Cyclecraft

Just released, a new and significantly updated edition of John Franklin's Cyclecraft - the definitive guide to safe cycling.

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/

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cycling, cycle lane, cycle path, cyclecraft

Danger and Cycle Facilities

More than three-quarters of the cycling crashes I've investigated as an Expert Witness have concerned cycle facilities of one kind or another. Even allowing for the bias introduced by the fact that claiming compensation after a crash on a cycle path can be more complicated than for a crash on a road, and thus more likely to require expert evidence, this number is out of all proportion to where most cycling takes place. So while cycling is generally a low-risk activity, it is a mistake to believe that cycle facilities usually make it any safer. Often it is easier to maximise your safety on road.

From "Cycling facilitated" by John Franklin

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cycling, cycle lane, cycle path, cycle track

Cairo New Road - LCN 75

A case of excessive complexity and silly markings brought on by the presence of tram tracks.



Aproaching from the south,



the cycle track crosses two tram tracks



and instead of some simple dotted white lines, there are two separate lanes.

This final give way for the footpath is a work of pure Croydon surrealism.





Satellite Image

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Tags croydon,cycling, cycle lane, cycle path

South Park Hill Road - LCN route 76

These are gutter cycle lanes of the very worst kind. They were put in at the end of 2000 and made the road so dangerous I have stopped cycling on it. When I complained to Croydon Council the junior council officer who replied tried to blame the cycle lanes on a request from a local resident.

These lanes are officially only 80cm wide. Drivers using the road now expect bicycles to get out of their way and use these dreadful lanes, when it simply is not safe to cycle that close to the edge of the road. The problem is particularly acute because this road is a busy bus route and contains several schools where parents park illegally on the road and on the pavement every morning.

The cycle lanes run along both sides of South Park Hill Road in Croydon, the B243 linking Coombe Road with Croham Road. This road slopes up to a blind summit where there is are private schools, bus stops and a well used footpath crosses from South Croydon railway station. The slope is especially steep at the southern end.

Croydon Council have failed to take any notice whatsoever of national government guidance on these matters. Back in 1996 the DoT, as it was then, published a joint guidance publication called "Cycle-friendly Infrastructure". It gave guidance on the design of cycle lanes (page 46, paragraph 11.3.2):

"Cycle lanes on links should be a minimum of 1.5m wide and 2m wherever possible.... Widths below 1.5m give cyclists very little room to manoeuvre around debris, potholes and drainage grates..."

The response from the council's so called "cycling officer" to my complaints was to blame the cycle lanes on a request from local resident, and the poor standards set by the London Cycle Network Design Manual.

This dangerous road has been added to the London Cycle Network as route 76, though it is a completely detached section with a highly dangerous double mini roundabout at the northern end and a very nasty section of road and another mini roundabout to the south.

Satellite Image
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Tags croydon,cycling, cycle lane

Tamworth Road/Cairo New Road 2

All of 10 feet away from yesterday's post is this silly little road feature, notable for being a very short, narrow and tapered cycle lane which looks like it should feed into an advanced stop area, except there isn't one...



and in close up.



...and yes that is a bus in the left hand edge of the picture about to sweep round the corner and right through the cycle "lane".

P.S. In setting up this blog I've discovered that the old Crap Cycle Lanes of Croydon site was linked by the guardian web site and within only two days of setting the site up I've already been blogged!
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Tags croydon, cycling, cycle lane

Tamworth Road/Cairo New Road

Not sure what to call this location. It's on the inside of the corner of the slip-way coming off Roman Road, but this cycle facility truly deserves the label "crap".

You have to ask the question, "What on earth did this idiot think he was trying to achieve?" I cannot answer that question as I cannot understand the mentality of a council officer who designs a cycle path with a lamp post in the middle of it, and then wastes tax-payers' money on implementing it.



A wider shot.



One possible clue is the close proximity to tram lines. Wherever you see tram lines in Croydon an idiotic cycle lane is never far away.
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Tags croydon, cycle lane