Forum Topic

LBH Cycling Club

Nearly all of the members of the London Borough of Hounslow seem to have it in their minds that everybody should cycle everywhere, with no thought  whatsoever in doing so they are extending the cycle lane the full length of the London Road going through Brentford and on through Isleworth and then ultimately through to Hounslow and beyond. In doing so obviously no thought whatsoever has been given to all of the emergency services vehicles, being able to navigate their way through the mayhem caused by the said cycle lanes. The question that I have to ask myself is the LBH a cycling club?

Richard Atterwill ● 329d11 Comments

There simply is no place for anyone to pull in to allow an ambulance to get through on Twickenham Rd. Those blasted 'wands' are too close together from the Park Rd. junction up to the hospital entrance. Once you get past the entrance then there are a couple of gaps, but all in all the traffic is a nightmare for much of the time because the 'wands' go right up to the A316 roundabout. Also there is a cycleway that runs parallel with this waste of money from South St.,  and another cycle path on part of the pavement just in front of Cole Park allotments, madness.

Vanessa Smith ● 325d

“ They often do not even try to move as they sit on the side of the road for some time and hook their patient up to all that tech.”Yeah, yeah, yeah, but those aren’t the ones being spoken about on this thread are they?  People are concerned about the ambulances Blue Lighting with sirens blaring being stuck because of the cycle LANES. You can see them every day in Twickenham Road when they try to make their way to West Mid Hospital.  Lives are surely being lost due to the delays.

Steve Taylor ● 325d

It’s not because of the cycles - emergency vehicles get stuck because of the cycle lanes.  There are rarely many cycles in the lanes.

Steve Taylor ● 325d

Whenever I see an emergency vehicle stuck it's because of cars, not because of bicycles.

Francis Sheehan ● 328d

Emergency vehicles have changed over the years - for instance ambulances usually have a lot of technology on board and solar panels on the roof.  They often do not even try to move as they sit on the side of the road for some time and hook their patient up to all that tech.  They have to decide where to take someone to as it will depend on what services they think will be needed.

Philippa Bond ● 328d

Maybe the idea of emergency vehicles always using the cycle lanes should be explored along CHR.Before anyone flips over their handlebars I am just posing the question not saying it would work or not.We all love an experimental traffic order don't we so maybe it should be tried.After all minutes count.

Adrian Irving ● 329d

I'm not disputing what you say and have seen emergency vehicles delayed in similar ways on the High Road. The cycleway has created more pinch points which means they are more likely to be blocked. However, the delays tend to be relatively short and, if the vehicle can get access to the cycleway it can make much quicker progress.Prior to the cycleway being introduced in the case of total gridlock in Chiswick and emergency service vehicle could be delayed for a very long time. Therefore what has happened is that a large number of relatively short delays are now occurring instead of a smaller number of very long delays. Whether this good or bad overall is very hard to say.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 329d

Jeremy, with the greatest of respect Chiswck High Road is not wide enough. I have been present when a ambulance was trying to navigate it’s way through all of the traffic, when the buses on both sides of the road unable to move an inch. Although the LAS advocate that they will find away, no one can possibly do this when they are confronted by a brick wall.

Richard Atterwill ● 329d

I'm struggling to understand how a bicycle could hinder an emergency vehicle.

Mark Frost ● 329d

On the Chiswick High Road section of the cycle way it is wide enough for emergency service vehicles to use including fire engines so it shouldn't cause any major delays.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 329d

Funnily enough I belong to a cycling club , Westerley ,and to my knowledge it's never been accused of blocking emergency vehicles.

David Burke ● 329d