Thursday 26 January 2012

My Cycle Embassy of Great Britain Entry

A great meeting is about to occur.

Brilliant minds from the 4 corners of this fair land (by fair I mean fairly damp) will be meeting in a secret room. Their aim is to solve problems that have perplexed and confused all who have seeked solutions over the years. (Yes I know this is bad grammar and stuff. It's a magnatomism). They will lock themselves in this room, only occasionally popping out for a wee bike ride to clear their thoughts, until they find the answers. And answers they will deliver.



No pressure then! ;-)

Yes the Cycle Embassy of Great Britain is meeting in London for its policy bash. Along the way they intend to look at some real life cycle infrastructure, or lack of it, to see how they can Amsterdamize it, i.e. design it right!

Unfortunately one of the greatest minds of them all can't make it....oh and I'm busy that weekend too.... so instead I will deliver my own wee teaser. How would we redesign this section of 'cycle infrastructure' so that it actually works?



The video 'commentary' describes the issues.

Additionally at the end of this lane is a roundabout. It’s quite an infamous roundabout, as the following incident happened when coming in the other direction.


An almost identical incident has happened recently, again with an HGV. Unfortunately due to an ongoing police investigation I can't share the footage. Very bad driving in both incidents, however, I feel that the roundabout design has a part to play.

For reference the 'cycle infrastructure' starts here at Hillfoot Station


View Larger Map

It heads north on Milngavie Road, becomes Main street, then reaches Burnbrae Roundabout (where I had the incident coming the other way)


View Larger Map

and then finishes further north here.


View Larger Map

The road is nice and wide, so I think there is ample opportunity to make this a shining example of how we can Amsterdamize Glasgow.

Good luck to those meeting in Londinium.

4 comments:

  1. Those fast sections downhill where you're encouraged to be in the door-zone are frightening. Hitting a door opened on you whilst doing 25-30mph or more is likely to be fatal.

    The driver illustrates my main objection to cycle-lanes though. 99.99% of drivers believe cyclists should be in them, and use non-use to excuse close-passes and other potentially lethal behaviour towards cyclists. They have no concept of how badly-designed and dangerous they are, nor the Highway Code rules relating to cycle-lane use.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When you say "will be meeting in a secret room", does this mean you have found a pub with room you can book for lunch?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aye Grant. It's the expectation that is the issue. It takes away your power of negotiation.

    Kim, different secret meeting! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just seen this clip on the bbs news report about the deaths of 6 cyclists in the past fortnight and decided to search for it as after rewinding it I was sure it was Milngavie.

    ReplyDelete