The worst examples of substandard cycling infrastructure do no better a job at creating safe spaces for cycling than our Heath Robinson-inspired self-laying cycle lane.
All too often, poorly designed cycle lanes end up little more than a cheap and nasty way of promoting cycling – they take circuitous routes, are poorly maintained and often parked in by cars so it’s little wonder that most experienced cyclists tend to avoid them. In fact, it will come as little surprise to anyone who rides a bike, but cycle lanes can make roads more dangerous for cyclists.
It’s reason we like this seasonal idea from Transportation Alternatives….
When it comes to bike lanes, paint is not protection.
So when we found ourselves with too many pumpkins this Halloween, there was only one thing we could do… pic.twitter.com/1fGDD8JB7E
— Transportation Alternatives (@TransAlt) October 31, 2021
Over a decade ago a study by Leeds and Bolton universities has come to the conclusion that ‘cycle lanes do not appear to provide greater space for cyclists in all conditions’. Researchers attached a camera to the back of a bicycle and rode along roads that had stretches with and without cycle lanes. They found that when there was no cycle lane, drivers tended to give riders a wider berth. When there was a cycle lane, motorists drove closer to the bikes.
Most of Britain’s cycle lanes do not comply with the width of 1.5m (5ft) recommended by the Department for Transport.
The study suggested reducing the speed of traffic would do more to improve cycle safety than narrow cycle lanes.
The ethical choice
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance, breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.
Jon Pennycook
Fully segregated cycle tracks are the best. Sharing narrow paths with pedestrians/joggers/dog walkers etc. is daft, especially when they are overgrown. Paint-based cycle lanes leave you too close to lorries, or too close to the kerb so people joining from side roads can’t see you. Hampshire County Council sees the DfT standards as stretch targets – we have many advisory cycle lanes that are less than 1m wide – so narrow that cars struggle to park in them.
John Fletcher
Here in Yorkshire, cycle lanes have a nasty habit of terminating suddenly to spit us into a pinch created by a pedestrians’ traffic island in the middle of the road. And it’s here that some oiks on four wheels will try to overtake, just where it’s most dangerous for us.
Segregated cycle lanes often have a surface which is only fit for dead slow or full suspension MTBs: useless for my carbon racer.
Keep campaigning!
Chris
Cycle lanes, especially sub-standard ones (the type most commonly encountered), encourage certain motorists to believe that cyclists should remain in them at all times and that narrow stripe of paint means it’s perfectly acceptable for them to pass dangerously close to a cyclist while travelling at high speed.