Most cyclists would like to see greater provision of sensible cycle routes to help commuting around town. The problem is that council planners often assume that any kind of cycling path must be good. But, in reality I often try avoiding many cycle paths because they are very badly designed / kept up and often dangerous.
This cycle path has many road junctions. When using the cycle path, you have to give way to cars turning into main road.
What I dislike about this kind of cycle paths
- Cars Parking in the middle of them
- Pedestrians who can be erratic in their movements causing you to fall off (I’ve had more accidents on cycle paths than roads for this reason alone)
- Grit, rubbish and mud making them difficult to ride on.
- Cycle paths where you have to give way to side roads every 15 metres. In Oxford the Botley road cycle path is like this. If you go on the cycle path you have to give way to cars turning off onto side roads. This becomes dangerous because you always have to anticipate whether cars might turn right or left.
- Cycle paths which last for about 10 metres.
- Cycle Paths which you have to share with the pavement.
The best type of cycle path is one which is integrated into the road and gives you the same rights of way as a car.
Other Problems of Cycle Paths
Arguably cycle lanes encourages cars to get closer to cyclists as they feel they can get as close to the marked cycle lane as they can. This coach passes close to a cycle lane.
A rather non-existent cycle path.
Obstacles in Cycle Path
Related
- at Warrington cycle campaigns a long list of crappy cycle paths
- photo from crap cycle lanes of Croydon
In Croydon the council regularly consult the local cycle campaign, but the results are no better, because the cycle campaign also seems to think that doing something is better than nothing.
The solution to the problem is employing good quality road engineers, but they are rare….
Thanks for feedback Mike.
I think that councils often implement cycle paths without ever consulting the users (cyclists). Their attitude is that if they spend money on cycle paths things must get better. But, to be honest some are so bad, we would be better off without them altogether. This doesn’t mean cycle paths cannot be a good thing. They can be beneficial if done well.
I have been reading your blog for a while now but never commented. I could not agree with you more about your point on the dangers of cycle paths. Some are great but when they get them wrong it is a death trap waiting to trigger. I live in Portsmouth, which is lovely and flat, but they still get it wrong. When are they going to learn and follow the example proven by other cities in mainland Europe?