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.
I need sample images of the 'supplementary information' new signs - keep your distance - for tram routes.
Would also be useful to have a portfolio of images for the painted crossing points.
Plus a check on the width that 2 tracks require without the raised central median, as at Haymarket .... less than on Leith Walk?
@Tulyar
Happy to help, but you'd need to be a wee bit more specific.
I'm working down that way at the minute and can photograph stuff, but which stuff? Measure the tram tracks from where to where? And to what accuracy?
There are 2 supplementary plate signs reminding drivers to keep back from/keep a space between them and cyclists crossing tracks at the known points on the network. These presumably have approved wording and special approval for Edinburgh - in the same way that for Nottingham there was a suite of special signs for Phase 1 and the 'special' cycle crossings.
Given the results from Chris Oliver's paper which align with a larger study in Toronto we know that 50-80% of cycle crashes on tram tracks arise because of the presence of another road user and their influence on the cyclists approach to the crossing.
This usually means the rider crosses the rails too slowly - I know this is the case from my own experience, and links also to the high % of one of the 5 ways that tram rails can cause loss of control (74% drop the tyre in the slot). Hence the potential for the keep back message to dramatically reduce the potential number of crashes.
The Toronto group collated detail from several cities and tellingly their Dutch example only had 4 falls, none of which were from tyres in the groove, suggesting that Dutch cyclists did not suffer from 'driver harrassment' on streets shared with tram tracks. There is evidence that the Manchester Trams had a similar condition on Moseley and Balloon Streets (MVA 1996 for DETR) - meant to be tram only but used by cyclists as much other streets and no crash issues.
Most (but not Haymarket!) of the coloured strip crossing lanes are straight which partly deals with the second most common type of loss of control where the tyre slides along the rail (17%) This happens when the cyclist is making a turn or braking and a strong sideways force is acting on the tyre contact patch at the moment when it sits only on the 2 smooth steel edges of the groove, and there is no resistance to sideways movement. I've videoed this effect with a 'captive' tyre, and it might be possible to do a similar video for the first detail (possibly with a robust/expendable camera mounted on a porteur-style frame or the tray on an elephant bike so K & A warned not to lend me theirs!)
These pictures showing positioning of those 'crossing lane' strips can then be posted with any narratives/observations eg
- How easy can you line up to cross when starting from the left or right side of the rails (often in another traffic lane),
- Does the lane 'eject' you in the wrong area of the junction? (eg Waverley Bridge/South St David Street?)
Some of these details might also warrant making some video information material - I'm happy to ride to demonstrate the 74% detail through
- crossing too slowly & dropping the tyre in the slot
- doing this but recovering by lifting the front wheel and pedalling through
- crossing the rail fast enough to avoid tyre deflection
The slide detail is best studied in the @chdot video 'Slippy' with a textbook reaction from the rider who stands up on the pedals, transfers weight to counteract the fall and put weight on the front tyre, so that he can flick the back tyre off the rail and cycle onward on as high friction surface - perhaps this can be edited as a slow motion sequence with narration?
Finally tram tracks with central OHL poles only need the poles to be outside the swept envelope (or DKE in old language) of the trams passing either side the trams (the line of yellow dots on a carriageway defines this, as does (or should) the gaps in the box junction markings. Where a raised central median is planned, it appears to be wider than the absolute minimum - where in theory, with the accuracy of a guided system, the minimum clearance can be used (although an incident reported at Haymarket suggests that space for a person (on a bike!) between the trams would be prudent, unless an option of blocking the space is available - for example a nice, slow growing evergreen box hedge, or burberis/cotoneaster trimmed to fill the space between poles...
Here's a picture of the painted cycle track tram-track crossing at the Mound:
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/kaputniq/7482382412/
Note the crossing angle of the painted track is 40 degrees, well below the 60 degree minimum.
I cross the Mound junction every day, and no, I don't follow the painted cycle track. Rather I start in primary, cut left across the painted cycle track to achieve a greater crossing angle. Then after crossing, turn right to rejoin traffic, after a quick shoulder check to avoid "merging" into the side of someone.
Far from ideal.
I just crossed that. The red line is madness. Primary all the way through. Following the red line would get you smacked from behind by motorised vehicles taking the racing line. In fact the cycle lane down the Mound is best avoided in its entirety.
@Tulyar
Weird sign photographed.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/885/39756183110_feca3c0333_o.jpg
It's weird because drivers see the car to the left of the cyclist when they're being exhorted to stay to the right.
Very tempted to change the 'a' of 'space' to an 'i'.
The image is supposed to be as viewed from head on to the approaching vehicles - hence the car's headlights are visible. In which case the car being in the left is correct. But I agree it's confusing. The obvious orientation would seem be for it to be as seen when facing in the same direction the driver is facing (but from behind), so putting the car on the right as you say.
I thought for a moment that you'd photographed the same sign as me, but my photo is actually the "don't tailgate" one:
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/913/40854545374_91bf205ed1_o.jpg
(Sorry about the photo quality - shooting in to the sun on a smartphone!)
The one that I think is well intentioned but misguided is this one:
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/895/39757448760_76a0f6e6a5_o.jpg
Shouldn't it say: "Drivers, it's illegal to enter the cycle box when the light is amber or red". Why "please"? It's the flippin' law - don't do it!!!
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