On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 12:57:54 +0100, Simon Brooke
wrote:

It's worth pointing out that, according to John Franklin who has studied
them extensively, substantially more dangerous for cyclists than the
Milton Keynes road network.

This may well be the case, partly due to the poor quality of cycling
that takes place on them. However, this is to an extent a
self-fulfilling prophecy because they encourage inexperienced cyclists
who wouldn't otherwise take to the grid system (which carries very
fast traffic and can be a bit scary if not actually unsafe when used
correctly).

Perception is as important as actual safety when encouraging more
cycling, though, which I'm sure we'd all agree is a desirable thing.
Looking at the Redways in a different way, many people won't walk them
at night because they believe they are unsafe because of their
relative secludedness. However, the crime statistics suggest that the
majority of attacks actually take place in the estates and not on the
isolated Redways. Thus, the Council are spending a fair bit of money
cutting down trees and the likes to make the Redways *feel* safer even
if in actual fact it makes almost no difference.

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/redway.html
http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/2decades.html

Will have a nose in more detail, but for a start:-

"The risk of personal attack is probably lower in Milton Keynes than
in many towns of a similar size, but attacks have taken place and more
often than not on Redways."

is factually incorrect. I don't have a reference to hand, but the
attacks on Redways are *not* disproportionately high.

Furthermore I'd argue very strongly that it's not desirable. The more
cyclists are persuaded not to use the roads, the more dangerous the roads
will be for cyclists. The way to make roads safer, as London has amply
demonstrated, is to get more cyclists on them, not get cyclists off them.

Cycling in London is a scary prospect for the inexperienced cyclist.
If you don't provide for them properly on fast/busy roads,
inexperienced cyclists will just go by car.

You could argue for blanket 20mph speed limits and such to make
cycling easier (note I say easier/less scary, not safer) but
realistically that is not a particularly feasible option.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.