Well Bedford's cycling officer was right - the turbo-roundabout will indeed be constructed in July. It appears that the problems have been 'solved'!
http://www.transportxtra.com/magazines/ ... um=twitterPete Owens wrote:They've obviously had a quick word with the Dutch following the intervention of the bikers:
"Do you have and problems with motorcycles coming a cropper on these turbo roundabouts of yours?"
"No, we have found they improve safety"
"OK, in that case well crack on with it"
Err, no.
It seems the design has been changed, removing the oh-so-important lane dividers, in agreement with a motorcycling body (BMF) which hadn't been disputing the design in the first place.
Interestingly Graeme Hay, the BMF's head of press releases (I think that's his job title), in-post less than a fortnight when he gave the redesign the nod, has understood at least some of the danger to cyclists better than the cycling bodies involved:
”Hay [said] the designs he examined showed two lengths of raised concrete... lane dividers. “Motorcyclists were very worried about the risks of a rider contacting these 75mm high lane dividers, thinking that this may result in a fall into the path of another vehicle. When I looked at this design I was very surprised that cyclists were not worried about these lane dividers as well. Any contact with these lumps would almost certainly result in a fall.”
Leon Mannings of MAG, the motorcycling lobby group that did complain, has responded:
"This scheme is crazy. If the BMF continues to support it, I have to assume they simply haven’t understood the basic dangers of it.”