To think there should be separate roads for bikes and cars?

[Columbia]

I have been a lifelong cyclist and always got mighty fed up with car drivers, etc. but now I have to drive my son to school, I get fed up with bikes! Sometimes I have to get into first gear and drive half a mile behind a struggling cyclist going up a narrow hill, with a huge queue behind me, which is just horrible as we are all using far more fuel that way than the cyclist is saving by cycling up said hill.
Of cours I advocate cycling and do it where possible but I think bikes ought to have their own routes, and not use car-dominated roads because they are causing more pollution that way.
I wish cars were avoidable but I have found sadly that we need one at the moment - hopefully not for long, but with a baby and four year old and school being a long way away it is pretty necessary.

There are a few cycle routes but I think we need them EVERYwhere, not just a few.

What does everyone think?

I agree. Even with cycles paths by the side of roads the combination of bikes, cars and pedestrians is lethal.

It's great that so many people cycle in my town, but it puts me off driving.

If all those people who were dominating the roads with cars used bikes then maybe the roads would become bike dominated and the cars could go elsewhere.

Btw I have a bike too!

oh and 2 cars...

What I've become more aware of since having a child is people cycling on the pavement. I know I used to do it myself, but now I think it's shocking! So more cycle paths would encourage cyclists to stay on the road.

i agree , what annoys me is when they cycle on the pavement they excpect me as a pedestrian to get out of thier way! x someone actually tutted as they had to go round me

I cycle, I don't really drive. I hate people cycling on the pavement. Well, I've done it late at night when I've been caught out with no lights, but never near children or adults even, and I would never expect them to give way - it's their pavement.

You do get mixed cycle/pedestrian paths here in the UK, and they just don't work.

My controversial view here is that the school is too far away for you to walk is the main problem.

higher fuel prices, will have people returning to bikes and then hopefully, initatives like this will stop cycle routes finishing after 30 yards....

support sustrans:

www.sustransconnect2.org.uk/

to provide better cycle routes!!!!

very surprised in london the amount of cycle is use in the west end - fantasic. only now need for buses to run on re-newable fuel (they taste discusting).

Being a pedestrian in Cambridge is interesting, the student cyclists really appreciate having to slow down or even stop for us - not.

Oh and crossing at a pelican crossing on the green man is like a game of Russian roulette .

I cycle (in the country, not Cambridge) and find that in the main car and lorry drivers are most understanding.

You do of course get the odd arse who feels the extra minute gained by passing you on a blind bend is worth the risk of life

Nice to have started a thread where people agree with me

Bozza, I agree that the school being far away is a problem, sadly the one nearest to us is awful and Ds got the p*s taken too many times by the kids there, before he even started, so we chose one that is a couple of miles away but up the steepest hill you can imagine. I think later he will be Ok to walk but at age 4 it would take us 2 hours to get there particularly with a pram for my youngest. So we use mum's car twice a day - journey time approx. 5 minutes.

It is very useful as well if one of the kids or the cat is ill, and I need to get to the Drs fast. There are no baby seats in cabs, they are hard to find round here, and really expensive and I don't usually have that kind of money in the house. So I am glad the car is at our disposal.

Part of the problem is shops etc being so car-orientated so they are all out of town - I'd love to live somewhere you had a greengrocer, a butcher, all that stuff within walking idstance but sadly our town is only full of cafes and clothes shops so you have to use the supermarket - I do it online mostly though.

Oh and I agree about cycling on pavements - I used to before I had kids, but always gave way/got off for walkers. I say rude things to the many students round here who think it's fine to knock my children flying as they pass

Oh columbia I am not so consistent as that. I have a car and drive it. But I do walk the DC to school if I am not working. Otherwise it is up to the childminder what she does. We do not have any of the shops you mention in walking distance, but like you I mainly shop online or at the supermarket next door to my office. Although I am guilty of driving there when it is walking distance.

I agree with Bozza- I think the distance to schools exaccerbates a lot of issues these days.

But tbh most roads wouldn't lend themselves to bike paths, they're nice where they can happen but that's about it. Our road is only just wide enough for one car, as are the majority in our very old village. Short of building extra roads for cars (no thanks- not enough green spaces left as it is!) it's just not feasible.

No you're right Peach, it is impractical. I just wish there were an answer - it could still be used as a best-practise idea when building new estates etc. though.

In the south of Germany I lived in a town where you could go every where on bike paths, it was great and very safe. Here in Berlin it's a risk to your life if you go on the roads (bus drivers are maniacs) and the few bike paths are usually on the pavement side with a row of parked cars - danger when someone opens a car door as you ride past. It's a shame as the place is totally flat so no getting off to push up hills like where we used to live!

i think all town centres should be car free...

the only problem is in my town is that if that happened no-one would be able to park anywhere near the town centre. and the councils own those car parks and they like the revenue a little too much!

We have a pedestrianised high street,, the parking near it is scarce and expensive, it's easier to walk even with kids in tow. There's no easy answer...

YABU Colombia, what do you expect, decent cycle paths to be built everywhere overnight? By decent I mean cycle routes that don't pause at every superstore driveway or minor intersection, that get cleared promptly of hedge trimmings and glass, and that don't require sharing space with meandering pedestrians.

40 years ago cycling uptake in Continental Europe was the same as in Britain (rates declining sharply). But some countries Belgium, Netherlands etc. made extended efforts and long-term investments to encourage non-car traffic in every way. Every new road or housing development considered the needs of people travelling by all different means. Efforts to facilitate cycling or walking in the UK have been pathetic, by comparison.

I live on a housing estate built 12 years ago. My house is 400 yards from the school gate, but because of the objections of ONE old lady in a bungalow, there is no quick pedestrian access from the estate to the school; instead we have to go a circuitious route, travelling 3/4 - 1 mile each way to get there. Madness.

"YABU Colombia, what do you expect, decent cycle paths to be built everywhere overnight?"

yep! see sustrans for more details:

www.thepeoples50million.org.uk/projects/connect2

We've had some new roads built near here over the last few years and they all have shared cycle paths/pavements. Most of them work, mainly because there are so few pedestrians. They are all whizzing past in their cars. The problem is that they come to a sudden stop and you either have to continue illegally on the pavement or move on to the road.

lljkk, I do have some sympathy with the old lady in the bungalow. I assume the access path would be beside her house. She may feel extra vulnerable if she lives alone and she has people passing close to her house at all hours with a quick getaway route out of the estate.

No I don't expect it. I just wish it were the case. I don't think it's unreasonable to think something ought to be the case whether it is feasible or not. Practicality has nothing to do with an idealistic suggestion.

Use casbie's link! Make idealism closer to reality SUSTRANS
(I used to cycle everywhere when I lived in flat cheshire and flat hampshire. Here in horribly hilly Yorkshire I use the car, and I'm cross with myself. So many people say the reason they don't cycle is because the traffic is too dangerous. And don't get me started on shared pedestrian/cycle paths. Whose idiot idea was that one? Grrrrrr.