Busy at Rush Hour
Often our roads are dominated by cars with bicycles in a very small minority. Many motorists don’t really like sharing the road with cyclists because it can slow them down. Also there is a fear of knocking over cyclists who aren’t protected by a box of crushable metal. There is also an annoyance that cyclists seem to ignore the rules of the road (forgetting motorists themselves routinely break the law from speed limits to mobile phone use e.t.c)
Because it is an inconvenience, I’m sure many motorists worry at the prospect of a 500% increase in the number of cyclists on the road. Among many there is a belief that roads belong to cars, and it just doesn’t work to have more people on bikes.
One thing which I always notice when taking photos around Oxford, is that when there are more cyclists on the road, you don’t get a proportionate increase in problems. If anything, when there are more cyclists around there seems to be a greater understanding between cars and bikes. At this junction there are almost as many cyclists as cars. Motorists expect cyclists and are looking out for them. The road is relatively narrow, but car speed is fairly low.
When there are so many cyclists around it actually encourages better driving. Motorists have to be more aware and it encourages slower driving speed. This may sound just like my observation. But, there is an undoubted link between high bike usuage and safer levels of cycling. Cycle rates by country
If there is just the odd cyclist many motorists don’t slow down and often squeeze past at high speed. Or the motorists is not expecting a cyclist and is surprised when they appear on the road. But, when there are so many using all lanes there is a greater awareness.
I’m not suggesting it’s all without problems. Accidents have occurred around this junction and it is often cyclists who have been hit by motorists / buses.
However, was a good sight to see the roads shared 50-50 between cars and bicycles and from my brief period of watching, it was relatively harmonious.
Another observation is that when there are more cyclists around, the cyclists are much more likely to observe red lights. Perhaps there is a social function of not wanting to go through a red light when other cyclists are watching.
It’s harder work with buses because they take up so much space.
There is no left turn for the bus. They have to go straight on. Nevertheless it is not idea for cyclists to be filtering down inside of large vehicles.
mixture of bikes and cyclists
turning into Longwall street.
I am not in tune with the majority of cycling groups. Personally I think cyclist should spend more time enlisting and enthusing new riders rather than arguing for more segregated bike lanes – yes it would be nice to have them but we need more cyclists on the road to make the politicians take more account of us. I recently wrote a post about this on my blog – not a commonly held view I grant you, but until London and towns like it get the numbers of cyclists that Oxford does, we will always be seen as an annoying minority with only green issues on our side.
The blog post is here is anyone is interested.
http://ukmambo.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-make-cycling-popular.html