Friday 9 April 2010

cycle friendly?

OK...in and around where I live there have been measures taken to make the whole area "cycle friendly".
On the surface this is a good thing...being as the bulk of the area is fairly flat...but..the local county council have gone one more step.....At most of the traffic lights in the area there are now cycle lanes and cycle priority lanes. Thus restricting, at many junctions...the past flow of two lanes of traffic down to one,
The traffic lights nearest me are a good illustration!
before the alterations....there were rarely tail backs from the junction....now they regularly extend at least half a mile back from the junction! With Easter break they have been much worse.
I am on the side of cyclists having safe areas to ride...but this is silly...no-one is stopping the jerks who still insist on riding the wrong way down one way streets...or cycling on a footpath ...when there is a recognised cycle path only a maximum of 10 feet away
Cycling is a cleaner..more environmentally better way to get around...but cyclists should abide by the highway code. One way means one way for all wheeled vehicles...footpath..means on foot. If you want to use these short cuts..you should respect them..and dismount!"

2 comments:

Michael Gradwell said...

I have just returned from cycle city - I mean Cambridge, and I heard that there were 35000 bicycles within the city boundaries. I don't think we do too badly for considerate cyclists in Morecambe. I was surprised that I never saw an accident the way they were cycling, but I was only there two days.

Sea said...

It's the idiots who ride cycles without ever looking at the highway code that are dangerous. On the stretch of West End Road that is one way you frequently get cyclists going the wrong way "hell for leather" . They would be in the wrong in case of an accident, but that wouldn't ease the person's conscience who collided with them. There should be some sort of competence test that entails cyclists being aware of the highway code, and following it.