Cycling City - New Killer Lanes

I may have remarked before on the sheer incompetence of the so-called 'cycling officers' employed by our local authorities. Well here's a classic example from Cycling City partner South Glos (Bristol will be dealt with, yet again, shortly). It's a brand new 'facility' installed in connection with works on the bridge over the main line railway at Patchway on the north Bristol fringe (see map below).



Looking northwards from the bridge we see that the main road (and main 'desire line') swings around to the right to cross the A38 Gloucester Road on another bridge which can just be made out in the upper right of the picture. This bridge is strategically important to cyclists as it is the only decent means of crossing the A38 between Gypsy Patch Lane and Aztec West. Yet looking more closely (below) we see that the new cycle lane leads northwards onto the A38 and makes it very difficult and dangerous to follow the main traffic stream around to the right.



There have already been unconfirmed reports of a female cyclists being knocked-off her bike here and taken to hospital just a week ago. I tested it myself yesterday and found it difficult to establish my intention to follow the main route around to the right, despite appropriate hand signals (I should explain for the benefit of non-cyclists that hand signals alone are generally ignored by motorists. It is your 'positioning' as a cyclist that is most important and which sets up an expectation of your intentions with following motorists). Another cyclist (unknown to me) trying out the 'facility' reports -

"As I looked ahead, I could see that it did not offer a facility that I would be able to negotiate at 'commuting' speed. I thus looked behind and indicated right to move reasonably far out on to the main carriageway. My intent at this point was to avoid any motorist overtaking me and turning left (northbound), cutting me up in the process.

Shortly after, I heard a horn sound and was then overtaken by a car driven by a woman, with a man leaning out of the front passenger window shouting obscenities (including the words 'get out of the f*cking way, you are on a bike, not in a f*cking car'). Clearly, this person believed that I should have religiously followed the green cycle lane, however inappropriate for my journey."

Meanwhile more cycle 'facilities' are proposed by South Glos in the north fringe around UWE and Bristol Parkway station. The plans have already been condemned by local cyclists in deservedly forthright terms but it looks as if they are going ahead with them anyway. So much for consultation under the arrogant Cycling City regime.

Welcome to Cycling City. Incompetent 'cycling officers' ignoring cyclists' advice and turning out ill-conceived cycle 'facilities' that actually put cyclists at greater risk than would be the case with a standard highway design, coupled with aggressive and foul mouthed motorists ignoring hand signals and resenting the intrusion of cyclists into 'their' space. Until such time as we get shot of these "Better by Bike" Buffoons I suggest that every cyclist treats every new cycle facility with extreme caution.

Critical Mass - cycling as it should be

Perfect weather, smiling faces and part of the Rinky-Dink bicycle sound system greeted the best part of 100 cyclists who turned out for Friday's Critical Mass bike ride. Critical Mass is a regular feature in many cities around the world and has been celebrated in Bristol on and off for about 15 years. The object is to celebrate cycling and to show how different the city would be if cyclists were the dominant form of road traffic.



Of course not everyone sees it that way and motorists in particular can get frustrated that they are being delayed, although that's not the express intention of the ride. There have been unpleasant incidents in the past when motorists have tried to force their way through the cyclists, but yesterday seemed to go relatively smoothly. The general impression was of a bunch of cyclists taking over the road and enjoying themselves.



I broke off to take a few snaps from various vantage points like the pedestrian bridges over Rupert Street and Lewins Mead and it was an impressive sight. My feeling is that Critical Mass is becoming less confrontational and more celebratory over time, which is as it should be. There will always be motorists who object to being held up once a month, but they should reflect on their own Critical Mass, aka the rush hour, which brings most of the city to a standstill twice every day.



So it seems like the time is right to expand the appeal of Critical Mass so that instead of a hundred cyclists we have a thousand. Perhaps we might even get a more supportive attitude from the police, dealing promptly with any aggression from motorists. I'm sure they'd be welcomed by everyone if they came on bicycles. Critical Mass is about cultural change, something that we undoubtedly need and something that happens whether we like it or not.



As cyclists we are doing no more than motorists routinely do - taking to the streets and showing what our culture is about. Motorists are inconvenienced, but to a minuscule extent compared to what they in turn inflict on our city daily. Critical Mass gives us all the chance, just once a month, to have a taste of how different things could be, which is surely something we all need to explore.

Critical Mass starts at 6 pm on the last Friday of each month, starting at the Centre opposite the Hippodrome. See you on the 26th June.