Cycle paths

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Morzedec
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Cycle paths

Post by Morzedec »

Hello all; I did wonder if I ought to have headed this post 'eat your heart out, Sustrans'.

A picture of what the French are now doing when a road gets upgraded: this one is the D760 to the west of Loches.

Anyone watching from the Highway planning guys?

Happy days,
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D760 cycle path near Loches.png
reohn2
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by reohn2 »

There'll be those who'll claim such good cycling infrastructure is unnecessary and that all cyclists should be using the road,however fast and or dangerous drivers are.
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rotavator
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by rotavator »

But is that post in the middle of the cycle track safe or necessary?
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mjr
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by mjr »

rotavator wrote:But is that post in the middle of the cycle track safe or necessary?

Not safe, although risk looks minimised with white paint and reflective band.

Probably necessary, because motorists will drive anywhere physically possible, especially tarmac. The posts, signs and ditch look to make it impossible to use as a bypass of a traffic queue.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Pete Owens
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by Pete Owens »

Ah, the classic two-way cycle path crossing a priority side road crossing that increases the risk of collisions by a factor of ten.
This one has the added bonus of a post to crash into - carefully sited slap bang in the middle of the path just at the point where you need to be looking over your shoulder the check that vehicles on the road behind you are not about to turn across your path.
John Holiday
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by John Holiday »

Some new Cycle paths have been installed on Deeside Industrial Park which are slightly elevated & actually give priority to cyclists ,rather than vehicles turning across the path into the factories.
There are signs indicating 'changed ' priority on road.
So far,unaware of any incidents.
Only problem so far is idiot drivers using cycle paths to park on!
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mjr
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by mjr »

Ah, the classic two-way cycle path crossing a priority side road crossing that increases the risk of collisions by a factor of ten.

Ah, the classic old chestnut of an ancient dodgy risk calculation from a different design being applied to everything!

This one has the added bonus of a post to crash into - carefully sited slap bang in the middle of the path just at the point where you need to be looking over your shoulder the check that vehicles on the road behind you are not about to turn across your path.

It would be better with the post a few metres further back, but it's far better than many in the UK. As far as I can see, the crossing is a car length into the side road and the corners are fairly square, so you're looking sideways more than over the shoulder, unlike the poor typical UK/TfL design which bends the crossing to right on the mouth of the junction, requiring a 270° field of vision.
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mercalia
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by mercalia »

I wonder what the surface is like? bumpty -bump?
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mjr
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by mjr »

mercalia wrote:I wonder what the surface is like? bumpty -bump?

They were smooth tarmac in the Loire area last year and the Bordeaux area a few years ago. Sometimes a bit vulnerable to tree roots, similar to here, or to powerful landowners (Chambord) insisting on rolled stone roads instead of tarmac, but most seem to be built as mini-carriageways now.

The new bit of EV4 rail trail through Dunkerque built up to 2018 was concrete panels so yes, a bumpty-bump train effect, and the bit along the D601 between Loon-Plage and Grande-Synthe was tarmac which was smooth except for the crap sprayed onto it by passing motorists. I've seen complaints that the new parts (some rail trail, some D601) also have surfaces with vibration problems. I'll find out for myself later this year.

I suspect that D road cycleways are built to a higher spec than Voie Vert rail trails, but I don't know the details.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Pete Owens
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by Pete Owens »

mjr wrote:
Ah, the classic two-way cycle path crossing a priority side road crossing that increases the risk of collisions by a factor of ten.

Ah, the classic old chestnut of an ancient dodgy risk calculation from a different design being applied to everything!

No the compilation of a large body of research over many years and different countries on the relative danger of cycle paths of various designs crossing priority junctions. It is no "dodgy" because it happens not to confirm your bias.

Research does not go off with age like rotting fruit. If you get into a bath today you will still displace your weight in water - just as Archimedes discovered rather a long time ago. Yes, this has been known for a long time since, unlike most road safety initiatives, the effect is so strong that it was obvious soon after they started to build segregated cycle paths that they were killing cyclists. However, since it challenges the deeply held segregationist dogma of the highway engineering profession many studies have been conducted - all confirming the danger.
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mjr
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by mjr »

Pete Owens wrote:
mjr wrote:
Ah, the classic two-way cycle path crossing a priority side road crossing that increases the risk of collisions by a factor of ten.

Ah, the classic old chestnut of an ancient dodgy risk calculation from a different design being applied to everything!

No the compilation of a large body of research over many years and different countries on the relative danger of cycle paths of various designs crossing priority junctions. It is no "dodgy" because it happens not to confirm your bias.

It's dodgy for many reasons, including: 1. it confounds a wide variety of designs - some are good, some are bad - from a wide range of countries - each with different reporting practices - and a wide variety of collision types, leading to the data having been MUNGed: Mash Until No Good. A classic example of GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out; 2. even if you don't accept that, 1993's Pete Owens claimed it was "a factor of 3 to 10" - what's changed? At least it's not the notorious "11.3 times more dangerous" used by 1995's Pete Owens.

But we've had this discussion about this exact dodgy claim many times before, always inconclusively and usually with you stopping replying, like at viewtopic.php?p=870054#p870054 and viewtopic.php?f=7&t=119879&p=1206380#p1206380

Research does not go off with age like rotting fruit.

No, but design standards change (hopefully improve, but not always) among other things. A cycleway built to the current Design Manual for Roads and Bridges will behave differently to 1970s/80s standard crap. One built to the Netherlands current CROW 2016 will be different to CROW 2006 and both will be different to a 1970s CROW one. Do you really want to try to claim that all designs have exactly the same safety?

If you get into a bath today you will still displace your weight in water - just as Archimedes discovered rather a long time ago.

Did he? I thought I'd displace my volume not weight. Have I understood it wrong all these years?

Anyway, we're talking of manmade technology, not unchangeable physical constants like water displacement. Technology develops.
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mattheus
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by mattheus »

Do you sink in water mjr? That's good news - at least you're not a witch :)
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Morzedec
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by Morzedec »

Nice discussion, folks: now try some different cycle lanes, and see which you think best.

Many voie vertes in France are now being tarmacked, as are a number of halage (towpaths). One of the worst remains the Nantes to Brest canal path between Redon and Blain; nasty orange gravillon the size of marbles - you either sink in or slide off, depending on the state of the weather.

I always think that it's difficult to beat riding on baked-hard mud: as smooth as my bottom, that is.

Happy days,
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Mind that tree.jpg
Cycle path.jpg
All clear.png
We can't get no edukashun ......jpg
STPO.png
Syd
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by Syd »

rotavator wrote:But is that post in the middle of the cycle track safe or necessary?

I was riding through France with a group a few years ago and almost collided with a similar post as I’d been unsighted by the rider ahead.
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Re: Cycle paths

Post by PDQ Mobile »

mjr wrote:
rotavator wrote:But is that post in the middle of the cycle track safe or necessary?

Not safe, although risk looks minimised with white paint and reflective band.


While I hesitate to do so, I am going to point out that on another thread you have stated nothing is "invisible".
If the white paint and reflectivity are a help here why are they not a help on dark Welsh lanes?
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