An example of the plans is here
I have written to the Highways Officers at Hounslow as follows:
Dear Sirs,
Cycle Superhighway 9 – Outline Designs
My interest
I
commute by bicycle from home to Central London through Hounslow and along the
A315 following the proposed route of CS9.
I have been doing this for around 10 years. I am in addition a senior lawyer who is often
consulted by cyclists and their families following serious collisions resulting
in the death or serious injury of cyclists.
I have a deep commitment to improving the safety and popularity of
cycling.
The Outline Designs
The
designs of the proposed CS9 have some merit.
In particular the square blue box cyclist markings placed mid
carriageway are useful in indicating to all road users that a cyclist can be
expected to ‘take the lane’.
Comprehension of this is, in my experience, often lacking in motorists
particularly in the Hounslow area.
However care needs to be exercised to place these on the approach to all
junctions and bus stops sufficiently far back to encourage cyclists to move out
well in advance of the hazard.
Equally
the improved advanced stop lines are useful though you will need to exercise
your influence with the local police to enforce these so that they do not continue
to be widely flouted.
Also
tightening up the parking restrictions along the road will obviously benefit
cyclists.
The
problem with the outline design, though, is the widespread reliance on the use
of narrow (1.5m wide) with flow cycle lanes.
These are positively inimical to the safety of cyclists and it would be
far better to save the paint and omit these altogether. The relevant design standard, Cycle Infrastructure
Design (Local Transport Note 2/08) http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-transport-notes/ltn-2-08.pdf
states that cycle lanes should be 2 metres wide on busy roads. I attribute my survival after thousands of
journeys on the A315 in part upon always travelling at least one metre from the
kerb. The distance from my centre line
to my right elbow will take up almost the whole of the remaining 50cm. All the 1.5m lanes will achieve is to encourage
very close passing by motor vehicles, including buses and lorries, on the rare
occasions when they are able to outpace a bicycle. When stationary, as they often are, they are
likely to have their wheels hard up against the cycle lane with the dual
disadvantage of a narrow strip with poor visibility on the nearside and a
reduction in the amount of room available for cyclists to overtake on the
offside. An appropriately
trained/experienced cyclist will ignore the narrow cycle lanes, positioning him
or herself as though they were not there.
This means that not only is installing them a waste of money, but that
they may lead to unwelcome hostility from other road users who do not
understand the principles of bikeability.
There is a particularly poorly designed section on map 9 where a kerb
side cycle lane continues past an informal crossing where it would not be safe
for a bus or HGV to overtake.
Speed
The
A315 is a busy road. Traffic is
frequently congested. When it does move
at speeds approaching 30 mph, that is only for a short distance before the next
traffic light or traffic queue. The
designs appear to proceed on an utterly false premise that motor traffic is
faster than bicycling. This premise is
not accurate over any significant distance along the A315 save in the dead of
night. What is clearly needed along this
route is a 20 mph speed limit. This
would not increase journey times during the day; it would simply slow down the
surges and it is a solution that is supposed to fit higher in the hierarchy of
design than attempting to banish cyclists to a 1.5m wide strip alongside the
kerb.
General
I trust
you find these comments helpful. I hope
you will share them with Council Members and TfL, who I assume also have some
input into the design and financing of this project. It would seem to me sensible that you consult
with cycling groups such as CTC before investing considerable sums in a scheme
that appears to me to avoid both proper segregation and proper integration,
managing the worst of all worlds.
Yours faithfully,
Martin Porter
