A Cambridge resident has complained that a kerb built to separate a cycle lane from motor traffic is “an accident waiting to happen”. The anonymous complainant claims that “at least 100 cars” have blown their tyres on it in just over three weeks.
Cambridge News reports that the cycle lane in question runs along Green End Road, but it is the kerb on the roundabout that connects Nuffield Road that is said to be causing problems.
The resident said the kerb was difficult for drivers to see, especially in the dark.
“In the past three and a half weeks at least 100 cars have blown their tyres on the kerb,” he said.
“The other day I saw an Audi hit the kerb and spin into oncoming traffic. That road is less than 100 feet from a school. It’s an accident waiting to happen. It’s crazy.
“The actual kerb has been broken because it’s been hit so many times. Drivers are only hitting it at 20 or 30 mph.
“In the dark it’s completely camouflaged. It’s a black kerb on black tarmac. That’s why drivers keep hitting it.
“There aren’t any bollards or signs to say it’s there so drivers don’t see it.”
A spokesman from the Greater Cambridge Project said: “We are delivering five Cross City Cycling schemes to make it easier and safer for people to cycle around Cambridge, helping to reduce congestion and improve air quality.
“We are awaiting the findings of a post-construction safety audit of the Green End Road scheme and will carry out any necessary work.”
43 thoughts on “Resident claims “at least 100 cars” have blown their tyres on kerb separating cycle lane from road”
Drivers see a cycle lane and
Drivers see a cycle lane and assume that they should be driving in it, perhaps driving on the road would be a good idea.
dodpeters wrote:
On the one hand he’s complaining the drivers _can’t_ see the lane. On the other hand, I’m fairly sure he’s talking out of his arse. (I work not very far from that roundabout.)
“a black kerb on black tarmac
“a black kerb on black tarmac”
WTAF?
If they’re that concerned then a pot of reflective paint from the local B&Q ought to fix it.
Leaving aside the inability
Leaving aside the inability of drivers to be aware of the road layout, why is it apparently beyond the wit of the road designer to include a few lightweight reflective markers?
Mungecrundle wrote:
Never mind lightweight bollards. I’d still some great big heavy concrete & steel bollards that would not come second best in car v bollard. Drivers would miraculously then see them.
Why do drivers feel they need
Why do drivers feel they need to drive over a kerb that is meant to be seperating vulnerable cyclists from motor traffic? From the pictures in CambridgeLive, the kerb is light grey concrete, surrounded by black tarmak, with a red cycle route, and painted white lines leading up to the kerb. Perhaps the safety of the cyclists could be improved by a massive steel post, covered in Hi Viz, but of course we know that that might not always help.
As above, perhaps the drivers should try and stick to the roads.
Poor bollards.
Those fluorescent yellow illuminated retroreflective bollard should have made themselves more visible.
In the article the
In the article the complainant who is – of course! – A. Nonymous says that
I wasn’t aware that there was a plague of car collisions all across the Western world… Did something change of which I’m unaware?
Most drivers seem to manage to not run up against kerbs just fine (except when they are intending to drive up a kerb, of course).
“In the dark it’s completely
“In the dark it’s completely camouflaged. It’s a black kerb on black tarmac. That’s why drivers keep hitting it.”
Well the one in the pictures has white/light grey curbs with white delineators painted on the road leading up to it. If that’s the one then the problem is motorists are ignoring the road markings. They could put a bollard on it but it probably wouldn’t last long with the apparent standard of driving.
Of course it could be another curb the hyperbolic mystery complainant is referring to that is indeed so black the photographer couldn’t even see it in broad daylight.
Going by the anonomous
Going by the anonomous complainer numbers he uses equates to 4 idiots not just driving over the kerb but doing so in such a way that they blow their tyres, how awful are Cambridge’s motorists?
ktache wrote:
Not too bad actually, same as anywhere else, there are always few bad eggs!
Bus and taxi drivers are the worst in Cambridge!
If 100 cars have really blown
If 100 cars have really blown their tyres and that’s not exaggeration, then it suggests the kerb has been placed on the desire line, which (a) in turn suggests that if it were not there, drivers would be drifting into the cycle lane but (b) does make you wonder if the design needs reworking. No, it shouldn’t be hard to avoid a kerb, but poor design may be a factor. Compare e.g. tram lines in Edinburgh – people know they are there, but they still found them difficult to navigate.
Really? Should have gone to
Really? Should have gone to Specsavers…
tourdelound wrote:
At that angle in daylight yes, in a car or truck I bet it can appear to optically merge into the road and look at first glance to be simply an extension of the road markings at that point and not a raised part of the road
Awavey wrote:
Yeah, and with the cycle lane symbol and all, so they must have assumed it was ok to just drive on over it regardless.
tourdelound wrote:
Or maybe not?
A car hits a kerb at 20 – 30
A car hits a kerb at 20 – 30 mph hits a kerb and spins across the road. Pull the other one!
spen wrote:
Spins I agree I doubt it,but almost certainly if you hit it at 20/30mph your steering would shift considerably in a direction you werent expecting and you would end up as a result maybe not pointing the way you were going
spen wrote:
It actually doesn’t take much – maybe it won’t “spin” but the steering will get one hell of a jerk and most drivers won’t have the slightest clue of how to react, in the confusion they can often slam on the brake or gas and cause even more problems.
This is in three weeks so 21 days and “at least 100 cars” which means that’s “at least” 4 cars a day which presumably means there’ll be a tow-truck there almost constantly to recover these vehicles? I mean it takes, what, an hour to get a tow-truck out there, prep the car and load it up and drive off? The residents around there must have seen that sort of thing, the drivers and cyclists going through that junction must have experienced terrible congestion from it all?
Or he could be talking total shit.
Yeah, I’m going with option 2. The complainant has damaged his wheel and is trying to sue the council because it can’t possibly be his fault. He will of course be a perfect driver.
spen wrote:
You seem worryingly unaware of how much momentum a car has at that speed. Spinning or even turning right over is quite possible.
I suspect they arent talking
I suspect they arent talking about the colour of the kerb stone as black but rather as from the image on Cambridgeshire live the “killer kerb” (and they use that label) to them is the whole separator thing itself which is like kerbing stones surrounding a lozenge of black tarmac and drivers arent seeing the lozenge of black tarmac as it’s the same colour as the road and the kerbing is actually fairly low, no doubt as a higher kerb would have been thought to cause more damage for cars driving into it…I’ve seen examples where they used bollards on that kind of setup,vehicles just drive into the bollards instead
Awavey wrote:
For refernece here is a link to the article https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/killer-cycle-path-kerb-accident-17022566
Seams to me that the drivers should be a little more carefull, what if a cyclist was there? would they say sorry I didn’t see you?
“The other day I saw an Audi
“The other day I saw an Audi hit the kerb and spin into oncoming traffic. That road is less than 100 feet from a school. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
And the complainant does not see the irony here?
You have to be going at a decent lick to spin a car by contacting the kerb. If Audi drivers within 30m of a school can not moderate their speed enough to reliably discern the edge of the road then maybe they need to be curbed.
Similar things albeit with
Similar things albeit with incredibly obvious reflective bollards have recently been installed in Oxford near the hospital, and drivers still manage to crash into them. I was a few feet away from a vehicle colliding with one on a recent commute, and the exploding tyre was LOUD.
bedeabc wrote:
Hey bedeabc, your first post and hit the nail on the head!
Chapeau!
Not at all sure a cycle
Not at all sure a cycle-provision “safety audit” is in order?
Just perhaps … a “driver audit” might be more worth worthwhile?
Hey … in these times of austerity, maybe the council could link up with Specsavers?
My car has lights fitted.
My car has lights fitted. These ‘lights’ allow me to see the kerb in the dark.
I’m amazed they don’t fit lights to cars in Cambridge.
Better to hit kerbs rather
Better to hit kerbs rather than cyclists I think, well done the council.
How does he know it is 100
How does he know it is 100 cars?
Perhaps instead of watching behind net curtains, he could stand on the kerb in the style of a TdF Marshall waving a yellow flag.
Maybe if the drunken and
Maybe if the drunken and drugged up little joy riding t**ts were not burning rubber in a nicked Fiesta then they wouldn’t be bursting their tyres.
But they dont care as its not their car anyway and their too drunk/drugged to care.
If that many cars had really burst 100 tyres in less than a week – dont you think it would have been all over National News.
Over exageration as normal to someone who now has an issue that he cant park outside his house – probaly the same moron who places notices on Ambulance’s not to park outside his house.
The complete absence of tyre
The complete absence of tyre marks in the photos accompanying the article has the needle on my bullshitometer wound right up. Nothing to see here folks, just another passive aggressive cyclist hater trying to make themselves important.
It’s working then.
It’s working then.
In all seriousness, and it’s
In all seriousness, and it’s difficult after seeing that Specsavers car crash… If the photo with the cargo bike is the spot, there ought to be more to warn of the kerb. Many drivers are either generally useless or not immune to lapses. They follow the car in front on the assumption that they don’t need to think, and often drive in steady-state mode unless prompted to change. This looks like a small traffic island and needs a keep right arrow.
I know some will say that this shouldn’t be needed, but until the revolution we need in driver training and car use reduction, we are where we are.
TheBillder wrote:
Pandering to the most useless in society who don’t want to obey the law (criminals) and dumbing down driving even further is why we have the problem of needing segregation in the first place. Make the kerb on the outside/front taller and narrow the motor lane even more, either people will continue to crash into it (their own fault) OR they will slow down and drive within the law as it is written … due care and attention, basically easy/simple stuff to adhere to.
It needs a bollard on the end
It needs a bollard on the end, like a pedestrian island.
HoarseMann wrote:
A bollard protected by landmines.
That kerb is not high enough
That kerb is not high enough to cause a proper puncture. . .
I could easily ride over that in my car and it’d be fine, that’s a lower edge than many of the UK speed hollows, erm, potholes, the kerbstone is also rounded on the top edges. If that’s bursting tyres, the tyres were already defective.
More likly is cars flying around the roundabout too fast, scrubbinh their (most likely low profile) tyres against it as the car attempts to turn, and popping the tyre off the rim momentarily, letting the air out. I’d be interested to see the tyre dimensions and car types of these 100+ that have had their tyres “punctures” in the 3 week period.
All this tells me is that
All this tells me is that there are as many shit drivers in Cambridge as there are in Preston. Excuses, excuses, excuses. It’s the blasted kerb, it’s the cyclists, it’s the tarmac.
No. It’s the drivers. Probably the same drivers who tell cyclists that they should be wearing hi-viz. No, it’s the drivers responsibility to ensure their eyesight is of the standard needed to be handed the privilege of a driving license. It is not the responsibility of the council to ensure the kerbs are painted in day-glo pink, it is not the responsibility of cyclists to ensure they are lit up like a Christmas tree. It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that THEY CAN SEE!!!!!
At least the dim witted
At least the dim witted motorists know when they are about to encroach on the cycle lane though. I say, install laser triggered machine guns as well.
SKIDSY
SKIDSY
‘Drivers are only hitting it
‘Drivers are only hitting it at 20-30mph’
Imagine the car-nage (pardon the pun) if they were driving any faster. How fast do they want to drive within 100m of a school, in a built up urban area, adjacent to (an invisible) cycle path, at a roundabout?!?
This is the problem with car driving in general. It’s a culture thing.
Perhaps if someone could set
Perhaps if someone could set up a wabcam, bit of editing and it could be a hilarious as these rising bollard idiot crashes-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELpd43PMvk
Surely we must be up to a
Surely we must be up to a thousand by now, why aren’t the mainstream media all over it, Martin Lewis offering guidance on compensation etc.?
If you have an armco opposite
If you have an armco opposite the apex of an alpine descent to stop drivers going over the edge, would you remove it because too many people were hitting it? It’s clearly doing its job.