Roland Perry wrote:

a mandatory bike lane

An what?

In message , at 20:14:03 on
Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Simonb
remarked:
a mandatory bike lane

An what?

A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles are
banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where they can if
necessary to avoid another vehicle.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 20:14:03
on Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Simonb
remarked:
a mandatory bike lane

An what?

A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles are
banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where they can
if necessary to avoid another vehicle.

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so not sure
how that works :/

dwb wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
20:14:03
on Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Simonb
remarked:
a mandatory bike lane

An what?

A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles
are banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where
they can if necessary to avoid another vehicle.

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so
not sure how that works :/

We're talking about cycle lanes, not bus lanes.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In message , at 22:48:05 on Wed, 1 Sep
2004, dwb remarked:
A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles are
banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where they can
if necessary to avoid another vehicle.

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so not sure
how that works :/

Quite well, because they are mandatory *bus* lanes. As well as the
signage, the width is a bit of a giveaway. You might have to travel a
bit out from central London to see a bike-only lane.
--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 2 Sep 2004, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 22:48:05 on Wed, 1 Sep
2004, dwb remarked:

A bike lane marked by a solid white line, that motorised vehicles are
banned from entering. Unlike a one with dashed lines, where they can
if necessary to avoid another vehicle.

Um, the bus lanes that I see in London have solid white lines, so not sure
how that works :/

Quite well, because they are mandatory *bus* lanes. As well as the
signage, the width is a bit of a giveaway. You might have to travel a
bit out from central London to see a bike-only lane.

I think there's one up Tottenham Court Road; there's certainly a bike
lane, but i actually don't remember what sort. I'm positive some of the
route from Angel to Tottenham Court Road is mandatory cycle lane.

ObCyclistNearDeathExperienceStory: yesterday evening and this morning,
going over the Farringdon road. Last night, it was some guy who decided
he'd start by breaking the law about waiting behind the stop line at a red
light, thereby pulling up almost level with yours truly (er, who was also
breaking the law, but that's not important right now - there's a bike box
there, it just hasn't been painted on the road yet ), then thought it
would be fun to try to turn left through me (i was going straight on;
bikes can do that at that point, but cars can't, so perhaps he just wasn't
expecting it). This morning, it was a guy (in a Range Rover, in London,
and who should therefore die a painful death) who decided that it would be
fun to overtake me as i was turning right. Well, or run me over - hard to
tell, really.

I have to say i'm utterly apalled by all the "get over it" comments that
have been made. When people in motor vehicles break traffic laws, PEOPLE
DIE - usually other people, and in particular, people not in motor
vehicles. A car, or a bus or truck, is a lethal weapon - we shouldn't have
any tolerance whatsoever for its misuse.

Also, i can echo an observation made in the story about the psycho bus
driver chasing a cyclist down the road, too. A few months ago, i was hit
by a motorbike: he overtook a taxi, and didn't check to see if there was
anything in front of it; there was, and it was me. Luckily, it was all
pretty low-speed, so i just fell off and whacked my arm, rather than
getting properly hurt. Now, in the ensuing conversation, he rather
forcefully expressed the opinion that it was *my* fault, since there was a
cycle lane on the road which i wasn't using (it's a nice lane, but it's a
contraflow one, and rather hard to get into from the wrong side). He is of
course mistaken - there is no obligation on bikes to use a cycle lane, and
no restriction on them using the main lanes if they'd rather. The psycho
bus driver apparently had the same misapprehension; is this common?

tom

--
I gotta handful of vertebrae and a headful of mad! -- The Doomguy

In message , at
16:58:31 on Thu, 2 Sep 2004, Tom Anderson
remarked:
there is no obligation on bikes to use a cycle lane, and
no restriction on them using the main lanes if they'd rather. The psycho
bus driver apparently had the same misapprehension; is this common?

Yes, most motorists believe this to be the case.
--
Roland Perry

Tom Anderson wrote:
Also, i can echo an observation made in the story about the psycho bus
driver chasing a cyclist down the road, too. A few months ago, i was hit
by a motorbike: he overtook a taxi, and didn't check to see if there was
anything in front of it; there was, and it was me. Luckily, it was all
pretty low-speed, so i just fell off and whacked my arm, rather than
getting properly hurt. Now, in the ensuing conversation, he rather
forcefully expressed the opinion that it was *my* fault, since there was a
cycle lane on the road which i wasn't using (it's a nice lane, but it's a
contraflow one, and rather hard to get into from the wrong side). He is of
course mistaken - there is no obligation on bikes to use a cycle lane, and
no restriction on them using the main lanes if they'd rather. The psycho
bus driver apparently had the same misapprehension; is this common?

I'm trying to visualise the situation but I'm a bit confused: if the
cycle lane is contraflow but you were using the road, weren't you
travelling in the opposite direction to the cycle lane?

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On Thu, 2 Sep 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

Also, i can echo an observation made in the story about the psycho bus
driver chasing a cyclist down the road, too. A few months ago, i was hit
by a motorbike: he overtook a taxi, and didn't check to see if there was
anything in front of it; there was, and it was me. Luckily, it was all
pretty low-speed, so i just fell off and whacked my arm, rather than
getting properly hurt. Now, in the ensuing conversation, he rather
forcefully expressed the opinion that it was *my* fault, since there was a
cycle lane on the road which i wasn't using (it's a nice lane, but it's a
contraflow one, and rather hard to get into from the wrong side). He is of
course mistaken - there is no obligation on bikes to use a cycle lane, and
no restriction on them using the main lanes if they'd rather. The psycho
bus driver apparently had the same misapprehension; is this common?

I'm trying to visualise the situation but I'm a bit confused: if the
cycle lane is contraflow but you were using the road, weren't you
travelling in the opposite direction to the cycle lane?

The cycle lane is bidirectional; sorry, i didn't explain that clearly.
This is the cycle lane along Tavistock Place, in case you know it; i was
heading west. The road looks like this:

---------------
---------------
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
===============

Where - denotes cycle lane, = denotes main lane, and X denotes a physical
barrier (a sort of free-standing kerb). I'd come in from the east, where
the road's bidirectional and there there's a normal cycle lane on each
side; thus, i was at the left edge of the road. The normal cycle lanes
end, and the bidirectional segregated lane begins, when the road becomes
one-way (where it crosses Woburn Place?), but it's a little tricky to get
into the segregated lane there, because it involves crossing the stream of
traffic, plus worrying about the traffic coming in from the north and
south. And i keep forgetting it's there. Anyway, i find it easier to stay
in the main lane, since my turn, off on the right to Gordon St further on,
has a filter lane.

Hmm. I might have got some of that wrong, since the road's bidirectional
where my turn is, which would mean the one-way stretch is only a couple of
hundred metres long. There's definitely a westbound main lane on the south
side the whole way, and an eastbound cycle lane on the north side the
whole way!

Anyway, if you want truly strange cycle lanes, try the back of the British
Museum: given the task of fitting a cycle lane heading west in with a
two-lane one-way street heading east (which, incidentally, is mostly used
by coaches), the road chaps decided that the best place for it was IN
BETWEEN the two lanes of traffic! Getting into that lane in the first
place is an adventure in itself.

tom

--
I don't know what the hell you should do. Try clicking on some **** or somethin'.

Tom Anderson said:

*snip*

Now, in the ensuing conversation, he rather
forcefully expressed the opinion that it was *my* fault, since there was a
cycle lane on the road which i wasn't using (it's a nice lane, but it's a
contraflow one, and rather hard to get into from the wrong side). He is of
course mistaken - there is no obligation on bikes to use a cycle lane, and
no restriction on them using the main lanes if they'd rather. The psycho
bus driver apparently had the same misapprehension; is this common?

Yep, I get lots of "get on the cycle path" comments here in Lincoln. I
favour the mild retort thought up by someone he "get on the motorway". If
the car driver is clever, it neatly highlights the stupidity of their point
of view (i.e. the cycle lane might not be going where you want to go)
without being too confrontational. If the driver is thick, it is likely they
will merely be puzzled rather than homicidal. Of course, what the impatient
motorcyclist meant was "how dare you be in the way, cyclist scum"! Sadly,
also a common reaction[1].

This morning I noted that Skool Traffic was back again. On my return from
the pool, two roundabouts on my route were totally clogged with twits who'd
entered without being able to get off, and some nitwit in a Rover decided to
try and murder me by entering against the circulating traffic. That
certainly woke me up!

Regards,

-david

[1] ObBusDriverStory. Two weeks ago on my way to the pool, 0650 in the
morning I am whizzing along the Tritton Road (urban dual carriageway, wide &
clear) towards town with nary another vehicle in sight. Mr Bus Driver drives
up behind me and rather than overtake in the completely clear lane to my
right, sits behind me sounding his horn. For the next mile. Through two sets
of lights, at both of which I pointed out there was a whole lane he could
literally get a bus through *right there*. He didn't actually overtake me
until the flyover over the Fossdyke Canal. Peculiar, if not actually
threatening behaviour.