Glasgow cyclist shows why you shouldn’t always ride in a bike lane

Recent photos taken by a Glasgow cyclist highlight the dangers inherent in some of the nation’s cycle infrastructure. Ernie Marples says the road layout seen in his pictures would have resulted in his being doored had he made use of this particular cycle lane.

In a tweet, Marples wrote: “Door was flung open without warning. Even though I was outside that lane it still gave a scare.”

@bollocksinfra This would have been a dooring if I rode within the bollocks infra layout. Thanks @GlasgowCC pic.twitter.com/z3cISJjA7N

— Ernie Marples (@ErnieMarples) March 2, 2016

@bollocksinfra and the rear view.. pic.twitter.com/gaoAzPwZK0

— Ernie Marples (@ErnieMarples) March 2, 2016

He later said that he was tempted to paint a red line through every bike symbol so as to transform the lane into a safety feature.

Last year, Reading Council removed two bike lanes at a cost of £30,000 after they were branded ‘dangerous’ for much the same reason.

The cycle lanes, on Lower Henley Road and Wokingham Road, were paid for by Local Sustainable Transport Fund money, but were placed directly alongside parking bays with no buffer zone. This meant that when a car door was opened, it obstructed the whole bike lane.

Councillors voted to remove the lanes at a traffic management sub-committee meeting in June following complaints and an appeal by Reading Cycle Campaign.

Early plans for Wokingham Road, without the buffer zone, were met with 'unanimous condemnation' from campaigners and were subsequently changed. However when the lanes eventually appeared, no buffer was present.

Reading Cycle Campaign’s Adrian Lawson also said that on Lower Henley Road the paint had seemed to go around whatever cars happened to be parked there at the time, including around informal parking bays with wide pavements he says could have been converted to car parking.

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