Campaign website

http://www.17beechroad.freeserve.co....ycle-lanes.pdf

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

Interesting and I suspect that the conclusion that vehicles pass closer
with cycle lane markings than without is true.

But really there are no significant statistics here and it must have
been tempting to show the most extreme photos. In reality, vehicles may
not typically give that much room when overtaking the cyclist with no
cycle lane.

I find cycle lanes quite useful sometimes, particularly in areas
subject to standing traffic, but I totally agree with the study on
widths - many are pathetically narrow. Anecdotally, lanes near me seem
to be very much appreciated by slower or less experienced cyclists and
I've always taken the view that if that gives then confidence to keep
cycling then that's great.

PD

"Paul" wrote in message
oups.com...
Interesting and I suspect that the conclusion that vehicles pass closer
with cycle lane markings than without is true.

But really there are no significant statistics here and it must have
been tempting to show the most extreme photos. In reality, vehicles may
not typically give that much room when overtaking the cyclist with no
cycle lane.

the sample size is also rather small. Any inferences that may be drawn from
the 'experiment' are open to dismantling by the experts.

Are there any research finding from a similar experiment done by reputable
research bodies?

I'm not disputing the findings, I just think that they can be too easily
dismissed as being the results of an amateurish attempt to put a point of
view across.

Paul wrote:
Interesting and I suspect that the conclusion that vehicles pass
closer with cycle lane markings than without is true.

But really there are no significant statistics here and it must have
been tempting to show the most extreme photos. In reality, vehicles
may not typically give that much room when overtaking the cyclist
with no cycle lane.


What a pity that the sound point behind the paper is weakened by the choice
of photographs open to challenge:

Figure 1: the two stretches of road 'are' different widths. Same clearance
in the second photo would take the car over the white line.

Figure 2: The coach is overtaking with no oncoming traffic and crosses the
white line to give maximum clearance, the bus is faced with oncoming traffic
and cannot cross the white line

Figure 3: Ditto the first lorry has a clear road the second has oncoming
traffic

The premise: "Car drivers give less room in otherwise identical situations
if there is a cycle lane", has an intuitive ring of truth but the
photographs given do little to prove or disprove this as the situations
shown have significant differences.

pk

Interesting new study on the Warrington Cycle Campaign website

http://www.17beechroad.freeserve.co....paign/report/c
ycle-lanes.pdf

What we need to do is find a road that is about to have a cycle lane
painted on. We can then redo the experiment in a more robust manner.

Mark Thompson wrote:
Interesting new study on the Warrington Cycle Campaign website

http://www.17beechroad.freeserve.co....paign/report/c
ycle-lanes.pdf

What we need to do is find a road that is about to have a cycle lane
painted on. We can then redo the experiment in a more robust manner.

You can do something similar cycling south on Vauxhaul Bridge in
London. Take the cycle lane, and cars pass you real close. Ignore the
cycle lane and sit in the left hand wheel track of the left hand lane,
and cars mostly pass you with loads of room. This is what I usually
do, since I think the cycle lane is dangerously narrow.

LSMike wrote:

You can do something similar cycling south on Vauxhaul Bridge in
London. Take the cycle lane, and cars pass you real close. Ignore the
cycle lane and sit in the left hand wheel track of the left hand lane,
and cars mostly pass you with loads of room. This is what I usually
do, since I think the cycle lane is dangerously narrow.


Same with Southwark Bridge going North. Take the cycle lane between
lanes 1 and 2 and cars pass you close on both sides, sit in lane 1 and
they usually pass with plenty of room.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

Tony Raven wrote:


Same with Southwark Bridge going North. Take the cycle lane between
lanes 1 and 2 and cars pass you close on both sides, sit in lane 1 and
they usually pass with plenty of room.


IMTS Blackfriars Bridge

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

LSMike wrote:
Mark Thompson wrote:
Interesting new study on the Warrington Cycle Campaign website

http://www.17beechroad.freeserve.co....paign/report/c
ycle-lanes.pdf

What we need to do is find a road that is about to have a cycle lane
painted on. We can then redo the experiment in a more robust manner.

You can do something similar cycling south on Vauxhaul Bridge in
London. Take the cycle lane, and cars pass you real close. Ignore the
cycle lane and sit in the left hand wheel track of the left hand lane,
and cars mostly pass you with loads of room. This is what I usually
do, since I think the cycle lane is dangerously narrow.

Not directly related but;

I was cycling down the A22 last night; there is a single carriageway
section about a mile and a half long which is fairly bendy so has two
unbroken white lines, no cycle lane.Most cars were crossing the white
line to pass me. Should they have sat on my rear wheel for a mile and a
half? it was dark so they could clearly see uncoming traffic. I would
personally rather they crossed the white line to pass me than try to
squeeze between me and the centre line. Plus the time that they spent
over the unbroken line was much less than if they were passing another
vehicle.

MartinM wrote:
.

Not directly related but;

I was cycling down the A22 last night; there is a single carriageway
section about a mile and a half long which is fairly bendy so has two
unbroken white lines, no cycle lane.Most cars were crossing the white
line to pass me. Should they have sat on my rear wheel for a mile and
a half? it was dark so they could clearly see uncoming traffic. I
would personally rather they crossed the white line to pass me than
try to squeeze between me and the centre line. Plus the time that
they spent over the unbroken line was much less than if they were
passing another vehicle.

highway code

108: Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you
MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter
adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary to
pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road
maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10mph or less.

pk