Cycling Near-misses

[flecc]

Isn't the flip side of that stance the very real risk of aggravating motorists (further eroding what little goodwill there is toward cyclists) and reducing the likehood of future investment in dedicated cycling infrastructure?

I agree that when good cycle lanes like those in Milton Keynes exist, they should be used. But it's a fact that they are an exception.

Throughout my area I have numerous cycle paths, but the majority are substandard and unusable by those with narrow road bike tyres and some are unacceptable for anything other than a dedicated mountain bike ridden with skill. Once built they are usually never maintained or swept so decline into unusability. One that was created in my area had it's tarmac capped with a sharp grit layer than ensured regular punctures for a couple of years until the grit was worn or washed off onto the grass flanks. There is nothing unusual about this, the same exists in many areas.

Governments are ignorant of detail and don't care, so long as there are nominal cycle paths in existence they could happily rule their enforced use which would be disastrous.

Hence the political action that in most areas in this country is justified with narrow tyred road bikes. It's part of a protest by cycling bodies to get government to provide usable cycling facilities, not just token unusable ones, and any upsetting of motorists is an unfortunate cost of that action.
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[2Lazy]

I depends on the cycle paths. I agree about the crap ones in most cities, and never used the joke painted line ones in London. But it you have good wide segregated and dedicated cycle paths in MK like they have in other parts or Europe it makes sense to use them.

Unfortunately the Cycle paths in MK are mixed use i.e., shared with pedestrians and dog walkers etc., with no centre line, although they are wide-ish and well away from traffic with the exception of the occasional (almost always) minor road crossing. It's fair to say that you have to keep your wits about you when turning blind corners etc., but I've never had any major problems (touch wood). In fact cycling in MK is usually a joyful experience, especially on a nice sunny summers day, no fumes or noise etc. There again it's not like I'm riding around like Evel Kenivel, I can understand that for a more experienced cyclist the pace at which you can cycle safely might be a bit frustrating. But ultimately, do you want to ride fast, or do you want to ride safe? I much prefer the latter and if it means riding at a sedate pace on a cycle path then so be it.

 

[Artstu]

We've had some of that in Milton Keynes, which is why it's frustrating to see cyclists riding on 70mph dual carriageways when there is a perfectly good city-wide network of cycle paths.

I'm pleased to see you mention the limitations, for a minute I was starting to believe what you'd said.

Unfortunately the Cycle paths in MK are mixed use i.e., shared with pedestrians and dog walkers etc., with no centre line, although they are wide-ish and well away from traffic with the exception of the occasional (almost always) minor road crossing. It's fair to say that you have to keep your wits about you when turning blind corners etc.,

 

[2Lazy]

I'm pleased to see you mention the limitations, for a minute I was starting to believe what you'd said.

I don't see those two statements as being mutually exclusive. Yes the cycle paths in MK are not perfect but they're perfectly good and usable, generally well maintained and swept monthly. I hazard a guess most city councils and most cyclists in other city's would give their eye-teeth for a cycle network like the one in MK.

http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/assets/attach/3752/North_MK_Redway_Map.doc

http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/assets/attach/3753/South_MK_Redway_Map.doc

 

[flecc]

They are indeed very good, and on 25th December 2013 Cyclezee at MK posted a long video of a Christmas ride around MK on those cycle paths.

Here it is
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[Artstu]

Instead of keep tagging houses onto existing towns and villages I wish they'd build more new towns, with improvements from previous attempts,

 

[Gubbins]

I always thought a near miss was a hit.

A hit that you survive..

 

[Cyclezee]

It utterly baffles me why on cycle paths, loads of cyclists try to ride on the right.

Yes I have experienced that on several occasions on the MK Redways and I think we need some signage to remind people to ride on the left and not just for those who were not born in the UK.
I did have an incident once with a lovely lady from Denmark, but that's another story.

 

[4bound]

Its easy to keep talking about the crap cycle paths that we all know, but we need to remember the excellent ones too! For example in my area we have one called the Burton Marsh Greenway which links the Wirral with Chester and North Wales. My commute to work used to be 11 miles all on road, including at least 1 mile on a very dangerous narrow fast Dual carriageway. Now I can go almost all the way without going on any road - less than 1 mile on a quite road then all cyclepath, well away from any cars. I can use this route to link with quiet roads in North Wales or via a converted railway line get to Chester with links to other routes.
http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/superb.htm

 

[Cyclezee]

Instead of keep tagging houses onto existing towns and villages I wish they'd build more new towns, with improvements from previous attempts,

As a resident of MK for 30 years I found this video amusing but strewn with errors.

Like most casual visitors he doesn't seem to have ventured beyond CMK (Central Milton Keynes) so the impression that he has is somewhat misleading.

What a lot of people don't realise is that there are a lot of old parts to the city, the towns of Bletchley, Wolverton and Newport Pagnell plus numerous old villages that are hundreds of years old and have lots of history.

Oh, and the building that he thought was a library is in fact the The Point, an entertainment centre with cinemas etc.,...but not for much longer, it will soon be demolished and redeveloped to provide even more shops, apparently we haven't got enough of them already

 

[Gubbins]

We dont have any dedicated cycle tracks near me, but we do have a few cycle lanes with their own inherent problems, but in one particular place at a busy roundabout the cycle lane is moved to the path and is shared with foot traffic with nice bicycle graphics for all to see.. All would be good except there is a large tree in the middle of it and a bus shelter which reduces the width dramatically, so at school time (and it always seems to be school time ) there are kids and prams and all the rest so you cant realistically use it at anything above a walking pace, so why bother? The other main shared path is on the canal side on which you can ride for miles and miles and miles (sorry, reminds me of a song) and is ok as long as you don't go mad and take note of the word "shared".. Unbelievably there are a number of Strava segment on it with the obvious happening ..
How can you have a Strava segment on a shared footpath?

 

[stevieb]

i agree with most of the points made after my comment about non use of cycle lanes .
particularly non observant i pod using pedestrians which are the bane of my life on the town centre routes causing me to pick the time of day that i use these routes and i find the roads can be safer
the point i was trying to make was that the cycle path i am refering to is rural, deserted, is immaculatley surfaced and safer from debris than the road , runs segregated alongside the road so has no unseen changes in direction .
so on this route the problem of dog walkers , pedestrians etc does not exist.
the path is wide enough for bikes to overtake each other , if there were any others on it.
on my travels and commutes i always do a quick risk assessment as to whether to use a cycle path or stay on the road so i know what folks are saying about the dangers of some paths.
but here we have a route that is just about as good as it is possible to provide for a cyclist and some still refuse to use it.

 

[4bound]

Stevieb - can you tell if the people who don't use it are strangers to the area who would not know how good it is - or people who do know it, but still don't use it?

 

[stevieb]

that,s a fair question and i understand why you have asked it
the people who don,t use the path and use the road are regular users of this route and even if they were not regular users you can see for a great distance and there are no nasty surprises .