CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
How not to decant children from a car...
(34 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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Oh I've had that happen there a couple of times, not just children. Nice empty strip of red tarmac = perfect no-need-to-look decanting space. I'm not sure which is worse, the jumping out into the bike lane or pulling over and stopping in the bike lane to do the same.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Highway Code is very clear on this; if the bike lane is operational, you may not enter it in a car (for any reason).
To keep the QBC clear, should we take some inspiration from the anti-fur campaigns? Fur disappeared when those wearing it used to find it covered in spittle when they got home. While exercising I regularly need to clear my throat/nose; what if that regularly coincided with passing around an illeagally parked obstacle? Would it still park there regularly if the driver on returning found it had been grockled on? I understand the Dutch used to use gaffer tape on cars parked in cycle facilities, lots of it. [Not sure how seriously I consider this suggestion, but it seems better than other options.]
On Tuesday I was driving home (I just cant cycle to Tulliallan and back in two hours) and behind a police car which sailed past a delivery lorry double parked in the QBC outside the mosque. And yet there is a war on the motorist...
Posted 12 years ago # -
mgj, only if it is a mandatory bike lane, this one not. (Mandatory means it is mandatory for cars to keep out of it, not mandatory for cyclists to use it.)
Perhaps we could get some of those big stickers that you sometimes see on the windows of cars that have been parked in the wrong place.Posted 12 years ago # -
Yeah, those stickers that are designed to be really difficult to peel off. Saying KEEP OUT OF THE F***ING CYCLE LANE YOU ROAD HOG. Slap one on the driver's side window so they can't miss it.
Hmm, I feel an order to an online printer coming on...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Thing is, if it's a single yellow and it's out-of-hours, they are entitled to park there and the sweary signs should be applied to the council offices or something.
Alternatively, the office for the parking (not traffic) wardens are based out of is on Lower Gilmore Place, I cycle past it twice a day. Perhaps we could go out one morning and chalk out a breadcrumb trail from the front door, to the QBC, telling them that there's lots of "sport" to help them meet their targets parked there.
Or maybe we "pounce" on cars that park in the QBC (in hours of operation) and tape them off with hazard tape and traffic cones once the owner abandons vehicle and get the chalk paint cans out and mark a diversionary lane around the offenders vehicle!?
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Highway Code rule 240
You Must Not stop or park on
(snip)
a tram or cycle lane during its period of operation."Is the QBC not a cycle lane with a period of operation?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Is the QBC not a cycle lane with a period of operation?
I'd say that the QBC qualifies as a car park with hours of operation. We get to use it when it isn't parking time. I don't think it's a mandarory lane?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Well then, we should be pointing out the ridiculous point that the QBC is not legally a cycle lane as discussed inthe Highway Code, and therefore a waste of paint
Posted 12 years ago # -
QBC is not legally a cycle lane
I guess there's a reason the council opted to call it a corridor and not a lane. Sounds nice, but enjoys no legal priveleges.
Posted 12 years ago # -
QBC is an 'advisory' cycle lane. When was the last time most drivers took any advice that was not backed up with the threat of a fine/license endorsements? Even then, you need cameras/blue meanies to enforce the 'advice'...
One campaign that might be a quick and easy 'win' would be to make the QBC a MANDATORY cycle lane. All it needs is a TRO and a solid white line to replace the broken one.
Sir Chris Hoy legacy consultees please take note...
Posted 12 years ago # -
One campaign that might be a quick and easy 'win' would be to make the QBC a MANDATORY cycle lane
except there's large stretches of the "lane" that have no "lane" at all!
Posted 12 years ago # -
The advisory lane with parking restrictions almost makes it to being mandatory - the only difference is that motor vehicles can't drive in mandatory lanes.
I'd say that the lanes are more often blocked by parking and loading, rather than being occupied by moving or queuing traffic, so we'd not gain much for the new TRO that we can't gain from the existing TRO that made the parking restrictions. Now, if only they were enforced!
Of course, there are some advisory lanes with no parking restrictions, which are just a complete waste of time and money...
Robert
Posted 12 years ago # -
"... if it's a single yellow and it's out-of-hours, they are entitled to park there ..."
- I've heard there is no general right to park on roads except in designated parking spaces. This is based on an old court ruling that 'the King's Highway is not a stable' ie the road is meant for travelling along and providing access, not storage space.Posted 12 years ago # -
Of course, there are some advisory lanes with no parking restrictions, which are just a complete waste of time and money...
That would be most of the cycle lanes in the UK, then!
Posted 12 years ago # -
To be fair, I saw a car parked on the QBC at rush hour this week being lifted by the flatbed lorry, so while nine times out of ten it's made useless by abusive parking, perhaps they will start enforcing it?
Some recent gems:
Posted 12 years ago # -
@slowcoach - that sounds like one of those 'you can shoot a Scotsman within the Nottingham city walls with a bow and arrow' type laws that long ago passed into desuetude (if not outright replaced by various Road Acts).
@Dave - only ever seen a car lifted for expired tax, specific powers for that granted to the DVLA. Not entirely sure they're going to start doing it for incorrectly parked cars!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Aye. It's worse than that on McDonald Road, especially heading east. Despite carefully planned parking spaces which do not block the cycle lane, drivers (mostly but not always local residents with permits displayed or trade vans) insist on double parking, either blocking another car in the parking bay or sitting on a double yellow line next to a bin or built out kerb. Always blocking the cycle lane mind.
Meanwhile empty parking spaces on side streets just around the corner...
Posted 12 years ago # -
@WC - you've spoilt my last best hope!
Posted 12 years ago # -
It would be great wouldn't it!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Cars get lifted for being parked in the Greenways, actual Greeways not just bus lanes. If the DVLA get you for road tax then its of to the crusher not just he impound.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"
The problem is when we turn in front of the school, and she has to pass behind the cars that are dropping kids. That's when the fun starts - doors opening, cars reversing, total madness.
"
http://deceasedcanine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-last-10-yards.html
Posted 12 years ago # -
Cars get lifted for road works too, probably more often than for offences, in which case they get dropped off at the next nearest legal spot, no doubt much to the surprise of the owner!
Robert
Posted 12 years ago # -
Why was my vehicle removed or relocated
Your vehicle may be moved to the car pound for one of these reasons:
Your vehicle was obstructing traffic or causing a safety hazard.
It was parked on a single or double yellow line when loading isn't allowed.Hmm. These two hardly ever happen, at least not in Abbeyhill/Leith. Maybe in the Grange it's different, but not round here.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Hello,
All 'cycle lanes' in Edinburgh are advisory. I have not come across any mandatory cycle lanes in my travels. If a cycle lane is mandatory, it will have a solid white line forming it's edge between the lane and the rest of the roadway.
The only 'enforcement' around cycle lanes is the yellow line system, which is carried out by council employees.
Paul.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Isn't the line between the cycle lane and the rest of the roadway in the original video solid?
(In contrast to the QBC markings, which are clearly not)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Indeed it is. However the car does not enter the cycle lane (unless open doors count), the children do.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Yes - but the line is solid and the lane is in Edinburgh (unless I've missed something), and so appears at first sight to be "mandatory" (contra Cycle PC's post).
Posted 12 years ago # -
If you watch the whole video you will see that the line is broken but the gaps are quite short and the lines quite long. At first glance at the still I thought it was a mandatory lane, too, but it isn't.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I cycle past a nursery on my way to work and it amazes me the number of parents whose child seat is on the right hand side of the car. They have to open the car door directly into traffic, they then have to carry their most prized possession from the road side to the pavement. Surely if they put the car seat on the left side of the car it would make the whole operation a lot safer for both them and their little darling.
Posted 12 years ago #
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