Blackfriars Bridge cycle lane removed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

On Thu, 27 May 2004 10:01:42 +0100 someone who may be Richard
wrote this:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

I was fascinated by this bit:

The cycle lane was put up the middle of the road to allow
traffic to turn left without getting in the way of cyclists.

The BBC are perpetuating the idea that cyclists are not part of the
traffic.

Still, it did not take three deaths to have the change made. It does
outrage me that the smug git officials putting this sort of
"facility" in place will not listen to people who know what they are
talking about, except when jolted out of their smugness.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

"Richard" wrote in message
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

It would be nice to see an interview with the supposed 'experts' who
designed that. Near me they have widened a pavement so as to slow down the
traffic (!!!? thats what they said) however the pavement is the same colour
as the road and by the exit from a garage. I've seen several people turn
left out of the garage and start driving along the pavement (its about 10ft
wide) before they realised what was happening. Chances are they will without
thinking veer to the right and onto the road without looking, so eventually
there will be an accident in the place where they put measures in place to
reduce accidents.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks for email address

David Hansen typed


On Thu, 27 May 2004 10:01:42 +0100 someone who may be Richard
wrote this:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

I was fascinated by this bit:

The cycle lane was put up the middle of the road to allow
traffic to turn left without getting in the way of cyclists.

The BBC are perpetuating the idea that cyclists are not part of the
traffic.

Still, it did not take three deaths to have the change made. It does
outrage me that the smug git officials putting this sort of
"facility" in place will not listen to people who know what they are
talking about, except when jolted out of their smugness.


The Evening Standard ran fairly cycling-sympathetic articles about it
last night, SHOCK HORROR!

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

David Hansen wrote:

Still, it did not take three deaths to have the change made.

In general, sadly, it does. A stark contrast with, eg, the aviation
industry, where "near-misses" are examined closely and action taken
*before* they turn into anything worse.

in message , Richard
') wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

Result!

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; not so much a refugee from reality, more a bogus
;; asylum seeker

"Richard" wrote in message
...
David Hansen wrote:

Still, it did not take three deaths to have the change made.

In general, sadly, it does. A stark contrast with, eg, the aviation
industry, where "near-misses" are examined closely and action taken
*before* they turn into anything worse.

Problem is with relating that to road transport is that no-one reports
"near-misses" on the road.

Simon Brooke wrote in message ...
in message , Richard
') wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

Result!

I was on Blackfriars bridge on Monday when they were filming. As I see
it the problem seems to be that the cycle lane was in the middle of
the traffic lanes, ie not where drivers of large vehicles expect to
come up upon bikes; although the removal is welcome as it ws clearly
dangerous it just goes to show how little attention is paid to
cyclists when they share the road. For this reason I avoid cycle lanes
unless they are separate from the road or part of a bus lane, there
does not seem to be the money or space to design them properly, and
until they can it is often safer not to use them. My 2p.

On Thu, 27 May 2004 11:10:07 +0100, Tumbleweed wrote:

"Richard" wrote in message
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3751741.stm

It would be nice to see an interview with the supposed 'experts' who
designed that.

I would prefer to see the company/council prosecuted. It might stop these
DIY road planners popping up and designing mad schemes.

Steve

Interesting to see this in the latest CTC e-mail newsletter:
"Transport for London (TfL) has removed the controversial cycle lane
on Blackfriars Bridge in London in which cyclist Vicki McCreery
died following a collision with a bus. The cycle lane has been subject
of vehement criticism in the national media, much of it seriously
misguided. Whilst it could doubtless have been better designed, it was
not fundamentally in the wrong place – it needed to be one lane out from
the edge of the road to help cyclists avoid being cut up by
left-filtering traffic. CTC awaits news of whether TfL will be
bringing forward a better design, or whether the lane will be scrapped
altogether to appease the media frenzy."

From the pictures that I've seen, I'm not convinced that the lane was
not in the wrong place. It looks to me like a road that would be better
without any cycle lane (much like most roads, in fact).

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine