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The other day I saw Guy all aflutter. He and the others cycling in front of the LBHF offices just by the cycle lane Zig Zag #1. Macbeth Street is it? Anyways...roughly three people in the lane headed east and the same headed west. Guy was in pole position headed west. In order to avoid a head-on collision, they all had to propel themselves by pushing with one foot on the roadway. Pedalling wasn't an option. To which I said to Guy "doesn't really work does it" which afluttered him even more. Well, it's not rocket science to consider the movement of a cyclist leaning into a turn when confronting the same headed in the opposite direction. The zig zags don't work. The only time I've seen them work is when Jeremy Vine in full clown costume has the cycle lane to himself roughly 5am. I'm particularly fond of his neon yellow gloves.Further down the road there is Zig Zag #2 and #3 (the worst in terms of dimension). Cyclists avoid ZZ2 by cycling onto the pavement directly into the "No Cycling" sign and go across Lyric Square where there are three more "No Cycling signs" often seen flat on the ground. Or they will cycle into the pedestrian traffic by the Pret and then go along the pavement in front of the pub avoiding ZZ2. That pavement has been severely reduced and is often cluttered with e-bikes and scooters lying on their sides. It's easier and dare I say safer for cyclists to then use the road and avoid ZZ3 since it is the narrowest of the lot.On the other side of the gyratory cyclists continue to use the road I'm guessing because it is closer to their route and, again, safer than the spiffy new cycle lane. I've yet to see someone use the cycle lane and the dedicated traffic light to cross the King Street intersection if they are headed east. Plenty of time to watch as that traffic is forever clogged by a bus further up King Street. It then clogs traffic all the way around the gyratory unto itself so that's always super fun. And I've noticed the cycle lane gets clogged by a pile of garbage in front of the Pret. Not sure where it's coming from, but it sits there in the middle of the cycle lane. Exactly how a basic urban function got overlooked when spending millions after millions worth of trial and error remains a mystery. Guess TfL is still in the error phase.

David Lesniak ● 1514d

David Lesniak asked quote:
" Matthew, out of curiosity, what is your opinion of a cyclist filtering in and around traffic on the A4 westbound between Hammersmith and Chiswick?

That happened the other day. Why? " unquote:
The answer to that one is easy I'm afraid/ David.  Its simply so as to avoid having to breathe in too much exhaust gas ( By traffic I assume you mean statiuonary or slowly moving traffic). As a cyclist stuck in any sort of traffic. long queues, even traffic lights, the first thing you becoume aware of is the amount of stuff pouring out of people's exhaust pipes. Whereas people sitting waiting in cars (the same people Robinson, Pike and the motorist Campbell  want to start riding bikes in the rain — starting next week) are oblivious to all this. In their controled envirionment — in the dry, with their radios, air conditioners , comfy seats, even possibly fitted with a massage function and the mobile if nobody's looking (and who to repeat, are expected instead to ride bikes, not only in the rain but after dark over pot-holed roads as well — who wouldn't be jumping at the chance ? ). So that any means necessary may be taken by some cyclists to avoid this. Often traffic flows in only one direction so its possible to make good progress by simply riding down the outside on "wrong" side of the road — which I did myself only yesterday. Unfortunately, even in pre-sanctimonious twat/yobbo cyclist days, people looked askance at cyclists jumping red lights even when safe to do so and so routes with too many traffic lights may be avoided for that reason, simply so as to avoid possible antagonism. Pollution which you're not going to avoid, simply by riding in a cycle track alongside queues of vehicles stuck at numerous sets of traffic lights such as those found on CHR Sadly all this illustrates ia point I've made more than once. That all that the likes of Pike Robinson and the motorist Campbell achieve with their attitude, along with the new unwelcome ypob element is to increase antagonism towards ctclists generally — although the former are so up themselves they've clearly not noticed or are naturally confrontational imn any case, and a determination to find fault, as here, where none actually exists While on the other hand, if that was a troll then what else is there to say other than dix points !

michael adams






   





Michael Adams ● 1514d