Here in the UK the government decided the country should have so many miles of bicycle lanes. Did they provide funding for it? The hell they did. The result is that we have roads with twenty feet of bicycle lanes that start and end abruptly. One of the worst is where I used to live, in Buckinghamshire. The road is a main drag, about three miles long between two villages. Cars typically travel at fifty and sixty miles per hour. There is an adequate bicycle lane for about two miles, which stops abruptly at the top of a short rise where the road narrows and there is no visibility. It’s a death trap.
By contrast, in Newcastle, the Great North Road has a nice bicycle lane with bollards, and the motorists have been swearing at it since its inception, as it cut the road down from three lanes to two. The lastest edition of the UK Highway Code (rules for driving) contains the instruction that drivers must show respect for other road-users. Whether they are in vehicles, on bikes, on horses, or on foot. May I live to see that day!
10 Likes
