Now, I know cycle lanes aren't compulsory, but…

… am I alone in seeing folks not using perfectly good ones and thinking ‘why?’.

Case in point, for those that know Brizzle, every day I drive the section of the ring road between M32/Jct1 and the MOD/UWE roundabout. There’s a wide, separate, well maintained and well used cycle lane running parallel to the road.

The last few days, driving back towards the motorway, I’ve seen a fella riding on the road rather than the path. So, he’s chosen to ride on a two lane dual carriageway, very busy with commuter traffic doing 50mph+, with a separate car share and bus lane merging in from the left, heading in to a four lane motorway junction roundabout that could at best be charitably described as chaotic, and not use the cycle lane at the side. Madness.

I use a busy road instead of a cycle path almost everyday, purely down to pedestrians that can’t work out the difference between cyclepath and pavement. Takes much longer getting to work if you’re having to stop for pedestrians every few yards

Yeah, fair enough. In this case though the path is just used by cyclists.

I guess he rides down there a lot an has done some sort of internal risk assessment and decided he feels safer there?

I often find that it safer to ride ‘with’ the traffic, flowing in the same direction as it albeit a little more slowly, than it is to be repeatedly crossing traffic at junctions where the cycle lanes are separated from the road.

This is especially true in Cambridge.

Rachel

How often do you ride that section of cycle path?

Because the ones on routes near me are filled with pedestrians and broken glass or poorly designed. Where they cross a side road the markings indicate that the cyclist has to give way to vehicles turning into that road whereas vehicles on the road rather than the parallel cycle lane have priority.

No, you are not alone.

But, it depends really on whether folk are doing it for a good reason (pedestrians/crap surface/slower than road etc) or a bad reason (I don’t want to). Some times I see cyclist and think that I wouldn’t be riding where they are – but then I see other road users and dispair too, often…

IHN is right though, there are no pedestrians on that section of path. Nor are there any adjoining roads to hinder progress – it’s just a wide, straight, well maintained cycle path.

What Rachel Said. Having to stop and cross traff is a pain and often dangerous as the cars turning off the dual carriageway are often still doing 50mph and not remotely paying attention to any crossing traffic.

Is the ‘why don’t cyclists use cycle paths’ now a weekly thread? This place, a cycling forum, is unbelievable at times.

google link?

There’s a seperate cycle path on a DC near us, pretty good apart from when you get to junctions when it’s a PITA, we even have to give way here WTF can’t the cars turning into the garage give way on that huge bit of slip road they have?

wallop – Member
IHN is right though, there are no pedestrians on that section of path. Nor are there any adjoining roads to hinder progress – it’s just a wide, straight, well maintained cycle path.

How often do you ride this section of cycle path?

Lifer sums it up perfectly. Only way to assess which is better (which depending on your mindset could mean safer, or faster, or more likely a bit of both) is to go and ride there yourself.

EDIT: you may have done that – if you have then tell us about it.

I guess it depends on the path but it means having to stop at every side road and yield to traffic there. On the road you have right of way and can flow with the traffic.

Is the ‘why don’t cyclists use cycle paths’ now a weekly thread? This place, a cycling forum, is unbelievable at times.

I think you may have missed my point.

How often do you ride that section of cycle path?

Honestly; never. However, many others do and many, indeed most, are what we would probably describe as ‘proper’ cyclists/cycling commuters.

IHN is right though, there are no pedestrians on that section of path. Nor are there any adjoining roads to hinder progress – it’s just a wide, straight, well maintained cycle path.

Thank you.

I know he has every right to ride where he likes. I used to commute by bike and some cycle lanes I used, some I didn’t, for all the types of reasons given by folks above. In this case though it is just bonkers not to use the cycle lane.

I seem to remember a DfT guidelines document somewhere stating that cycle lanes shouldn’t be used at speeds of over 15kmh (around 12/13mph). This really isn’t very fast, particualrly for commuting longer distances. So I tend to avoid cycle lanes for this reason (amongst others).

Is the cycle path interrupted? Maybe he just wants a clear run down the hill? I see what you’re saying though. Dual carriageway + cycling = deathwish

Righto its the STW cycle lane usage forum thread sweep stake, 1 pound in, pick a number, the nearest number to the number of pages the thread runs to gets/splits the pot. (minus an administrative fee to Unk Inc. Industries Ltd – reg Grand Canaria ).

Go!

… am I alone in seeing folks not using perfectly good ones and thinking ‘why

Is the ‘why don’t cyclists use cycle paths’ now a weekly thread? This place, a cycling forum, is unbelievable at times.

I think you may have missed my point.

Eh I don’t think so.

Like everyone has said, sometimes it’s safer/easier to not ride in one. I’ve got a really narrow one near me that has some massive potholes in it, so I kinda have to swerve into the road anyway, so it’s a load safer just riding in the road most of the time.

However I did meet a guy once who at some point fairly early on in the conversation was like “Oh yeah, I’m totally opposed to cycle lanes, I NEVER ride in them, I simple refuse to.”

I changed the topic pretty sharpish.

How often do you ride that section of cycle path?

“Honestly; never. However, many others do and many, indeed most, are what we would probably describe as ‘proper’ cyclists/cycling commuters.”

So how do you know if it’s ‘well maintained’?

Some people will just use the road where there’s a perfectly good cycle path to be different. It’ll make no difference to them at all to use the path, they just enjoy being arseholes. There’s plenty of them on STW. 🙂

Dual carriageway + cycling = deathwish better than rat run alternatives where you’ve got traffic doing 45* on a narrow 30 limit road.

I’d avoid DCs where practical but it’s not just black and white you know

*happily there is a speed indicator on that stretch so I can clearly see how fast that cock was driving less that 2 feet from me, lovely.

strava segment innit

Is the cycle path interrupted?

Nope. It’s long, straight, uninterrupted, wide and well maintained.

Gary_m – okay to be clear, this isn’t a “why don’t cyclists use cycle paths” thread, because I know that the answer to that is that because they’re often craply designed, craply maintained and/or full of crap. I suppose you could say it’s a “why, when there is the kind of well-designed, well-maintained kind of cycle path that we bang on about that we should have, would you choose not to use it?”

I suppose you could say it’s a “why, when there is the kind of well-designed, well-maintained kind of cycle path that we bang on about that we should have, would you choose not to use it?”

Well you could but as you’ve never ridden it then you can’t really state that.

I miss the good ol’ days when runners used to run in the road and we used to ask exactly the same question.

So how do you know if it’s ‘well maintained’?

Fair enough, I’m making an assumption, given the amount of use it gets, and by the ‘kind’ of cyclists that use it (many of whom I would imagine would probably avoid it if it was crap), that it must be pretty good.

“why, when there is the kind of well-designed, well-maintained kind of cycle path that we bang on about that we should have, would you choose not to use it?”

you may have a point but your argument is diminished somewhat by admitting you’ve never ridden it – there may be a good reason to avoid it – or yes the guy on the road could just be being stubborn but hey, he’s perfectly within his rights to be on the road anyway so no reason to get worked up* eh?

*well you know, worked up enough to start a thread, not suggesting you’re frothing at the mouth or anything.

this one ?

Just had a quick look at where I think you are talking about on StreetView – not sure which side of M32 J1 you are talking about. But in either direction, and indeed across the roundabout itself, I would be using the road.

Cycle path looks barely suitable for a road bike in one direction – glorified pavement. Better (wider, better surface) in the other, but has more interruptions than the road/sends you out of the way at a junction in at least one place.

Assuming you’re capable of riding 20mph for a few hundred metres and as long as you claim your lane, using a large roundabout is straightforward. Particularly if its signal controlled as that keeps vehicle speeds down on entry and on the roundabout itself.

As someone who’s done a LOT of riding round Bristols cycle paths, I can confirm they are all very, very good indeed. I’m not sure exactly where IHN is talking about but I know the general area and personally, I don’t think there’s any reason to use the road at all. Other than what I’ve already said. 🙂

You have a point 🙂

Even though I normally avoid the things (for all the good reasons stated above) I still cringe when I see cyclists on certain sections of the A9 😳

PeterPoddy – Member
As someone who’s done a LOT of riding round Bristols cycle paths, I can confirm they are all very, very good indeed. I’m not sure exactly where IHN is talking about but I know the general area and personally, I don’t think there’s any reason to use the road at all. Other than what I’ve already said.

So you’ve ridden every one?

this one ?

🙂 waits to see the answer to that.

Because you can hold on to vehicles on the road or even slipstream them.

Cycle paths around my way are often only on one side of the road which I find annoying having to cross the road twice, also shed loads of breaks at junctions

Seems to be a common thread.

FWIW part of my commute is alongside a dual-carriageway.
This one in fact: A695 Scotswood Road near Newcastle

Cyclists there have the choice of riding on the road, which has cycle lanes for some of the way, or riding on the nice wide shared-use pavement which rarely has any pedestrians on it.

Personally I always ride on the pavement there. Nothing against folk using the road, but I’ve no idea why they’d want to.

The “too many side roads/crossings” thing doesn’t apply there either:

Riding on the pavement I cross the road 3 times (at Toucan crossings) and have to cross 2 quiet side roads that I barely pause at.

Riding the same stretch on the road I’d face 3 major roundabouts and 12(!) sets of traffic lights.

I quite often miss cycle paths when I’m in an unfamiliar area as I’m normally shifting and access is normally only pavement width, at 90 degreed to my direction of travel, and often cluttered with light poles and other street furniture.
Proper “slip roads” on and off cycle paths would encourage use by the more enthusiastic cyclist.

Klunk – yes, that one, except he’d be coming down, so would be able to see any car coming into the hotel car park from way back (I assume you’ve cleverly spotted a flaw in my ‘uninterrupted’ remark, fair enough, I’d forgotten that bit).

FWIW, Streetview is out of date, there’s now an extra lane (the car share lane I mentioned) heading towards the motorway, so in the opposite direcvtion to Klunks link.

And at the time he was riding it, the road was really, really not as quite as on the Streetview link.

Anyway, as I seem to have lit the righteous fury of STW by having the audacity to question a seemingly bonkers decision on the part of the cyclist in question, I think I’ll retire. Enjoy yourselves.

Some people (including lots on here) won’t use them on principle because they’re not for serious cyclists, and using them might potentially affect their Strava KOM rankings.