CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Meanwhile in Wester Hails
I don’t know how long this has been here but I spotted it the other week and had such a WTF moment I felt it necessary to share. Honestly who that this was sensible infrastructure...
For the benefit of non Google users, there is a 5m long cycle lane over the bus stop with a give way to the bus stop at the end. The road doesn’t have to give way but since its a 40 sitting in with the main traffic is a bit tricky.
I think it's been like that for a while now. I agree it is definitely odd, although it's an odd stretch of road because of the variable width.
Holy Deathtrap Batman!
think it's been like that for a while now.
Aye, your probably right especially judging by the state of the markings.
Holy Deathtrap Batman!
Yeah I've just thought if one were to give way to a bus but the car behind didn't....
I'm going to be controversial, I don't think that's tooooo bad, and I can certainly see what the purpose is...
That said, it would actually have been better to simply route the lane on the left past the bus stop to join up with the cycle lane further down the road.
Crazy.
There's something similar in Bathgate (I hope this embeds):
Heading West, nearing the train station, a long fast downhill section of cycle lane comes to an abrupt halt at a set of fairly arbitrary give way lines, while the rest of the road traffic whizzes merrily by.
Needless to say I've never seen anyone actually stop there.
You don't actually have to stop at give way lines if there's no traffic to give way to, and I don't think anyone in their right mind would suggest that you should be giving way to a car coming from behind at that bit of road.
Surprised it doesn't have an 'END' painted on the road, or a wee sign saying that, which is the norm in these circumstances, as if it means you've got to get off the bike and walk from there.
Actually, thinking on that give way line some more, it's completley wrong to be using it there. Give way lines are for traffic entering a major road from a minor road (which can include roundabouts) (minor and major not really denoting anything other than major meaning it has priority).
Cycle lanes on the carriageway are not a separate road, therefore you don't need give way lines (whereas they are appropriate for a pavement lane, for example, joining onto a road).
I've thought about it every time I've sped over it, and the only explanation I can think of is that they ran out of red paint at that point.
Both directions are barking mad and largely (rightly!) ignored by all and sundry. Coming from the A71 towards Gillespie Crossroads in the car there is a painted narrowing from two lanes to one just after the traffic lights. At one point having a professional transport planner as my passenger I asked what the intent/purpose was. I can't remember the exact reply but I can accurately paraphrase as "not a clue, that's absolutely crazy isn't it!?"
It's been like that in Wester Hailes for a long time, at least 10 years.
It's not as bad as it looks bad by today's standards. Actually they've reduced what was a 4 lane dual carriageway to a 2 lane dual carriageway (1 lane in each direction), thus leaving an entirely empty lane for cycles.
Note that cyclists get the standard 'red cycle lane' plus all that white hatching, so you are somewhat protected from close passes. There aren't that many busses running that way neither...
The only downside is it is (predictably) fairly short in length.
Plus...
I remember there was always a problem with pedestrians not wanting to use the underpass to cross the road at that point, and rather running the gauntlet of 2 lanes traffic, jumping over the fence, then running the gauntlet again.
Perhaps they reduced it down to 1 lane in each direction, knowing that peds would continue to jump the fence, so as to make it safer for them (?!)
That cycle lane/give way markings at the bus stop are an accident waiting to happen. You are freewheeling down the hill, doing perhaps 20-25 mph, there's a bus stationary at the bus stop, you are in the cycle lane, suddenly the bus starts to pull out and you are having to slam on the brakes to give way. There's no prior warning of this, the first you know of the give way are the markings on the road surface itself, not easy to see in the dark and in the wet.
As edd1e says it's probably not that serious, it's been there for years and no one is dead or injured. I suspect it's ignored by bus drivers as much as cyclists, after all the cyclist need only move over 50cm and the give way no longer applies.
It was more just a what were they thinking!
I often ride it myself, I never feel safe if there's a bus there
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts