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Brighton "death trap" bike lane fixed in double-quick time

Brighton & Hove Council leaps into action after at least five riders hurt

A Brighton cycle lane branded a "death trap" after at least five riders fell because of a hard-to-see raised kerb separating it from the traffic lanes has been repaired.

Where the lane previously had a white line and shallow kerb to distinguish it from lanes for cars, there is now a pair of double yellow lines and the kerb has been filled with tarmac to provide a ramp for riders needing to access it.

Problems with the section of the new cycle lanes around Vogue Gyratory on Lewes Road came to light on Friday December 19 when three riders crashed in the space of five minutes.

It subsequently emerged that at least two other riders had fallen at the same spot previously in the week. One of them, Bev Wells, sustained a broken hand when she fell. She faces six weeks off work and can't drive to see her family for Christmas.

One of the riders who crashed on Friday morning, Sian Hughes told road.cc: "There's a very temporary asphalt ramp built up along one section, but others with the half kerb are completely unchanged. Asphalt already appeared to be degrading and is not a permanent fix."

The bike lane, part of a £600,000 revamp of the gyratory, had only opened at the beginning of the week.

The Transport and Parking department of Brighton and Hove Council coned off the problem area on Friday afternoon and over the weekend workers removed the single white line, painted in a double yellow and built a ramp from the traffic lanes to the cycle lane.

Brighton and Hove Council confirmed that the tarmac ramp is a temporary fix. 

A council spoksperson told road.cc: "We have put in some temporary measures and additional signage warning of the new layout."

The council says the design was not just dreamt up by road engineers who don't ride bikes. 

The spokesperson said:  "Cycle representatives were involved in the new design of the new junction, and we will involve them in any future review.

"Most cyclists using the new facilities have had no problems and the feedback we’ve had has been generally good.

"We will continue to monitor the performance of the junction closely, as we do with all our new transport schemes."

The problem appears to have come about because the bike lane was raised slightly above the main roadway, a design that Brighton-based transport consultant and cycling advocate mark Strong says is common in Denmark.

The intention, Strong said, was "to deter overrunning by motor vehicles which has always been a problem there."

However, the designers don't appear to have anticipated riders needing to enter the lane from the right-hand edge.

The ramp seems to have solved the problem, if this tweet from Brighton rider Simon B is any guide.

 

In one part of the gyratory, though, the bike lane was a bit confusing for this driver.

 

 

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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20 comments

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Dave42W | 9 years ago
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The design falls far short of Danish design.

The kerbs there are much clearer, there are often trees planted between the cycle track and road,. There are often parked cars between the cycle track and moving traffic.
They are consistent across the whole of Copenhagen so the problem of unexpected kerbs does not arise.
They will have priority across side roads.
This is a parody of Danish design.

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oldmixte | 9 years ago
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"The spokesperson said: "Cycle representatives were involved in the new design of the new junction, and we will involve them in any future review."

This is what South Glos does, but then ignores the cyclist's comments.

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leftback | 9 years ago
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Strange how the single solid white line has been replaced by double yellows. So before a car was not allowed to drive over the white line, but now legally it can and even has a nice little ramp like the council use on temporary road works. Only thing it cannot do is wait or park there.

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Some Fella | 9 years ago
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Amazing what a few potential law suits can do for motivation within notoriously slow moving council departments.

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Airzound replied to Some Fella | 9 years ago
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Some Fella wrote:

Amazing what a few potential law suits can do for motivation within notoriously slow moving council departments.

Yeah I hope those injured by this lethal curb sue the local council for their muppetry.

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Awavey | 9 years ago
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does anyone know if what they did there in Brighton actually matches the infrastructure they use in Denmark, because the only pictures Ive seen of Danish cycle lanes look nothing like that.

And its got the same feeling as the "dutch roundabout" in Cambridge, that also was "approved" by "cycling representatives" IIRC.

Id far rather our cycling infrastructure was designed and approved by cycling infrastructure experts who know what works, and know that shoe horning tiny bits of disconnected stuff actually helps nobody and can also spot the obvious mistakes before they have to spend more money to go back and fix them.

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durrin replied to Awavey | 9 years ago
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Well, I certainly wouldn't say it matches Copenhagen bicycle infrastructure, but there is a nod to it.

The bike lane on most major streets in Copenhagen has a higher kerb separating the car-lane from the bike-lane than the kerb in Brighton. This is precisely to make it harder for motorized vehicles to encroach. The side effect is that you can only (easily) enter the bike lane at certain points, where there is a ramp. There is almost always a ramp in places where it is needed. Of course, the bike lanes here are almost everywhere, not just a 10-20 meter stretch of road. So you are usually entering the bike lane from another bike lane on the previous block, not from the side.
Also, often, there is parking between the bike-lane and car-lane, in addition to the kerb.
Looking for pictures to illustrate, I realize I really should take some pictures of Copenhagen Cycle Infrastructure, so I can illustrate these comments!

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jameshcox | 9 years ago
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Looks like a design or construction mistake, and to their credit they fixed it once it became apparent.

Good on them for doing so, and quickly.

Now if only Bucks County Council could do the same with some of the man-eating potholes round here...

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ibike | 9 years ago
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This is good news. It’s encouraging to see a cycle lane “fixed” by actually improving it!

We’re still learning how to build (and use) proper cycle lanes. Hopefully some lessons have been learned, i.e. look at best practice from across the North Sea.

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seven | 9 years ago
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The Danish solution of raising the bike lane sounds like a good one. Perhaps might be a better idea to raise it properly, so that it actually does prevent (most) motorists from infringing on it, and then paint an edge warning (e.g. yellow stripes) on the kerb itself. Maybe with a lowered section to allow bike access?

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Paul_C replied to seven | 9 years ago
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seven wrote:

The Danish solution of raising the bike lane sounds like a good one. Perhaps might be a better idea to raise it properly, so that it actually does prevent (most) motorists from infringing on it, and then paint an edge warning (e.g. yellow stripes) on the kerb itself. Maybe with a lowered section to allow bike access?

the Dutch have safe kerbs that have a 45 degree angle so you can clip them with your wheels and still stay on...

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fluffy_mike replied to Paul_C | 9 years ago
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@mad_scot_rider - It's not the council that are the b****rds here, it's people who drive in such a way that cycle lanes are even required.

Road designers should accept that humans are error-prone. I would rather ride my bike on a road system that accounts for this fact, such as you'd find in the Netherlands, than one that assumes they are not.

Of course, some drivers are more error-prone than others, but can anyone who's driven a car (even the most ardent cyclist) say they see everything all the time, especially on faster roads?

Negating danger with good design is the way to minimise death and injury to cyclists and pedestrians (and drivers), not the pursuit of an unattainable Utopia where no road user ever makes a mistake.

On faster roads, this means high-quality cycle tracks and junctions that separate cyclists from motor traffic in time and/or space

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fluffy_mike replied to Paul_C | 9 years ago
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the Dutch have safe kerbs that have a 45 degree angle so you can clip them with your wheels and still stay on...

You're right that angled kerbs are a feature on the cycling side of a segregated kerb to prevent 'pedal strike' and increase the useable width of the lane, but one wouldn't expect the vehicle-side of a kerb to have an inviting angle for motorists to drive over into the cycle lane. A harder-edged 90-degree angle is normal there.

The point is that the Dutch wouldn't design a cycle lane that you felt the need to ride into sideways off the road.

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Municipal Waste | 9 years ago
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@mad_scot_rider - It's not the council that are the b****rds here, it's people who drive in such a way that cycle lanes are even required.

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cjwebb | 9 years ago
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A half-inch kerb-let wouldn't really deter vehicles from encroaching.

I do hope the temporary measure doesnt become the long term fix.

I'm glad to road.cc for this exposure, having seen the people involved in accidents from the opposite direction last Thursday, so will be careful when I am on that stretch of road/cycle path.

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Paul_C | 9 years ago
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that's a bit of a bodge... it very likely won't last a winter and will break up from heavy goods vehicles driving on it...

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don simon fbpe replied to Paul_C | 9 years ago
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Paul_C wrote:

that's a bit of a bodge... it very likely won't last a winter and will break up from heavy goods vehicles driving on it...

And a Happy Christmas to you too.

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Fried | 9 years ago
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I went to Anglet/ France this year. Good weather and some stunning roads through the Pyranees by the way. The bike ways around Anglet/Bayonne are insane, though. Blind, narrow corners with direction changes and obstacles in them (going straight sends you in oncoming traffic), barriers in steep descends, fully painted roads in corners with metal knobs all over to lead the way, narrow parts guarded with metal posts, etc. A curb was also among the challenges. So feel gifted that Brighton turned around quickly.

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rggfddne | 9 years ago
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Good on them. No shame in admitting you made a false start trying something new (the only shame is that the idea of fit-for-purpose bike lanes in blighty IS new). I'd rather that than sticking with the "safe" status quo.

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mad_scot_rider | 9 years ago
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When, oh when will those silly b*****ds at local councils realise that desire path analysis is vital and that they should employ ACTUAL CYCLISTS to help implement these things?

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