CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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I cycled the torpedo up the new cycle route last month. I managed to thump over a dislodged armadillo because it was dark and I didn't spot it in time. I like them as an idea, but they really don't show up very well. Great big planters would be better. Actually, maybe just getting rid of cars would be better.
Got a nice bit of video though. I'll try to post it soon.
> https://twitter.com/carltonreid/status/938415902474817536
Is this what is meant by "rubbish segregation"?
If anyone needs reminding the difference that protected cycle routes can have, read/watch this...
https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/why-so-angry/
@HankChief: Aitkenhead Road, Glasgow (courtesy of the always helpful @trapprain)
Aitkenhead Rd has a very good example of armadillos but isn't the one in the photo above.
http://www.gobike.org/aikenhead-road-trial-cycle-lane-segregation-survey-now-available-1036
What I don't understand in the photo is why the segregation seems on be 1 way - where does the traffic going away from the photo go?
Hmm. Is it a boulevard with trees down the middle (so the lane heading away is out of shot)and another parallel street on the right? The Glasgow Twitterati will know.
"We saw someone in a mobility scooter almost overturn crossing a sidestreet off Leith Walk because the driver didn't realise armadillos had been installed and drove into one (the crossing was diverted due to roadworks). We also have a friend who was walking and tripped over one."
I struggle to engage with this armadillo topic because I can't for the life of me keep up with their rationale. I'm presuming they're intended to stop lane deviation but to still allow parking on cycle lanes? What's that all about? Do I misunderstand it?
Do I misunderstand it?
They're supposed to prevent/deter people driving and parking there, whilst still allowing cyclists to enter/leave the bike lane.
How high are they? I can't see how they'd deter a van or a modern faux by faux from a slow parking manoeuvre.
The council have explicitly said they weren't intended to prevent parking, which makes sense as they didn't.
This suggests that the council only see the benefit of segregated lanes as safety rather than inherently preventing parking, which is short-sighted and contradictory (as parked-over lanes are inherently unsafe.) We should take this opportunity to make sure that isn't a principle which survives.
I think they believe the road markings which are there will prevent parking. Which is of course a total nonsense since there's never anyone there to enforce the regulations.
Over time it's got to the point where the same vehicles will regularly park on a double red line in a junction - and think nothing of it.
When I went looking for the traces of the Armadillos I couldn't imagine where they had been. Most of the on-road track has parking bays inside it, so vehicles must be able to cross the track to access their bays. And indeed the only plugged holes I could find were opposite Pilrig Street where there's no parking.
If the Armadillos are designed to allow but slow vehicles crossing into the cycle lane then they could be fitted along all of the advisory lanes couldn't they?
The whole problem with enforcement is that everyone is allowed to be there for 5 minutes before they issue a ticket, no matter how bad the parking.
They need to bring back the good (or bad) old days when they just slapped a ticket on instantly and asked questions later -
Zero tolerance.
We need video enforcement like in parts of England. If it was restricted to 'no stopping' areas like Greenways you could probably paint it as a 'traffic flow' thing.
"were opposite Pilrig Street where there's no parking."
"everyone is allowed to be there for 5 minutes"
Unless I am grossly mistaken, the double-red-lines means No Stopping, Not To Check Your Phone, Not To Visit Greggs, Not To Unload A Sofa, Not At All.
A bit about the rubbishness of armadillos (as opposed to orcas, which are smaller still)
https://departmentfortransport.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/armadillos-the-emperors-new-infrastructure/
I'm coming round to the view that soft segregation here is waste of time and effort.
Either bin the parking and put proper bollards with the problems that creates for cyclists trying to get out of cycle lane or give it all up as a bad job. If vehicles are expected to cross the lanes to park then they're as segregated as any other lane in Edinburgh.
@dougal
You're still gonna get 5 mins grace for parking on the double reds. Even zig-zags no longer sacred.
@nedd1e_h Is this official policy? Parking in junctions, crossings etc now sanctioned?
You're still gonna get 5 mins grace for parking on the double reds
I've been told that tickets are "instantly" issued on double yellow kerb markings. Practice and policy may well deviate though/
Unless I am grossly mistaken, the double-red-lines means No Stopping, Not To Check Your Phone, Not To Visit Greggs, Not To Unload A Sofa, Not At All.
The driver of this vehicle was soundly asleep.
If a cycle lane has a parked vehicle in it and is adjacent to a non-shared-space foot-only footway, a cyclist has to go on the roadside of the parked vehicle, which is not safe.
Fairly certain I remember @earthowned posting something about having gone up the uphill side prior to de-armadillomament so I've asked if he remembers where they were...
They were at the entry and exit points of the cyclepath, starting a few feet before the on-road lane meets the ramp up to the on-pavement lane.
More specifically, outside the Coop and Cash Converters shops at the Pilrig junction, and outside the Tesco Express near Brunswick St.
Courtesy of @Monymusk on Twitter:
So the Orcas in the Scot Squad shot above have been located in the North of Glasgow. Thanks to the power of twitter, the director responded :)
Wallacewell Rd
https://goo.gl/maps/dMBvPJ2dAbk
Sadly the latest Street view doesn't have them on yet.
It's on a wide suburban dual carriageway which has 1 lane removed and used as a cycle way.
Quite different from the busy urban setting of Leith Walk.
Yeah lots of folk parking or "loading" in the unprotected cycle lanes now the armadillos/orcas have gone.
I could well imagine that, when forced to pull out into traffic and overtake such a parked vehicle, a well timed slap of the hand on the driver side wing mirror may, in some small way, help to educate inconsiderate parkers in the error of their ways.
@crowiver- I'll have enough to teach my 8yo when using that lane without adding more to the lesson.
No way I'd let my 8 year old ride that. Unfortunately just not safe enough.
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