On Tue, 9 Sep 2008, wrote:

[1] I have a very vague recollection of having seen bus stencils
somewhere in the UK. Bike stencils are provided in places though,
unlike some other places, there is no stencil on the red lens.

Birmingham, at the junction of Longmore Street and Belgrave Middleway.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...2,0.01001&z=17

Buses and Bikes can go straight on from Longmore Street into Horton
Square, cars can only go left. There's both a bus stencil and a bike
stencil, and bizarrely they have separate lanes.

The layout is hideous, as the dedicated bike lane to cross the Middleway
heading north is in the middle of the road and the bike lane runs along
a widened pavement to the west (where you'd expect it) and then crosses
into the middle of Longmore Street unprotected (where you sort of expect
it). But coming from Horton Square you end up again in in the centre of
the road and are expected to move right, into the bi- directional bike
lane, unprotected. So you have massive traffic light protection for a
move across Belgrave Middleway, but fifteen yards the other side you
have to make a weird, unprotected move which drivers won't be expecting:
from the perspective of a driver heading north, they'll confront
oncoming bikes heading south in the middle of the road crossing to the
western side of the road.

Yes, that's a classic bit of cycle lane dickery. That point should at the
very least be protected by an island rather than some crosshatching, and
should really have some lights on it too.

I note that there's a primary school to the east, with access from that
road. Would this not be an ideal place for a pedestrian crossing, with
which the cycle lane crossover could be integrated?

Really, though, the solution is just not to build cycle lanes. Copious
research shows that in situations like this - indeed, in almost all urban
situations - they cause more accidents than they prevent.

Anyway, some more dickery in return - i've been meaning to post this photo
for ages, and you've prompted me to do so:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twic/2844493252/

It's about he

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.52544%2C-0.126214

This is part of National Cycle Route 5, and is the recommended route to
cycle from the South West of the city into Birmingham (along Gooch
Street) and is also a useful route towards the Grand Union at Camp Hill
locks (cycling on belgrave Middleway is hard work when you can cut
diagonally across). I just get in the bus lane and behave like a bus...

This is also my strategy. I'm getting very good at brrrmming noises.

tom

--
Baby got a masterplan. A foolproof masterplan.