What happens when a nice wide road narrows? – an accident blackspot.
At this point in road, buses tend to leave plenty of space as the road is wider.
Oxford high street is quite good, in parts. But, just before these lights, one lane becomes two lanes. It means that wide vehicles like buses are tempted to squeeze past, leaving too little room.
two lanes for turning left and going straight on. The cycle lane on left hand hand side disappears.
What Can be Done About it?
- As a cyclist you just ride in a good sensible position 1-2ft from left. Don’t squeeze into the gutter trying to make room for impatient vehicle.
- Don’t overtake on Underside. This is most dangerous manoeuvre for cyclist. A very high proportion of cyclist fatalities are related to large vehicles turning left, when you undertake, you are not visible.
- Be careful overtaking other cyclists. Often I see cyclists move out into middle of road without looking or signalling. This is dangerous and annoys drivers.
- 3 Feet rule. A 3 feet rule for overtaking bikes is unlikely to become law. But, if your a big double decker bus, common sense would dictate that this as a minimum would be good rule of thumb when overtaking cyclists.
- Many large vehicle drivers are good and wait. But, some are needlessly impatient and
- In the old days, they used to pass laws to widen roads, even if it meant demolishing houses. Just another two feet would make many roads safer for cyclists. I’d love to see some roads widened – even if it meant taking two feet of property from private school gardens and Oxford colleges.
Related
I live between 2 towns which are about 12 miles apart every day at rush hour (people going to work ) there is a long chain of cars going from one town to the other…the jobs in each town must be similar ,so people with same jobs are traveling 12 miles and passing each other …where they could be working locally with no traveling..less hours no fuel cost less accidents and use a bike to go to work ..
Loved the response UK Transport Minister Norman Baker. An immediate “We will not be banning cars from city centres anymore than we will be having rectangular bananas” A nice measured response. Taking all the pros and cons into account. He probably doesnt ride a bike.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12879566