Cycle Lane Removal

"Catboy" wrote in message
om...
For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road. Nobody wants to have
anything to do with it and it is impossible to pinpoint who has
responsibility for this, I am told I will be called back but it never
happens.

This section of road is almost impossible to by-pass by side routes
and despite the cycle lane being on the outside of parked cars,

One of the first things we teach youngsters starting to ride
is to give parked cars a big clearance. That is the last place
you want to see a cycle lane.

it at
least gave me a little bit of reassurance when cycling on what is a
very fast road, especially considering that I am already very nervous
here following a motorcycle accident here three years ago which
resulted in horrific and ongoing injuries. Any advice?

Write to the council and ask them to replace the cycle lane
with a hatched area to discourage cyclists from riding to the door zone.

"PD" wrote in message
...

I know it's counter-intuitive, but those cycle lanes actually increase
your risk. Your council are doing the right thing as far as cycle
safety is concerned in removing them. I realise that this sounds
unsympathetic and doesn't help with your confidence problem, but you
really are better off without them.
(Simon Brooke)

In fact many cyclists do like cycle lanes and I'm not so sure that we
should be so quick to put them down. I'm personally not that bothered
about them - but I do think they make fast commuting a bit more risky

Why would they not do the same for slow commuting?

because they sometimes put you in the wrong position.

Indeed, such as this example - in the door zone.

However, I know that
there are roads around me that my children and also my elderly
mother-in-law (regular cyclist around 50 years) simply would not now cycle
on without them.

One of the major downsides of facilities is that their existence is creating
the impression that normal roads are unsuitable for cycling.

Here in York we've got quite a lot of fairly well designed lanes that
often carve out useful space from fairly narrow congested roads.

Cycle lanes do not carve out space for cyclists - the intention
is to restrict cyclist space so that drivers can always overtake.

I've seen
the engineering that's gone into them including kerb re-alignment to
create space etc.

It is the creation of space that is important.
If the traffic lane has been made wide enough to permit safe overtaking
then that is a good thing. There is no need to spoil it by painting a
cycle lane. The effect of cycle lanes is for drivers to take less care
leave less space and pass closer than they otherwise would.

OTOH some of the lanes I've seen in London seem to
condemn you to a narrow strip on otherwise wide roads so I can see where
some of the anti-cycle-lane stuff comes from.

Virtually all the cycle lanes I have seen are much too narrow.
Cyclists need at least 2m of road space. Any cycle lane
narrower than that is reallocating road space away from
cyclists and towards motor vehicles.

But when you condemn cycle lanes (+facilities generally), don't forget
older people, children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, people
who want to cycle slowly ...and perhaps most importantly of all people
who'd like to cycle but currently don't. I'm prepared to compromise if it
means more people on bikes.

As an experienced cyclist and I don't like to subject myself to the
unnescesary risks that cycle facilities impose. Why should the
people you describe be any less risk averse than I am.

For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road. Nobody wants to have
anything to do with it and it is impossible to pinpoint who has
responsibility for this, I am told I will be called back but it never
happens.

This section of road is almost impossible to by-pass by side routes
and despite the cycle lane being on the outside of parked cars, it at
least gave me a little bit of reassurance when cycling on what is a
very fast road, especially considering that I am already very nervous
here following a motorcycle accident here three years ago which
resulted in horrific and ongoing injuries. Any advice?

"Catboy" wrote in message
om...
For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road. Nobody wants to have
anything to do with it and it is impossible to pinpoint who has
responsibility for this, I am told I will be called back but it never
happens.

This section of road is almost impossible to by-pass by side routes
and despite the cycle lane being on the outside of parked cars, it at
least gave me a little bit of reassurance when cycling on what is a
very fast road, especially considering that I am already very nervous
here following a motorcycle accident here three years ago which
resulted in horrific and ongoing injuries. Any advice

Many cycle lanes are just a waste of money. If you want the council to
invest in a worth while cycling feature get them to paint double yellow
lines instead.

(Catboy) wrote in message . com...

This section of road is almost impossible to by-pass by side routes
and despite the cycle lane being on the outside of parked cars, it at
least gave me a little bit of reassurance when cycling on what is a
very fast road, especially considering that I am already very nervous
here following a motorcycle accident here three years ago which
resulted in horrific and ongoing injuries. Any advice?

Keep quiet and they may forget to replace it.

I'm sorry to hear about your accident, and it is understandable that
the cycle lane made you feel safer. This feeling was almost certainly
illusory, however. This particular lane sounds like an invitation to a
dooring.

--
Dave...

(Catboy)typed


For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road. Nobody wants to have
anything to do with it and it is impossible to pinpoint who has
responsibility for this, I am told I will be called back but it never
happens.

I don't think the road (A1000) is a Trunk Road. Therefore it is the
responsibility of the Local Authority.

Barnet Council have acted 'unusually' recently when resurfacing roads,
removing speed humps because Br**n C*****n doesn't like them.

The local paper has had various road safety features recently. Write a
letter to the Hendon & Finchley Times and ask what has happened to the
cycle lane. This might get some officials to crawl out of the woodwork.

The Barnet section of London Cycling Campaign does not meet again until
the end of January.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

"Catboy" wrote in message
om...
For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road.

Is this perhaps Barnet Council policy? IIRC they want to rip up all the
speed bumps and have a very negative attitude towards cycling provision.
Quite possibly it's deliberate.

Rich

"Catboy" wrote in message
om...
For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information
from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced
after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road.

So have I, and I am London Cycling Campaign Coordinator for Barnet,
and CTC Right-to-Ride rep'.

There's not much point really, I think, in talking to the
bureaucrats. It's a political decision, and the Tories are doing
about what they promised to do before the last election.

The best thing to do, if you live in Barnet, is to go along to one of
your councillors' Saturday surgeries, and talk to them, especilly if
they are tories. Try to keep things civilized - you are objecting to
a policy, not a person - and if you do it right, you can establish
yourself as somebody worth listening to next time, because of your
knowledge and civilized behaviour.

This is especially true if you live in Totteridge ward. One of their
councillors is Brian Coleman (ph 020-8349-2024) who is Cabinet Member
for the Environment, i.e. roads, and parks, and planning. He will
probably tell you to send him a letter. This is probably worth
doing, although only for its long term effect. Politicians like to
develop policies that the public like, and one way of telling this is
by counting letters. An individual letter counts more than just one
more copy of an identical mass porduced letter.

There are sone subsidiary issues.

One thing I don't know about is "Traffic Regulation Orders" (TRO).
If there was a mandatory bike lane the council would have had to pass
a TRO to prohibit cars from that lane. Whether that would have
prevented cars from crossing the bike lane to get in and out of the
parking places, I don't know. The council is supposed to publicise
TROs, and normally send Barnet LCC and the CTC a letter when they do
so. Presumably it would take another TRO to remove the prohibition.
Unless something somehow slipped by us, I don't think we got any such
letter about the E. Finchley High Road.

All that being said, although I object to being kept in the dark, I
hated those bike lanes. I am not alone, either. If you look at the
TfL bike map, you will notice that the bike lanes now being removed
are not shown on that map. This is because when the map was being
developed, the surveyor from Cycle City Guides thought the bike lanes
were so dangerous that beginners, who might not recognise the
dangers, should not be encouraged to ride in the lanes.

This is one of four places in Barnet where the facilities were
omitted from the map for that reason.

Actually, I'm surprised that if Cycle City Guides removed that bit
from the map, they kept the bike route where it crosses the North
Circular Road. One quarter of cyclist fatalities in London occur
when cyclists get inside left turning lorries. With the amount of
traffic turning off the High Road onto the N. Circ' those
intersections look like killers, although, so far as I know, they
haven't killed anyone yet, and I'm not volunteering.

In other news from Barnet, the council, which cancelled adult bike
education a few months ago has now cancelled children's bike
education as well.

A few years ago, because of general dissatisfaction with the quality
of bike facilities in London, the steering committee of the London
Cycle network had a mass quality audit of London bike facilities.
Barnet's audit, by consultants Colin Buchanan and partners, was
issued in June 2000. None of the suggestions in the report have been
and, apparently, none will be implemented. My prize for bad
locations is where station Road, Edgeware, intersects the Edgeware
Rd. Again we get the turning traffic problem. The straght on bike
lane is at the kerb, the left turn only general traffic lane is to
its right.

Jeremy Parker

Barnet LCC Borough Coordinator
CTC Right to Ride rep', Barnet

Richard Goodman wrote:

Is this perhaps Barnet Council policy? IIRC they want to rip up all the
speed bumps and have a very negative attitude towards cycling provision.
Quite possibly it's deliberate.

TBH I'd like all speed cushions, chicanes, islands and mini-roundabouts
removed. None of them are helpful to cyclists as they increase the risk
of us being squashed - drivers are reluctant to give us any room if
there are speed cushions because it would involve hitting the damn
things at their highest point, chicanes are just a stupid fuel-wasting
obstruction that actually speed cars up [1], islands get us crushed
between HGVs and the kerb and no form of roundabout is really any good
for bikes. Keep the roads clear and wide, buy more speed cameras and
put them in 20mph/30mph zones where they might save a few lives.

[1] if they don't have priority but can avoid stopping by accelerating
slightly to get through the chicane first, most drivers will do so.
It's a natural reaction to avoid having to stop unnecessarily.

(Catboy) writes:

For several weeks now, I have been trying to get some information from
Barnet Council and TFL as to why the cycle lane was not replaced after
road re-surfacing on the East Finchley High Road. Nobody wants to have
anything to do with it and it is impossible to pinpoint who has
responsibility for this, I am told I will be called back but it never
happens.

This section of road is almost impossible to by-pass by side routes
and despite the cycle lane being on the outside of parked cars, it at
least gave me a little bit of reassurance when cycling on what is a
very fast road, especially considering that I am already very nervous
here following a motorcycle accident here three years ago which
resulted in horrific and ongoing injuries. Any advice?

I know it's counter-intuitive, but those cycle lanes actually increase
your risk. Your council are doing the right thing as far as cycle
safety is concerned in removing them. I realise that this sounds
unsympathetic and doesn't help with your confidence problem, but you
really are better off without them.

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

The Conservative Party now has the support of a smaller proportion of
the electorate in Scotland than Sinn Fein have in Northern Ireland.