please empty your brain below
In Holland and Germany, there are all sorts of peculiar cycle facilities like this, and do you know what? Once you realise that the cycling system there has been *designed*, is *cared about* and *always connects up*, you trust official signage and just follow instructions.
Those cycle friendly roundabouts are a good example, they look bonkers at first sight, but when you use them, they "just work".
In London, however, we are so used to cycle infrastructure that is poorly designed and which gives up on is in random places, that we know we often have to make up the route ourselves and often *ignore* cycle signs to get from A to B. TfL have a lot of work to convince us that the cycle infrastructure has been built to be used, and not as a box ticking exercise, only then will people start to put their faith in their signage.
I truly hope cs2x will start to change this. The superhighways were a missed opportunity to build faith with a new brand. That opportunity was wasted.
Will the traffic lights at the advanced cycle lanes have bicycle icons on the lenses? Surely this is the easiest way to give cyclists a head start? Or introduce the mini traffic lights lower down regular traffic light poles. The French have had these for years and the Danish again use dedicated cycle versions allowing a head start.
A journey I often make has a difficult right turn on it and if the traffic is very busy I dismount before the junction and walk with my bicycle at the light controlled crossing across two roads and then continue.
I do not cycle on the pavement unless it is a shared pavement. I think there could be more shared pavements outside of town centres as some roads are narrow and have fast traffic and there is often a pavement with no or very little pedestrian use. I have seen pavements where cars can be legally parked off the road, yet cyclist have a little painted edge of the road to use. I would have though that if it is OK to drive and park your car wholly on the pavement then a bike should also be allowed.
Where pavements are shared both users should be considerate. It is frustrating where one pedestrian seems to manage to straddle the whole width of the pavement, or has a dog on a lead which also blocks the pavement. This normally only occurs when you are approaching the pedestrian from behind and they can not hear or see the cycle approaching. When this happens I slow down to walking speed and the pedestrian soon moves over. I do not shout out "get out the way" and try and mow the pedestrian down, as I have seen come inconsiderate cyclists do. Cycles should have bells, and slow down to a safe speed if there are pedestrians on the pavement.
Both my bikes have lights.
I have driven goods vehicle in the past and know about their blind spots, when cycling I keep a safe distance from trucks and never creep up on their inside if turning left.
Cycles should be allowed to turn left at red lights if it is safe to do so.
In the distant past when I was at school we had to take a cycling proficiency test. This gave a good guide for using the road and some of the things learnt then helped me pass the motorbike and later car driving test both first time. One thing that is so important and many cyclist do not do is look behind before pulling out or turning right.
I have been a London cyclist for 63 years and a motorist for 50 years, and no accidents.
Is every bus passenger expected to watch these videos?
As for cycleling on the pavement with pedestrians, I can't wait to see how that turns out. Ridiculous!
The reason there are so few cyclists in this country (despite facts like almost half the households in this part of East London not owning a car) is because it's so dangerous because of the lack of segregated infrastructure. Other northern European countries started building this years ago and consequently now have high rates of cycling.
Once the infrastructure is built (and providing it actually joins up with other routes) then you'll start to see a big increase in the number of cyclists and also in the range of people able to cycle - children, women, old people - it'll no longer be dominated by the typical 30 something male cyclist.
As for the pathetic Highway Code comment, I regularly see car drivers on mobiles, not indicating, driving dangerously, speeding, U-turning when prohibited, parking and stopping on double yellows or red routes, parking in disabled spaces, parking on corners, parking on zig-zags, etc etc, should money not be spent on roads until all car drivers behave themselves?
As for this all-new CS2*, there's some real radical thinking here!
Some of it might seem confusing now, but I'm sure it'll all be absolutely great once people start getting used to it!
I'd even suggest there should be some long and lasting acknowledgement to the "architect" behind all these pro-cycling schemes.
In the same kind of way as the lights at zebra crossings came to be named after the MP who proposed them in the 1930's), perhaps it could be a fitting honour to London's 'Commissioner for Cycling' by giving these new bus stop affairs the name "Gilligan's Islands"???
*and, yes, I guess there might be some surprise at the scale and scope of these plans, now, given some of the earlier doubts about whether anything would ever actually be done on the east side of the Bow roundabout.
Yes, I alwqays do this if using a cycle path here in Munich ie.g "cross the road showning the green pedestrian light and then cross the right angled road next road when the lights change again".
Maybe it is one light change slower than turning with the cars in the middle of the road, but generally that only just means you are quicker to the next traffic light down the road, and you didn't ruin the risk of being killed by crossing upto 8 lanes of traffic!
A mile or so up the road here in North Harrow, we've got a cycle lane on the wide pavement outside the shops along Station Road and Pinner Road. It winds past various bits of street furniture, including a large electrical equipment cabinet (possibly mobile phone related) which was planted on the cycle lane shortly after it opened! I often find myself walking along the cycle lane between home and the station, and I rarely see cyclists using it.
dg writes: That'd be here...
http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2013/08/01/sdot-on-how-to-use-two-stage-left-turn-boxes/
I'm not sure why TfL haven't tried this approach, given that it's easier for cyclists to use, and cheaper to implement as there's no need for pavement remodelling.
But what's all this gibberish in the commentary of the Two Stage Right Turn video ? What is 'a Calf Deskins'?
And why is it necessary to go all Shakespearian on the last leg of their crossing - 'Cyclists O cyclists'? Is that some kind of praise that they have made it that far ?
Poop poop.
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