A couple of ideas from Edinburgh...

I came across a couple of nice ideas from a recent visit to Edinburgh.

The first is some driver awareness education around advance cycle boxes.



Whilst I remain skeptical about the effectiveness of such measures the general effect of making drivers aware of cycle infrastructure is probably a good thing.



The second think I came across was a smart, well designed little booklet advertising the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling.



The festival includes a really wide range of events covering more than two weeks.



It also has a really good web site.

It would be good to see something of this scale in Greater Manchester...

Broughton Bridge Salford

This is where anyone who rides a bike wonders about the sanity of the people who design cycle facilities in Salford. This is Blackfriars Road, heading south across Broughton Bridge. Up till now there has been no cycle lanes at all..



Suddenly as you approach the bridge an advisory (i.e. useless) cycle lane appears...



but as you get onto the bridge it stops



then starts again



only to end short of the traffic lights



and reappears just before the advanced stop line box.



Not that the local drivers give a shit about the cycle facilities round here.



Not even the bus drivers!



It is just as mad on the other side of the road, the cycle lane starts as you get towards the bridge,



but stops and starts again at the road narrowing, only to start again a few yards later.



I have to ask the question, who on earth thought this was a good idea? It strikes me as utterly idiotic, an example of council tokenism which we should all condemn. Even worse, where were the cycle campaigners when this went out for consultation? Did it go out for consultation?

Just remember folks, somebody got paid to design this!

At this point I would normally embed a Google map, but it appears to be somewhat broken, so here is a link to Open Street Map instead...

Bus Priority...

Whilst we await the start of the consultation from TfGM about the new bus priority network, some bus drivers are too impatient, and have decided to co-opt the cycle facilities to speed their journey. You see, by stopping in the cycle advanced stop line a driver can shave milliseconds off the journey time, and clearly benefit the company's profit line.



However, if you drive a bendy bus things get a bit more difficult and you have to use the yellow box as well.



Still, even a double decker can't fit into an ASL.



But then they are only designed for bicycles....

ASLs - A Failure of Policing

We've all seen them - the people driving motor vehicles who ignore the advance stop lines which are meant to give people on bicycles some chance of getting away safely at traffic lights.

In fact in Manchester you see them almost every day.











Well thanks to a recent Freedom of Information request by Tom Jeffs we now know why so many drivers feel free to ignore them...

It turns out that between 1/1/2011 and 1/1/2012 Greater Manchester Police issued no fixed penalties or summons for driving into an ASL when the lights were red. None whatsoever!



At this point one also starts to wonder if the same is true for red light running and blocking box junctions.....