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Sian Hughes and her bike after her crash (@Simon Cooper)Five victims come forward with injuries caused by new Brighton 'death trap' cycle path
A ‘death trap’ cycle lane in Brighton has claimed its fourth and fifth victims just hours after we reported three separate incidents in which cyclists were injured in falls.
The Lewes Road cycle lane features a disguised kerb which flipped three cyclists over in a five minute period one morning this week - and now a fourth has come forward saying she was left with a broken hand after hitting the same spot.
Bev Wells, 55, was riding on the new Vogue Gyratory cycle development, built at a cost of £600,000 and only opened this week.
Ms Wells told the Argus: “I’m in a hell of a lot of pain. I went to hospital for x-rays and I have a broken hand, a grazed face and a bruised body. I did exactly what the other three cyclists did – smashed into the hidden bit of kerb and came off.
“Luckily I landed on the pavement side. If I had landed in the road I dread to think what might have happened.”
The seamstress will now be unable to work for six weeks and will not be able to drive to visit her family this Christmas.
She said: “It’s a ridiculous design and it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt.
“I’ve complained to the council and they told me to await a call from their insurers. “I have lost my livelihood for a number of weeks due to a poorly designed, over-priced death trap that hasn't even been open a week.”
A fifth cyclist, Dave MacAdam said he also came off at the same spot on Monday.
He said: “The design makes me very angry. It must be changed. My knee is a mess and so is my hand. I am still limping three days later. I am an experienced mountain biker and have never fallen off except when I’ve been an idiot. This is a really poorly designed cycle lane.”
Brighton and Hove City Council said it could not comment until it had seen “police reports” but put cones around the offending area.
A spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the cycle lane incidents and are investigating them to make sure the temporary safety measures that are in place there are appropriate.”
Yesterday we reported how three riders fell in the same spot, the first being Rick McEwen who fell at around 8am.
He said: “There’s a little kerb which you can’t see and I went right into it. I flipped over my handlebars and on to my side.
“I was getting myself together after the crash when I saw Simon come round the corner and do exactly the same thing.
“He had a really nasty injury to his elbow and was quite shocked. A few minutes later a woman came round the corner and also came off.
“There should be something identifying the kerb. It doesn’t need to be there. It’s a death trap. I wonder how many others have crashed?”
The next rider to fall, Simon Cooper was taken to hospital with a deep cut in his elbow that needed stitches.
He said: “The cycle lane is raised above the road and the kerb is impossible to see.
“I was left shocked and needed stitches to a deep wound in my elbow.
“I went to hospital and had to take the day off.”
Cooper tweeted an image of the next casualty and appealed on Twitter for Brighton Green MP Caroline Lucas to pressure the council to fix the lane.
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24 comments
After dealing with this perhaps the council can deal with the aggressive taxi drivers who feel that they own the roads in Brighton. More of a menace than a piece of kerb!
don't see why the council changed the kerb system as it's initial design is safer to prevent cars crossing on to the cycle lane. if its a gyratory system then us cyclists should be in the far left in the cycle lane in prepartion to merge left continuing in the cycle path.
So 5 cyclists had an accident but they shouln't of been in the main traffic lanes when there provision for them, just wait and see now the kerb has been removed, there will be incursions from cars,buses (especially buses as there is a bus lane/stop just less than 20m away), lorries,taxies into the lane causing more accidents.
So, you think a 1/2 inch kerb will stop a car going onto the bike lane?
Or that cyclists aren't allowed / shouldn't be in whichever lane they see fit?
Is red paint the new green paint?
Think it is regional, Gloucestershire has always used red, and f****** horrible sketchy stuff it is!
Not travelled much? I reckon the % of councils that use red v green for bike lanes is about equal in the UK. Green might shade it.
I'd like to see standardisation- green for bikes, red for buses. And coloured tarmac only, none of this paint nonsense.
The cyclists entering the lane require a running surface which is fit for purpose, and therefor complient with road construction standards
If those designing this had actually read the design standards they would note a flatnerss variance limit of 3mm and a limit of any step or ridge of 6mm - but a preferred value of 0mm.
Strike any vertical irregularity gretar tghan 6mm with a tyre of a cycle or motorcycle and the upper edge forms a pivot point, about which the tyre/wheel/bike & rider rotates.
The rotation is resisted by the contact patch, but as the bike &c rotates the weight on the contact patch is reduced so finally the tyre lifts from the road (friction) surface and the full force of the rotation moment acts to bring down the rider.
The design of this facility clearly was not properly assessed for hazards or constructed with an assumption thet the dropped kerb line would be installed complient with the standards set (quite possibly in Brighton's own standards listing - Dropped kerbs should be flush or no greater than 6mm above the road surface (to mitgate the risk of bringing down cyclists) Same 6mm limit applies to tactile paving, railway and tram line crossings, rumble strip lines, and a tighter 3mm on metalwork in the street, thermoplastic road markings, and tram rail top above the road surface.....
Ok leaving aside the madness of how noone considered how a bike wheel would be tripped coming against this sideways... What was the actual intention supposed to be?? Surely not to reduce the risk of a car going over it? It would have to be a remarkably small car.
Yes, very good question - why?
Following the grade of the adjacent road would seem to be the logical, and probably more cost-efficient solution.
Which might also answer the question of why.
No doubt there are more margins on being paid 600k to raise something by an inch than 60k to follow the existing road.
The cyclists are turning right here and trying to join this lane, and running into the kerb between the road and bike lane as it's design hasn't considered riders merging at this point.
You're probably correct, I guess the intention is for cyclists to merge a few metres further up at the broken line (as technically we aren't supposed to cross solid lines) but what cyclist is going to stay in the road when there is a cycle lane a few feet away, and how many car drivers are intelligent or reasonable enough to understand the reasons why the cyclist in "their lane" isn't moving into the cycle lane.
I suppose, but such a rule
1. assumes everyone who might cycle will know/have been taught/correctly apply it. I imagine most kids know about traffic lights, but the subtleties of white lines?
2. means that a rider in a bus lane can't legally make a right turn, or turn right into a bus lane from a side road, as here on CS7:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4699333,-0.1252587,3a,75y,213.9h,76.61t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1spzbMNId_wEBj0ukfReASmg!2e0
or overtake buses clogging up the lane by coming out of it, or move in and out of mandatory cycle lanes etc etc. All about discretion or common sense? Wait till the Met cotton on.
Bit off topic, sorry, but FWIW I agree the kerb is
To be honest, this path appears to be kind of like a segregated bike path in Copenhagen, except that it is only 10 meters long, and red.
I have a hard time seeing, from the pictures, how a cyclist would be crossing the kerb from the road into the bike path.
The Dutch have their own problems:
http://road.cc/content/news/28708-dutch-falling-over-themselves-complain...
Why is the kerb there anyway? Are CYCLISTS ever involved in he design or implementation of these schemes? This problem would have been obvious to anyone who actually rides a bike. Even more money will have to be spent putting this right, and compensating those injured.
The councils have trained 'professionals' (paid by our council tax) whose job it is to design and implement these things. If they can't do something as simple as this the question is why are they still employed?
btw - what happened to my previous post? it wasn't offensive, but it seems to have been deleted
Presumably its because their 'profession' is to design for cars, and anything bike-related is something they do effectively on an amateur basis with no expert knowledge at all (even to the extent of asking a cyclist). Hence this sort of thing happens all the time.
There are more detailed pictures at http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11677816.After_three_crashes_in_five_minu...
It looks like it isn't a raised a kerb between the cycle path and the road - instead the entire cycle path is an inch or so higher than the road. Moving from the path to the road would probably be OK, but a cyclist trying to move left from the road to the cycle path would be 'tripped' and fall on their left side.
They have accepted liability by putting cones around it... Time to get all American on there pathetic counsel asses.
Could they not have used a "rumble strip" so that cars don't intrude and its not life threatening for vulnerable road users?
Intrusion isn't the problem. A rumble strip would not have prevented the bike riders from being "flipped"
Seriously did this cost 600k ? ? ?
this is a schoolboy error which the Dutch solved decades ago, kerbs with forgiving angles which won't take you off your bicycle when going over them...
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2008/12/danger-of-parallel-kerbs.html
Unfortunately this is not the normal kerb between cycle path and pavement, it is a stupid and unnecessary small kerb between cycle path and road that does not need to be there. Although the Dutch kerb system should still be implemented between cycle path and pavement.