Shared pavement cycle paths

Hi

On the commute this morning I was on the one stretch of shared pavement
cycle path that I use one side of the pavement has had green tarmac
applied and is seperated from the rest of the pavement by a solid white
line.As I was coming up behind a ped on the green part of the pavement I
rang my bell just to let her know I was there, not to get out of the
way, as there was plenty of room to pass while still staying on the
green.
As I passed her she shouted at me that I was on the wrong side of the
pavement and that the green was for peds. To back herself up she pointed
at the sign at the end of the path which showed cyclists on the peds on
the left(green zone) and cyclists on the right. It was only later that I
realised that the sign was facing the wrong direction and it was the
sign at the start of that end of the path and that it had at some point
it had been turned around the lamp post 180 degrees.

Allan

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:36:30 +0100, Allan
wrote:

Hi

On the commute this morning I was on the one stretch of shared pavement
cycle path that I use one side of the pavement has had green tarmac
applied and is seperated from the rest of the pavement by a solid white
line.As I was coming up behind a ped on the green part of the pavement I
rang my bell just to let her know I was there, not to get out of the
way, as there was plenty of room to pass while still staying on the
green.
As I passed her she shouted at me that I was on the wrong side of the
pavement and that the green was for peds. To back herself up she pointed
at the sign at the end of the path which showed cyclists on the peds on
the left(green zone) and cyclists on the right. It was only later that I
realised that the sign was facing the wrong direction and it was the
sign at the start of that end of the path and that it had at some point
it had been turned around the lamp post 180 degrees.

Give it up. Stick to the road.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

Allan wrote:

On the commute this morning I was on the one stretch of shared pavement
cycle path that I use one side of the pavement has had green tarmac
applied and is seperated from the rest of the pavement by a solid white
line.

As I passed her she shouted at me that I was on the wrong side of the
pavement and that the green was for peds. To back herself up she pointed
at the sign at the end of the path which showed cyclists on the peds on
the left(green zone) and cyclists on the right. It was only later that I
realised that the sign was facing the wrong direction and it was the
sign at the start of that end of the path and that it had at some point
it had been turned around the lamp post 180 degrees.

Have you drunk too much coffee this morning? Try reading that aloud to
yourself. :*S

--
Mark.

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:36:30 +0100 someone who may be Allan
wrote this:-

On the commute this morning I was on the one stretch of shared pavement
cycle path that I use one side of the pavement has had green tarmac
applied and is seperated from the rest of the pavement by a solid white
line.

Does the green bit not have cycles painted on it?


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen wrote:

Does the green bit not have cycles painted on it?


No, it is the shared use path in front of the transport museum in
Glasgow, only use it as the road is oneway in the wrong direction.

Allan

Allan" "amv.2f wrote:

On the commute this morning I was on the one stretch of shared
pavement cycle path that I use

There's your problem right there :-)

Shared use paths are a work of Stan and should be Shunned.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
Allan" "amv.2f wrote:


On the commute this morning I was on the one stretch of shared
pavement cycle path that I use


There's your problem right there :-)

Shared use paths are a work of Stan and should be Shunned.


Come on this is quite clearly an over generalisation and you know it. Is
it better/faster/safer on the road? Not often.

Just use what is appropriate.

As an example, I use a shared use cycle path next to the A41 in north
london, between Apex Corner and Sterling Corner.

URL:http://www.sustrans.org.uk/webcode/MapPage.asp?xMapCoord=85&yMapCoord=60&zLevel=2

(It's the vertical green line next to the pink A41)

The alternative to the shared path is mixing it with 3 lanes of 70mph
traffic - this would be just as much fun as cycling on the motorway with
no hard shoulder.

To be completely honest I actually usually cycle up the footpath on the
east of the road (the shared one is on the west), as I normally turn
right at the roundabout at the top which is an absolute nightmare to
cross on a bike or in a car.

Adam

Guy:
Shared use paths are a work of Stan and should be Shunned.

As I negotiated my way round the white-knuckle experience that is Hyde
Park Corner yesterday morning, I thanked my lucky stars that at least it
wasn't a shared-use cycle path.

I got round Hyde Park Corner safely enough but almost as soon as I hit
the shared-use cycle path through the park itself, I was almost knocked
off by an errant jogger.

Mind you, it's a question of which is the lesser of two evils -
yesterday evening I decided to stick to the road and ended up following
a coach all the way down Park Lane, sucking up carbon monoxide all the
way. I overtook the coach to get out of the fumes and the parentless
fool at the wheel responded by deliberately trying to run me off the
road - I could see him quite clearly sneering at me in his wing mirror
as he went past.

d.



--

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:03:53 +0100, Adam H
wrote:
The alternative to the shared path is mixing it with 3 lanes of 70mph
traffic - this would be just as much fun as cycling on the motorway with
no hard shoulder.

To be completely honest I actually usually cycle up the footpath on the
east of the road (the shared one is on the west), as I normally turn
right at the roundabout at the top which is an absolute nightmare to
cross on a bike or in a car.

I have a similar predicament in Milton "Home of the Roundabout" Keynes.
I could certainly go a lot faster on the roads than on the glass-, dog-,
excrement-, brick-, thorn-, sarky kid-, pothole-infested redways but I
simply don't have the balls to take on that many roundabouts. I can take
the h/v roads and deal with lots of medium sized ones, or do the
(shorter) A5 route and tackle a few beasts. Neither fills me with
confidence.

I must investigate sometime if I can make a hybrid A5-redway route to
avoid the nastiest bits. Despite it being heavy duty dual-carriageway
I'm much less intimidated by the A5 than the criss-cross, can't go more
than 5m without hitting a roundabout, city roads. It's pretty much all
straight, with a cycle lane that goes round the junctions (which I
assume means fewer people turning left into you at them).

They've tried to make it bike-friendly with the redways (and for a lot
of journeys it actually is, particularly the "it's a nice day, let's go
see some birds" cruises) but as for utility riding the MK mainroads are
purely car-oriented. You can cut a lot of corners on the shared paths
but I can't average more than 12mph; not so much because I'm unfit but
because it's too bloody dangerous to go much faster (blind corners, deaf
pedestrians).

Frink

--
Doctor J. Frink : 'Rampant Ribald Ringtail'
See his mind here : http://www.cmp.liv.ac.uk/frink/
Annoy his mind here : pjf at cmp dot liv dot ack dot ook
"No sir, I didn't like it!" - Mr Horse

Adam H wrote:

Shared use paths are a work of Stan and should be Shunned.

Come on this is quite clearly an over generalisation and you know it.
Is it better/faster/safer on the road? Not often.

Er, up to a point, Lord Copper. One of the most the most dangerous places
you can be is riding along the footway against the direction of traffic
flow, and it is a very rare shared-use path which is immune from the problem
of what to do at junctions and access crossovers.

I was being "bike buddy" for a mate today; he didn't fancy the road so we
took to the shared use path. Result? Instead of overtaking me in my normal
riding position with some decent space to spare, HGVs and buses were
skimming past inches from my handlebars. And there was nothing I could do
about it because the shared use pavem,ent in question is narrow and
overgrown on one side. And that's one of the bettwer ones - at least the
surface is well cared for and free of glass.

We were back on the road in short order.

In general your best bet for speed and safety is to ride properly on the
road inna Cyclecraft stylee, unless the road in question is particularly
vile. Your average speed will be lower than on the road, and you will be
delayed by junctions and sideroads (as well as potentially oss the busy road
in order to turn right). As always there will be exceptions, but that is
the general rule.

The problem is, of course, that these facilities are fundamentally designed
for the convenience of motorists, not cyclists. But it was ever thus.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk