Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
London Transport (uk.transport.london) Discussion of all forms of transport in London. |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Bus driver complaint and OYBike
On Thu, 2 Sep 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:
Tom Anderson wrote: Also, i can echo an observation made in the story about the psycho bus driver chasing a cyclist down the road, too. A few months ago, i was hit by a motorbike: he overtook a taxi, and didn't check to see if there was anything in front of it; there was, and it was me. Luckily, it was all pretty low-speed, so i just fell off and whacked my arm, rather than getting properly hurt. Now, in the ensuing conversation, he rather forcefully expressed the opinion that it was *my* fault, since there was a cycle lane on the road which i wasn't using (it's a nice lane, but it's a contraflow one, and rather hard to get into from the wrong side). He is of course mistaken - there is no obligation on bikes to use a cycle lane, and no restriction on them using the main lanes if they'd rather. The psycho bus driver apparently had the same misapprehension; is this common? I'm trying to visualise the situation but I'm a bit confused: if the cycle lane is contraflow but you were using the road, weren't you travelling in the opposite direction to the cycle lane? The cycle lane is bidirectional; sorry, i didn't explain that clearly. This is the cycle lane along Tavistock Place, in case you know it; i was heading west. The road looks like this: --------------- --------------- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX =============== Where - denotes cycle lane, = denotes main lane, and X denotes a physical barrier (a sort of free-standing kerb). I'd come in from the east, where the road's bidirectional and there there's a normal cycle lane on each side; thus, i was at the left edge of the road. The normal cycle lanes end, and the bidirectional segregated lane begins, when the road becomes one-way (where it crosses Woburn Place?), but it's a little tricky to get into the segregated lane there, because it involves crossing the stream of traffic, plus worrying about the traffic coming in from the north and south. And i keep forgetting it's there. Anyway, i find it easier to stay in the main lane, since my turn, off on the right to Gordon St further on, has a filter lane. Hmm. I might have got some of that wrong, since the road's bidirectional where my turn is, which would mean the one-way stretch is only a couple of hundred metres long. There's definitely a westbound main lane on the south side the whole way, and an eastbound cycle lane on the north side the whole way! Anyway, if you want truly strange cycle lanes, try the back of the British Museum: given the task of fitting a cycle lane heading west in with a two-lane one-way street heading east (which, incidentally, is mostly used by coaches), the road chaps decided that the best place for it was IN BETWEEN the two lanes of traffic! Getting into that lane in the first place is an adventure in itself. tom -- I don't know what the hell you should do. Try clicking on some **** or somethin'. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Oyster Complaint | London Transport | |||
Taxi complaint - how do I make one? | London Transport | |||
Taxi complaint - how do I make one? | London Transport | |||
OYbike | London Transport | |||
Bus driver training? | London Transport |