What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

George Riches
Posts: 782
Joined: 23 May 2007, 9:01am
Location: Coventry
Contact:

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by George Riches »

Well a lot of CTC Right to Right representatives thought this advisory cycle lane was a good idea:

Poole cycle lane.jpg

Although many would regard this as even better:
Poole cycle lane improved.jpg


The camera is pointing up hill.
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

I'd rather not have the bus stop in the cycle lane...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
User avatar
orbiter
Posts: 274
Joined: 17 Jan 2007, 9:33pm
Location: St Albans, UK

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by orbiter »

byegad wrote:
Pete Owens wrote:
All lane markings tend to increase speed by giving drivers extra guidance and confidence that they have a clear route ahead.
This is true whether it is the centre line, and edge of carriageway marking or a cycle lane.


And this surely is the solution. Remove all markings, traffic furniture and distinction between pavement and road. Drivers slow down and everyone is safer. It's been done in Holland ....


In the majority of Holland, where I live & cycle, broadly..
- fast roads have a separate parallel cycle road (too good to be called a cycle track)
- lower speed roads have wide cycle lanes
- slow roads ('Country lanes') have wide cyclist-priority ('advisory') lanes creating a central space in which two cars can't pass, so they move slowly
- local urban roads have convolutions, tables or obstructions so that cars cannot travel over 10-20 mph.
- in town centres cycles, pedestrians and cars all avoid each other, with bans on cars/cyclists at times.

It certainly isn't perfect (e.g. conflicts at junctions) and much of the engineering would be hard to implement in England.

The 'shared space' idea of removing traffic markings referred to is excellent, and is being increasingly applied in town centres in Holland - and England! - but like any technique is not applicable everywhere and is still rare in Holland.

Pete
jochta
Posts: 406
Joined: 13 Mar 2009, 11:54am

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by jochta »

I've been thinking about the revised Highway Code guidance on cycle lanes. It's quite simple to make a cycle path mandatory already, using the no-cycles sign.

For example it's done on the Oxford Eastern Bypass road (dual carriageway)...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 1,,0,11.88

If you want to cycle along here you have to use the cycle path alongside the carriageway. There are similar signs are at each entrance/junction/traffic lights on this stretch of road.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 00478&z=18

OK it doesn't deal with cycle lanes but if there is a path they can force cyclists to use it.

John
George Riches
Posts: 782
Joined: 23 May 2007, 9:01am
Location: Coventry
Contact:

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by George Riches »

When it comes to cycle lanes (white "paint" on the carriageway), mandatory/advisory is with respect to motorists, not cyclists.

Advisory cycle lanes should only be used where motorists have to cross into the cycle lane - e.g. to go in and out of driveways. If motorists often park by the side of the road any cycle lane needs to be positioned so that the cyclist can avoid the "door zone" when passing the parked cars. If the highway engineers consider that this doesn't allow enough room for the rest of the traffic, cyclists are better off without the cycle lane.

E.g. a bad advisory cycle lane. I'm glad it's slowly disappearing due to wear and tear.
User avatar
orbiter
Posts: 274
Joined: 17 Jan 2007, 9:33pm
Location: St Albans, UK

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by orbiter »

jochta wrote:I've been thinking about the revised Highway Code guidance on cycle lanes. It's quite simple to make a cycle path mandatory already, using the no-cycles sign.

For example it's done on the Oxford Eastern Bypass road (dual carriageway)......


Well, that opens up an entirely different can or worms to the original topic. I wonder how legal those no-cycling signs. But given a cyclepath as wide as a country lane, I'm not sure who'd want to bother with the stress of the dual carriageway. If only ALL dual -carriageways had them. This would of course be standard in Holland but the quality of the cyclepath and its continuity would be excellent.

As Mr Riches says, cycle lanes are aimed at cars, mandatory = keep out, advisory = cyclists first. Advisory lanes work well in Holland; I don't see why why they shouldn't in the UK, except that our planners seem to like black/white rules rather than encouraging cooperation between road users.

Pete
jochta
Posts: 406
Joined: 13 Mar 2009, 11:54am

Re: What's the purpose of advisory cycle lanes?

Post by jochta »

Yes, I realise mandatory/advisory applies to the motorist for painted cycle lanes. I was kind of coming at it from the angle of the draft Highway Code change "that the use of cycle facilities would no longer be discretionary for cyclists" which the CTC successfully campaigned against.

The use of the no-cycles sign as used in Oxford does mean that the use of the cycle facility provided is non-discretionary. And this (in theory I guess) could be applied to any road with an off-carriageway route they wanted to force you to use, even a shared footpath possibly?

John
Post Reply