I have had a query about designing cycle paths so you could promote your city/country's cycling routes as fully accessible for the disabled. Has anyone come across a paper or study that laid out the kind of design that would be required?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Designing cycle paths for the disabled
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Posted 7 years ago #
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I suppose it depends what is really meant by "fully accessible".
There was a time when that merely meant 'useable by wheelchairs'.
So no steps was vital (a notion completely forgotten about when CEC made the new WoL link at Roseburn Cliff).
Similarly there was a fashion for very restrictive access designed to exclude motorbikes - they usually found a way round which was likely to be impossible for wheelchair users. How much the motorbikes was a problem in the first place is another matter.
Now councils are keen on tactiles to 'allow' some routes to be more usuable by people with sight problems.
This may or may not be actually increasing such use and is almost impossible to implement on the canal or NEPN.
CEC is also keen on shared use (aka putting bikes on pavements - which are not always sutably widened first.)
As for research/documentation perhaps best to contact Sustrans first.
They at least will have the basics on ramps and barriers.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I'll be interested in this. New Scottish Handcycling organisation coming into being very soon (I can't give details yet, I've a very good friend heavily involved) and we were discussing just where and how a handcycle could get about.
I've still got to have my shot on his new 'bike', looks great fun (if incredibly tiring!).
Posted 7 years ago # -
Thanks for that. Sustrans came up with a PDF and a link to this paper.
http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/full/10.1680/udap.14.00048
PDF was a presentation at Cycle City Active City conference in Leicester in May and as I don't know how to post it here, I can email it to anyone interested. I'm on spokesATspokes.org.uk.
I saw a guy hand-cycling on NEPN on Sunday and I did wonder how fully independently he could access the route.
I also saw people on cycling operated boats on the canal the other week. A cycle strung between two floating things. Looked incredibly unwieldy and top-heavy and less fun than a kayak.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Not directly relevant to this thread -
"
But in Edinburgh, as a one-off BBC documentary shows tonight, the war blind were not consigned to the fringes of society but were encouraged to work and live independently.
In the programme, blind journalist Ian Hamilton examines how the First World War changed the lives of blind people in Britain forever.
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
The Countryside for All Good Practice Guide is an update of the BT Countryside for All Good Practice guide first published in 1987. It has advice on various aspects of accessibility including path design and signage.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Norman at Free Wheel North in Glasgow put something together ages ago - I can't find it online but there are contact details on the website http://www.freewheelnorth.org.uk/
I think there have been other efforts to get this more on the agenda among campaigners - I will point them towards this thread to see if they can help
Posted 7 years ago # -
While back the forum tackled CEC on the Hope St Lane bridge fiasco. This really made it impossible to cycle any 'non-standard' bike from Magdalene route to Portobello.
The situation improved after hundreds were spent removing and re-positioning barriers. What we have now is merely bad but not totally impossible, although a three wheeled machine or tandem has to enter at a very exact angle. They don't have reverse gear.
Really tricky for everyone on a recumbent trike including people with a stroke. However it's such a small market I don't think it registers and planners have no idea what any of these machines look like.
I usually argue that the city will be even more full of electric mobility scooters so paths must be fit for them. See Scootathon event we supported. I do see an increase of people running these electric karts along edges of busy roads.WC- interesting about handcycles. We've only ever sold one. Bought by Fife Council along with the usual pedal variants of the Hase Kett. It's in for a repair after user rolled it at Innerleithen. With gravity anything can be accessible I suppose! Girl had lightweight handcycle for road use and had just rented out the council one. I did two circuits of local streets on it. Fantastic fitness aid!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Whenever the subject of disabled cycling comes up I mention my brother-in-law who had a serious stroke a few years back & can't walk much. He got a 3 wheeled recumbent altered & now belts around Auckland, New Zealand at considerable speed.
It's done his physical and mental health no end of good.
Can't do that clever posting video thing but this has some good cycling shots. It's a trailer for a documentary about him (he's an artist). Note Auckland's streets, which are mostly not cycle friendly thought there have been improvements in the last few years.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
Gosh - the video worked!
Posted 7 years ago #
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