Search found 233 matches

by FatBat
24 Sep 2021, 3:22pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Warringtons solution to abussive aggressive drivers
Replies: 7
Views: 984

Re: Warringtons solution to abussive aggressive drivers

Pete Owens wrote: 24 Sep 2021, 12:40pm I'm formulating an objection to the order.
Does any one know what the precise current official guidance is on what provision is needed for vulnerable road users (both pedestrians & cyclists) in order for an urban road to have a higher speed limit?

To put it into context - this is a major new-town distributor road with no housing on either side. When it was originally planned I guess it will have had a design speed of 40mph (thinking exclusevely in terms of motors). The carriageway is straight, but not wide enough to overtake cyclists safely with oncoming traffic. The pavement is narrow and immideately adjacent to the carriageway:
https://goo.gl/maps/yi8qp2K2zLZHYJ4XA
The landscaping gives drivers the misleading impression that they are driving on a rural road.
Pretty sure you'll already be aware of this, but the official guidance is

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... eed-limits
by FatBat
2 Apr 2021, 1:26pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Should Cycling UK hold it's own Census?
Replies: 13
Views: 1770

Re: Should Cycling UK hold it's own Census?

Whilst the Census does only include two questions related to travel and transport, the National Travel Survey is much more comprehensive. Of course, it cannot have the universal coverage that the census does - instead, a representative sample of the population have their travel patterns extensively interogated.

In normal circumstance, the survey is done annually. I'm not sure whether the 2020 survey was done - if it was, the results are not ready yet.

More information: https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... statistics
by FatBat
18 Jan 2021, 9:14am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Benefits of painted cycle lanes?
Replies: 50
Views: 5232

Re: Benefits of painted cycle lanes?

Pete Owens wrote:OK, so unusually for cyclists, it seems we all agree: Cycle lanes are a bad thing. The next thing is to work out how to persuade the authorities to remove them from the roads. I have been trying for 15 years without success. Has anyone else managed to get a cycle lane painted out, and if so what arguments did they deploy?


Sort of.

In Selby, North Yorkshire, there was an exceedingly narrow (probably 50cm) cycle lane on the A19 Barlby Road. It was installed by the Highways Agency. When the Selby Bypass opened (c. 2004), responsibility for this stretch of road transferred to North Yorkshire County Council. I was Right-to-Ride rep for the area at the time, and after much to-ing and fro-ing about this ridiculous lane, the message I got from NYCC was that they wouldn't paint it out, but they wouldn't maintain it. So, over the years, the lane markings have faded into non-existance.

The Google Street view shows the situation as far back as 2008.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.7884932,-1.0493661,3a,75y,283.48h,73.15t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shYeOV-LvsJ5EAlrXEnFVkA!2e0!5s20081001T000000!7i13312!8i6656
by FatBat
13 Jan 2021, 9:26am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Roads and cyclepaths with appropriate names
Replies: 37
Views: 3067

Re: Roads and cyclepaths with appropriate names

Here in Huddersfield, there is a Tandem Way, which leads to the Tandem Industrial Park.
by FatBat
3 Dec 2020, 9:03am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Flashing headlights
Replies: 40
Views: 2478

Re: Flashing headlights

A couple of days ago, I was driving home and wanted to turn right at a crossroads. Someone driving in the opposite wanted to turn right into the road on my left, so we had the usual "do we pass offside-to-offside, nearside-to-nearside, who goes first??" dilemma. The other driver then flashed their lights in a "you go first" kind of way. I didn't turn, as I could see someone cycling behind their car, and someone riding a motorcycle behind the cyclist. The other driver then gave an irate "GO ON THEN, What are you waiting for?" gesture - one look in her rear-view mirror would have revealed why I wasn't going to turn. Obviously, whilst she was ranting, the cyclist and motorcyclist both passed her car on the nearside. I didn't have the wherewithal to shout "Rule 111 in the Highway Code"....
by FatBat
25 Aug 2020, 9:52am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: How to do a cycle traffic survey
Replies: 7
Views: 566

Re: How to do a cycle traffic survey

In my previous career, I commissioned and undertook plenty of traffic surveys. Accurately counting bicycles is relatively straight-forward on a bike-path, or similar, where bikes are the only vehicles. There are automatic counters available that can do this. Counting bicycles in a mixed traffic stream is much more difficult to do automatically. In general, the only way to do such counts is to have people at the roadside manually recording vehicles as they pass, or to install a CCTV camera and then review the footage later.

The problem with doing manual counts is that they can only cover a relatively short period - an automatic counter can be put down and left for a few weeks, but I've only ever known manual counts cover a single day. So, the question then is - what day should you do a manual count on? In general, traffic levels vary from day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month, and bicycle traffic levels are much more variable than motorised traffic levels. If you do a count on a particular day, you have to bear in mind that your count may be lower or higher than a "typical" day. Of course, you have no way of knowing what a typical day is. Generally, you should avoid school holidays, weekends and bank holidays. Given the circumstances we're in at the moment, I'd say there is no such thing as a typical day, and any counts undertaken during the pandemic are unlikely to represent typical conditions. But, that hasn't stopped my local council from putting down loads of automatic counters all around the local area.

For the location in question, the junction looks too big for one person to observe all the arms at the same time. Ideally, you'd have a person on each arm, counting bikes as they pass. To avoid double-counting, they should only count bikes entering the roundabout, not leaving it. Using a hand-tally counter can help, but if you are only counting bikes, you probably won't need them.

Then, you have to decide how long to count for. In general, manual counts are done over a 12-hour period (7am to 7pm) or a 16-hour period (6am to 10pm). I can't imagine you'd get many volunteers to stand around for such lengths of time! You could concentrate on the "peak" periods - whilst these periods are well defined for motorised traffic, they aren't so clear for non-motorised traffic.

As an aside, one of my previous employers undertook a full traffic survey on a road I used to commute on - when the results came in, the count of bicycles on that road was recorded as zero - even though I had cycled past, following another a chap on a bike, whilst the survey was ongoing. So, I always take the results of such surveys with a pinch of salt.

Hope this helps.
by FatBat
31 Jul 2020, 9:02am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Feedback : 2 year old law junctions
Replies: 623
Views: 36180

Re: Highway Code revision - hierarchy of road users

Pete Owens wrote:
In future he sequence of event should be as follows:
1. East Riding Councillor Chris Matthews applies to Department of Transport for £868000 of public funds to construct a high quality cycle route.
2. Councillor Matthews awards the contract to PBS construction to construct a narrow footway and throw in a few blue signs in give-way markings to pretend there is a cycle route.
3. Councillor Matthews arranges a photo-op in front of bulldozers. (your link)
4. PBS construction builds the pavement puts up the blue signs and pants the cyclists give way markings
5. PBS construction sends an invoice for £860000 to East Riding Council
6. East Riding Council passes on the invoice to DfT
7. DfT sends Active Travel England inspector
8. DfT reminds the council that schemes which make pedestrians and cyclists share the same space are not to be funded
9. East Riding council surcharges Councillor Matthews personally for the misuse of public funds and he is forced to sell his house to repay the £860000.

Well we can live in hope.


Indeed. I've had a good look at the scheme in question on Google Maps and, ... £868,000 for that?!?!?!?! I'd like to see the Cost-Benefit Analysis. It looks to me like the "cycle path" was formed out of existing footways and lay-bys formed when the geometry of the road was changed to smooth out some of the tighter bends - so where did the £868,000 go?
by FatBat
8 Apr 2020, 1:38pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Cyclist Dismount sign for a railway crossing : Why?
Replies: 41
Views: 2761

Re: Cyclist Dismount sign for a railway crossing : Why?

Mike Sales wrote:Does anyone have other examples of "Cyclists Dismount" signs on level crossings, whether straightforward or not?


I recall one at this crossing:

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.2988944 ... 312!8i6656

The current Street View suggests it is no longer there, but the time-travel facility on Google Maps shows it in place in 2008, just behind that rickety fence. I have no idea why it was taken down. The road in question has since been bypassed, perhaps as part of those works, a review of signage was done? The railway it crosses is part of the Wensleydale Railway, rather than a Network Rail line, if that makes any difference.
by FatBat
25 May 2019, 10:37am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Grrr - Lidl replaces Sheffield stands with Wheel Benders
Replies: 43
Views: 3020

Re: Grrr - Lidl replaces Sheffield stands with Wheel Benders

Cyril Haearn wrote:
FatBat wrote:My local Lidl (Holmfirth) has just replaced five Sheffield stands with five wheel-benders. Won't be going there again.
..

Where do you shop instead, does your boycott cost you in time, cash, choice?
Wish I had a lidl near home, I do have an aldi, it has wheel-benders I think, but I always walk there :?


An Adil has just opened, which is actually closer. Went there yesterday and it has five Sheffield stands right next to the entrance. Unfortunately, some bright spark has decided to place pallets of barbecue charcoal and ornamental pebbles, and displays of bedding plants, right next to them so I could only park my bike by resting the front wheel on a pile of bags of Yellow Polished Decorative Pebbles.The bike looked rather uncomfortable with its front wheel three feet higher than the rear.
by FatBat
25 May 2019, 10:32am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Grrr - Lidl replaces Sheffield stands with Wheel Benders
Replies: 43
Views: 3020

Re: Grrr - Lidl replaces Sheffield stands with Wheel Benders

mjr wrote:Check your local planning policies and their permission. It would normally be a breach of conditions requiring secure standard parking here, which the local cycling campaign would report to the enforcement officers.


On the case - our UDP did have minimum standards for cycle parking, but that has just been replaced with some new policy which is rather vague when it comes to details.
by FatBat
24 May 2019, 4:14pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Grrr - Lidl replaces Sheffield stands with Wheel Benders
Replies: 43
Views: 3020

Grrr - Lidl replaces Sheffield stands with Wheel Benders

My local Lidl (Holmfirth) has just replaced five Sheffield stands with five wheel-benders. Won't be going there again.

I think I'll direct the store manager to this little video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... 7Ab7peOB50
by FatBat
28 Jan 2019, 9:09am
Forum: Helmets & helmet discussion
Topic: Next target for the zealots? Scooters
Replies: 0
Views: 586

Next target for the zealots? Scooters

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01 ... -proves-it

My summary:

Researchers found 249 cases in one year of injuries associated with electric scooters in cities where "many thousands of riders are using electric scooters every day". Of those "nearly 92%" were riding scooters at the time. Let's say that is 229. Of those, "only 10*" were documented as wearing a helmet at the time. 10 out of 228 is about 4.4%. They then claim that "nearly 95%" of riders were not wearing helmets in a series of public observation sessions. Without doing the maths, it seems to me that the helmet wearing riders are just as likely to be involved in an accident as everyone else, i.e. not very.

Of course, Frederick Rivara (of Thompson, Rivara and Thompson fame) has an opinion. No prizes for guessing what it is.

* If you read the actual paper, it says "Only 10 riders were documented as wearing a helmet, constituting 4.4% of all riders or 11.9% of riders whose helmet use status was documented". If the 11.9% figure is representative, then one could deduce helmet wearing is twice as a prevelent amongst those who were injured than in the general population.
by FatBat
29 Aug 2018, 11:14am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Value for money of cycling farcilities
Replies: 13
Views: 1192

Re: Value for money of cycling farcilities

There is also this paper;

Evaluating the demand for new cycle facilities, by P Hopkinson and M Wardman.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 0X96000200

It looks like you have to pay for it.
by FatBat
29 Aug 2018, 11:06am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Value for money of cycling farcilities
Replies: 13
Views: 1192

Re: Value for money of cycling farcilities

atlas_shrugged wrote:@FatBat That is a useful post - thanks. Could you post any links to how campaigners can do a 'Value-for-money' assessment that will satisfy a council looking at any proposal. Maybe orientate this towards a single campaigner i.e. an individual with limited time and money at their disposal.


Things might have changed since I last worked in Transport Planning, but the standard guidelines are known as WebTAG and they run into many hundreds of pages. You can find them all here; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transport-a ... nce-webtag

Obviously, lots of people make a good living doing Value for Money assessments and the whole process is loaded against the interested amateur. But, to do a very basic Value For Money analysis of a cycling scheme the process would be;

1. Try to figure out the costs of the scheme (construction costs, maintenance costs, plus anything else you can think of). Transport schemes are generally assessed over a sixty year period, so you have to account for all costs over this period!

2. Try to figure out, and place a monetary value on, any benefits associated with the scheme. To start of, I'd look at time savings. If the scheme can save X people Y minutes per day, this can be monetised over the sixty year period. People are assumed to place a monetary value on their time - for example, if the scheme saves 100 people 2 minutes of travel time every day, and they value their time at 20p per minute, you have a benefit of £40 per day. You can then extrapolate that over 60 years (taking into account the fact that values-of-time will change over the years, and that benefits accrued far in the future are worth less than those accrued in the near future (this is known as discounting). You might then want to add in accident cost savings - every accident is assumed to cost the economy money and so reducing accidents can have a monetary value placed on it. All the numbers you will need are at this link; https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... k-may-2018

3. Try to add in other benefits that you can think of - better health, better air quality, reduced congestion, etc. This is a bit outside my expertise, but I'm sure WebTAG will have something to say about it. When I did Cost-Benefit analysis for rail schemes, we used a rule-of-thumb that each vehicle-kilometre removed from an urban setting would have a benefit of £0.50. In rural areas it would be £0.10. This was suitable for a "back of an envelope" calculation.

If the benefits are more than the costs, the scheme is considered value for money. Divide the benefits by the costs to get the Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR). A sensible policy would prioritise schemes with the highest BCR. Road schemes never got a look-in unless they had a BCR of at least 6. Cycling schemes are often said to have a BCR of at least 30. High Speed 2 struggled to get a BCR approaching 2, and this went down with every re-appraisal. I wonder what it is now.