please empty your brain below

Fear not DG, for most of the critical times traffic will be stationary around the whole roundabout and over the ASL bike space, which people will take as much notice of as every other ASL in London. You can cross at any point, dodging the weaving cyclists stupid enough to be inveigled into this idealised space.

I have to say I am getting more than a little tired of the gesture politics that seeks to "do something" with the inevitable half-arsed facility as a result.

Maybe my view is too jaundiced.

So no pedestrian phase eh, why dont you write to them DG with a detailed plan of the suggestion that you put forward to your readers a few months ago making use of the actual roundabout as a crossing place, I though it was brilliant in its simplicity, incorporated within the current red light phase it would not cause any further delay to traffic than at the current time.

Hmmm. So you take about a metre out of the existing roadspace, and create a raised kerb to make sure it's a segregated area.
And there are still going to be two lanes for the remaining traffic, but they'll be proportionately narrower, so remaining traffic - cars, vans, buses and lorries - are going to be squeezed closer together.
Ummm...
... sorry, but I can't see much space left for motorbikes to filter down the middle any more.
No thanks :(


As Ham said, all the rest of London's ASLs are ignored so I am interested to see how they plan to enforce this. Also I would imagine that unless the timing of the lights is favourable to cyclists they might well ignore the cycle lane as it means waiting twice as opposed to once for cars. Less risk perhaps but nobody wants to be held up on their journey for longer.

Ultimately in my opinion TfL are not willing to do anything that negatively affects motorists. They will put in token cycle lanes, blue paint etc but the stuff that makes the real difference (such as removing entire lanes of traffic or putting in the pedestrian crossings at bow roundabout) will make things worse for drivers. Yes there will be more queues and longer delays but considering around 60% of journeys in London are under 5 miles it might encourage a few people to get out of their cars and onto their feet/bikes.



Just wait until there is a significant number of silent electric vehicles - cyclists will have to learn to bite back their impatience and obey the traffic lights or be mown down.
The trouble with ASL's for vehicle drivers is that if a vehicle covers the ASL then moves off after a change in the lights, the vehicle behind could easily find itself encroached upon it but unable to move. The driver is being asked to pay attention to a raised set of lights, the vehicles immediately in front of them, their rear view mirrors for motorcyclists approaching from behind etc and the paint signs on the road surface. That's quite a feat when the road is busy! How many people do you know with full 360 degree vision?

I think I speak for everyone when I say that I do not give a sod about the smoothness of traffic flow.

"Hmmm. So you take about a metre out of the existing roadspace, and create a raised kerb to make sure it's a segregated area.
And there are still going to be two lanes for the remaining traffic, but they'll be proportionately narrower, so remaining traffic - cars, vans, buses and lorries - are going to be squeezed closer together."

No Roger W, The additional space for the cycle lane will be taken from the currently very wide footpath area and not the roadspace, so the traffic lanes will not be reduced in width, this as DG said is something that really should have been done within the original works.

swirlythingy: no, actually you don't. As a regular bus user in the area the roundabout seizing up is a big problem, as all the local bus routes pass through it!

Another innovation, which would prpbably make life safer for cyclists, is the left hand drive bus in the illustration. Mind you, it would be inconvenient for he passengers!

There is presumably no law against cyclists using the main traffic lane when its lights are green?

@fishislandskin
"No Roger W, The additional space for the cycle lane will be taken from the currently very wide footpath area and not the roadspace, so the traffic lanes will not be reduced in width, this as DG said is something that really should have been done within the original works."
I kinda figured someone would probably say that. But, hey... I'm going by the colour drawing, which clearly suggests the space is going to come out of the roadspace, rather than the pavement. Just look at the way the road tapers in, after the bus stop.




Roger W, If you zoom in on the colour drawing it shows existing kerb lines and new proposed kerb lines and clearly shows that the new reserved bike lane will be constructed within the current ( very wide footway) and will not reduce the width of the current traffic lanes.

OK, thanks: your explanation does seem to clarify it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17618659

I give up.

Alas, Anonymous Commenter, Peter Hendy is right when he says "We will never be able to make it perfectly safe."

The true pie-in-the-sky comment comes from the campaigns officer of the London Cycling Campaign... "Our solution would be to simply take out the roundabout all together. It's a flawed design, so why not get rid of it completely?"

I could write a week of posts on why getting rid of the roundabout would be an even more flawed idea.











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