CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
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CCE is 15years old!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30560607
On a bitterly cold winter's day, I am sitting on a bench in Edinburgh's Inverleith Park having a curious device designed to monitor my stress levels fitted to my head.
I'm already wearing Google Glass and I'm beginning to feel like Scotland's uncool answer to RoboCop. In a hi-vis jacket.
But there's a good reason for my ignominy.
I'm about to take part in research designed to find ways of increasing confidence amongst reluctant cyclists.
However, campaigners point out that Edinburgh, and some other places, are already well on the way towards achieving 10% or an even higher cycle share of journeys.
Encouraging those reluctant cyclists I mentioned earlier to adopt pedal power will be key.
Sigh. You encourage them by making the cycling conditions FAR LESS SCARY. It's not a difficult concept.
Trying to get them to cycle round Crewe Toll seems to be taking things a bit far though, tbh. While I know that myself and two work colleagues (out of about 10 in total who cycle regularly) would be capable of such a feat, it's only because we are all very experienced. I'm not sure I've ever actually cycled round it since there's a path nearby. Surely if we want to get more cyclists on their bikes, we should be trying to see whether they can cope with things less scary?
Here we go again:
"The ultimate aim of the project is to develop a smartphone app giving cyclists information about the potential hazards on their route.
Researcher Kim Taylor tells me: "It would be an extension to a GPS navigation system able to warn cyclists about getting into the correct lane, or about places where someone may open the door of a parked car.""
An app that tells you to get in lane and not to cycle in the door zone. Well, I suppose it's easier than removing the "potential hazards on the route".
I would also be concerned that keeping an eye on a hazard warning app would be a hazard in itself. This isn't a criticism of the students involved - they are doing what they can with the skills they have. I just don't think any app is ever going to do anything to improve the lot of urban cyclists, apart from around the margins (I'm thinking cycle mapping mainly).
I made sure the Glass was tucked up high enough to not impinge on my field of view.
What a bicycle direction-providing application needs to be really useful is real-time flexibility: "either start to try moving into the right-hand lane to take the next right, or if that looks like being too much hassle then you can take either of the next two right turns after that, when there's only one lane to cross, or otherwise just hang on until the signalled junction in a quarter of a mile where there's a protected right-turn filter or where you can just dismount and pedestrianate across."
I'm dubious of the value of this whole idea, since the overwhelming majority of journeys are repeat journeys. People who are going to work and back every day are rapidly going to master all the permutations of their route, including nuances that are never going to come from an app, unless the app crowdsources the directions.
The whole premise of trying to understand how to get people to cycle round hotspots like Crewe Toll is barking up the wrong tree. If they can figure out how to induce people to willingly accept that kind of risk, they should at least get a Nobel prize for it IMO.
Sheesh, talk about the world's most pointless app.
"Warning, you're about to come up to a busy three-lane roundabout where your chances of becoming hiviz road-paste are thirty times greater. Good luck!"
If this were done solely with the aim of determining how much more stressful road-cycling is than segregated-path-cycling it would be really interesting. If it were done with the aim of seeing how experienced and novice cyclists experience anxiety under similar conditions it would be interesting. If it were done to see how familiarity with a route (the daily commute) affects that stress it would be interesting. But this is ridiculous - these days you're not anyone unless you've got a mobile phone app.
On further reflection I think this is the dumbest idea ever. If they want an app that warns you of hazards you get Open Street Map and a DB of all the RTAs involving cyclists, overlay one on the other and Bob's your uncle.
With a bit of investigation it appears they're working on Design Informatics masters course. How real are these stress measurements? The video looks like they're using the Emotiv Systems portable EEG device.
The more I think about this the more I'm just getting angry about this.
When pondering further on the Crewe Toll nonsense, I remembered that my sister is a prime example of someone who wants to cycle, but doesn't because she's too scared. Clearly, she's far too scared to try Crewe Toll. However, she's terrified of right turns in general, but especially on to Gorgie Road, which is close to where she lives, and thus is a requirement pretty much every time she'd head out on her bike. That's a far more worthwhile example of the kind of thing they should be doing.
Indeed, I can now think of about 20 other things that would be more worthwhile than Crewe Toll. I mean, seriously, if you had to get over Crewe Toll at rush hour, I wouldn't be surprised to find 98% of cyclists would just get off and walk to get over it.
The Alternative Department for Transport's take on it https://departmentfortransport.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/a-study-of-the-obvious-a-franklin-on-your-shoulder-and-the-myth-of-the-inexperienced-cyclist/
@sallyhinch beat me to the punch by a single minute! :-)
My only complaint about the Alternative DfT's article is the representation of this as funded research. It's made clear on their website it's a project for a Masters degree. It would be infinitely more disappointing if this were real research work. But that just reads as a cliched "ivory tower academics don't know what they're about, wasting our taxpayers money" complaint.
One of the few good points about the Crewe Toll roundabout is that you can actually see across it, so you can judge when it might be safe as a cyclist to enter the roadway. Compare that with those at Bankhead or the Gyle, where sightlines are blocked by trees or mounds of earth.
And that blog has to be amongst the worst campaign sites that I have ever read, but then I am a vehicular cyclist, and a wmcm.
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