Things need to change to win back a pleasant road network. We need some useful ideas, and John doesn’t have any other than do nothing and says “The key to cycle-friendly towns is respect for cyclists in using the roads, and that, I suggest, should be your goal and measure of success.” You won’t get any respect for positioning youself in the middle of the road with a trail of cars behind, wanting to be going 4 times your speed. No, car speeds need to be reduced to nearer cycle speeds (in town) and congestion removed as much as possible. The bike is much more versatile than the car, so we are lucky to be able to pop across a park or though a forest Wales has about 30,000 km of byway, bridleways, old railway track and other rights of way for cycles. They are the most important way for us to enjoy the countryside, and are also useful for local people to get to the shops, school and work. LETS IMPROVE ALL OUR CHOICES and try get the 90% not cycling cycling. That I would suggest is what Cycle Cardiff is about.

John asks us not to get too hung up about safety, pointing out the more than compensating benefits of cycling: this is the right way to keep it in perspective, I think. I believe he’s also right that the risks of cycling off-road aren’t negligible, and that negotiating between dedicated cycle paths and the road (or between the pavement and the road) have particular hazards. For me, cycling in the city or town is about cycling in traffic, being seen as you go and claiming your space and direction. Policy commitments to increasing the share of cycling as a viable transport choice can only be achieved if this is possible, nay convenient and direct.

There are established considerations as to the advisibility or need for dedicated cycle lanes, related to traffic speed and volume. Generally, residential streets can and should be planned for cycling without specific demarcation or separation for cyclists. John pointed out that most efforts at separation from motor traffic are counter-productive in such cases, and that cyclists need to be able to ride according to the road space & surface and traffic conditions as they see fit; I’m with him about this.

I don’t think it’s a counsel for doing nothing. As the Cycle Campaign Network, we criticised the changes to the Highway Code and didn’t agree with the advice that cyclists should use cycle facilities as a default, when they should use position, speed, and judgement to negotiate their place with other road users on the highway. Appropriate cycle training and the acquisition of experience of riding in traffic are important, and there are plenty of measures that can be taken to increase motorists’ awareness of the needs of cyclists and to achieve the ‘critical mass’ that will make cycling a real choice. Otherwise, cycling will continue to be a largely marginal activity in most places, restricting the opportunities to modify and improve conditions, including for all non-motorised modes and the accessibility and use of public spaces.

I agree that segregating cyclists is dangerous, and the sort of changes needed are of a far more wholesale nature, in the vein of the ‘naked streets’ of the late Hans Monderman.

With these changes society may well begin to see cyclists not as ‘blocking traffic, but as traffic’. The sooner Cardiff gets a Critical Mass movement to raise this issue, the better.

http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=932

http://www.hamilton-baillie.co.uk/papers/bathmagazinesharedspace.pdf

None of the above perspectives show cyclists knowing how to achieve their disparate dreams:

# respect for cyclists in using the roads
# congestion removed as much as possible
# try get the 90% not cycling cycling
# achieve ‘critical mass’ to make cycling a real choice
# wholesale changes towards ‘naked streets’

What could be on the cards in practical terms that could substantially improve cycling efficiency and experience?

20mph zone or sub-zones must be top choice
Pavement cross-overs at all blocked streets
Left filters for cyclists at all traffic lights
Contra-flow cycling in 1-way streets.

Other cycle-friendly changes are slow, costly, scheme-by-scheme. The above just need a load of signs “except cyclists” and “cyclist filter” and a load of tarmac to temporarily fill the kerb-steps.

It’s time we told our motoring friends that policies for separate ’safe’ cyclelanes don’t and can’t work - and demanded a step-change in the urban cycling environment that the above would produce.

I’m tempted to say that the greatest enemy of the responsible cyclist is not the motorist, or the pedestrian, or the designer of local traffic systems. There are two real enemies. The first is the irresponsible cyclist who uses pavements and roads at will, while ignoring all traffic regulations. The second is the policing system which ensures (at least where I live, which is Cardiff) that this irresponsible cyclist will never, ever be called to account. Where I live it appears to be accepted that no cyclist is required to obey the law. In obeying the law myself I’m just a throwback to earlier times, and debates on how the law relating to cycling might be changed just strike me as risible.

I have two comments from cycling in cardiff applicable to segregation of cycle lanes. One: the underpass opposite the city hall is shared with a marked cycle lane however it is always occupied by pedestians due to poor marking (could be sorted by colouring the cycle lane green!). Two: there is a road running from Rhiwbina and Llanishen that has speed calming measures or road narrowing in two places. one has a seperate pass for cyclists and the other has not. Why? It is much safer to have a pass for cyclists so avoiding the narrow road.

The article argues that special facilities for bicyclists do little to improve safety, but that increasing ridership will improve safety the most. Trails away from traffic are far more pleasant to ride on and give incentive to the “other 90%” to ride. I’m lucky enough to have a 3 mile commute to work partly on roads, but largely through the Bute park. Its fast and its gorgeous. If my situation were typical, everyone would ride.