Manchester to improve some of its most dangerous junctions for cyclists

bikeboy76 wrote:

All of this bollocks is how non cyclists think we should be spending money instead of one simple bike lane at the side of the carriageway. And that is just the existing junction going one way.
PLEASE spend this new money more wisely.

TBH, I've seen worse. It'll be a problematic facility if cycling increases substantially (there's room for the number we have now, imo, just).

It's not terrible, as long as the latter one isn't blocked at the exit by some inconsiderate driver parked illegally (which happens with the on carriageway mandatory lane further down too). Often, you can't see the latter before crossing the junction, and it's hard to position yourself properly in the traffic flow once you have seen them.

The camber by that tree near the entry worries me in the wet too. It needs to be wider, and it needs to be enforced, but compared to the pointless "Bonus Parking Lanes" that line Parrs Wood Road, or the doorzone stuff in Rusholme, it's not the worst Manchester has to offer.

farrell wrote:

£200,000 that doesn't exist to be not spent on improvements that wont happen.

You want to make Rusholme safer?
Send traffic wardens and police there to actually do a job, if the people that abuse the space around there didn't think that they were able to drive like complete cock ends with complete impunity then perhaps pedestrians and cyclists might stand half a chance.

How can Manchester expect anything productive to happen for anyone when that child beating bellwhiff Pat Karney remains in charge?

+1 Farrell, enforcement is required:
there is specially constructed, raised cycle lane opp. Owens Park but every time I go through (albeit not daily) there is a half-wit parked inside an unbroken white line and on the dbl yellows, meaning you have to stop and wait to rejoin the road.
I find with Rusholme, I just go same speed as (the usually crawling along) traffic in primary cos the arsehole count is so high.
(Fave incident - narrowly avoid a dooring and exclaim to doorer
'Fkin 'ell'(not a personally addressed insult, you'll note)
His response, 'Don't swear at me.' No apology offered.

You may need to rectify your mistake though, it was another Cllr, Richard Leese not PK that you have referred to.

Joselito wrote:

(Fave incident - narrowly avoid a dooring and exclaim to doorer
'Fkin 'ell'(not a personally addressed insult, you'll note)
His response, 'Don't swear at me.' No apology offered.

Oddly enough, I had someone narrowly miss me in Rusholme (saw a parking space, didn't see me).

I shouted a loud "WHOAH" and the passenger got out to tell me off for "frightening" the driver! It was so ridiculous that I thought he was joking, and laughed, but no, he was serious and expected me to apologise.

With that said, in general, the traffic is slow enough along there for it not to be too worrying, for the most part.

John_the_Monkey wrote:

Joselito wrote:

(Fave incident - narrowly avoid a dooring and exclaim to doorer
'Fkin 'ell'(not a personally addressed insult, you'll note)
His response, 'Don't swear at me.' No apology offered.

Oddly enough, I had someone narrowly miss me in Rusholme (saw a parking space, didn't see me).

I shouted a loud "WHOAH" and the passenger got out to tell me off for "frightening" the driver! It was so ridiculous that I thought he was joking, and laughed, but no, he was serious and expected me to apologise.

With that said, in general, the traffic is slow enough along there for it not to be too worrying, for the most part.

I have had something similar, it's weird isn't it? Such a leftfield response that you're left speechless which they interpret as you admitting that you're in the wrong.

notfastenough wrote:

Parrswood junction is also a bit daunting, especially going from cheadle village towards Heaton Mersey. If you're fast and confident it's doable, but hardly encouraging to new riders.

That junction is bad enough in a car, let alone on a bike. No-one using it really knows what lane they're supposed to be in.

I've never had a problem with the Wilmslow Road junction, but it amazes me how many students RLJ it through moving traffic. They're even more suicidal when they're on foot!

spatuluk wrote:

notfastenough wrote:

Parrswood junction is also a bit daunting, especially going from cheadle village towards Heaton Mersey. If you're fast and confident it's doable, but hardly encouraging to new riders.

That junction is bad enough in a car, let alone on a bike. No-one using it really knows what lane they're supposed to be in.

Tell me about it - the ONLY bit that works is that the timing of the lights is such that if you arrive at the first lights on red (virgin gym etc on your right), you can take primary in the right hand lane and hold your position through all 3 red sets, but if you're not quick, drivers zoom past and cut in anyway. Even being quick I've been angrily overtaken between each set of lights (50 metres max!) by a cock in a big Range Rover penis extension who couldn't understand how he kept ending up behind me. Even when it works it's nerve-wracking, and that's bypassing the uncertainty of the lane-switchers in the other lanes.

As for the A34/M60 bit, I've seen the occasional cyclist on there and just think they're suicidal. I do go via Cheadle instead, but it can be hairy.

farrell wrote:

The saying "Don't shit in my lunch box and then try and tell me it's a Lion bar" springs to mind.

Best line ever.

Argos74 wrote:

[rant=on]That particular junction is busy but relatively safe if approached with confidence and caution. The southbound shared used cyclepath/pavement just north of the junction and southbound bus stop by Sainsburys south of the junction are complete nightmares though.

Keep going south down towards Withington, and it turns into a deathtrap on EPO, steroids and crack cocaine. Either a narrow single carriageway, or off the road onto a pseudo cyclepath / shared used pavement littered with bollards, trees and suicidal pedestrians. Thanks, I'll take my risks on the road.

Alternatively, head north into Rusholme's Curry Mile, and be prepared for some of the most rampantly psychotic and unpredictable road behaviour seen outside of rush hour Paris. People coming out of laybys without warning, random T-bones, and people doing U turns because God "told them to". That's the drivers. Pedestrians - any idea why I'm singing the M.A.S.H. theme tune when you walk off the pavement 5 yards from my front wheel? Use the pelican crossing and I will stop if there's a red light. Which, incidentally, will make me one of the 10% of cyclists who actually does stop at red lights on Wilmslow Road. The other 90%, well it's just that much more fun catching and dropping them when the light turns green.

Did I mention that Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road is the mostly heavily used bus route in Europe? Whoops! I did! Well, happy to rectify that, and special hello to Stagecoach and Finglands bus drivers and I really hope you don't have pets or matches at home. In summary, improving the Wilmslow Road/Wilbraham Road junction is like treating a fresh decapitation with a sticking plaster. You're not thinking big enough. Cyclists are better off using the Upper Brook St-Kingsway (A34), Stockport Road (A6) or Princess Parkway (A5103), and forgetting Wilmslow Road ever existed.[/rant]

Clearly we have a similar commute! I cut out a big chunk of Wilsmlow Road by joining Yew Tree Road at Withington, then past Man City's academy at Platt Fields, turning up Heald Place to bypass the living nightmare of the Curry Mile (perfect storm of inadequate infrastructure, loads of delivery vehicles, masses of buses, student cyclists - sorry guys, but there it is - suicidal pedestrians and young males cruising in status cars).

Fair play on the RLJs - there are plenty of them - but to be honest I've never had a problem with bus drivers. Pedestrians (whether using the cycle paths as pavements or thoughtlessly striding into the road), car/van drivers with a pathological aversion to using indicators, and other cyclists (jumping lights, hopping pavements or knocking down blind people) are my main bugbears.

Ghedebrav wrote:

I don't think the Wilmslow/Wilbraham/Moseley junction is *that* bad. Much more treacherous is closer into town on Wilmslow Road at the top of the curry mile near the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op - especially heading south, as a hitherto well-marked cycle path simply stops, with no obvious route to follow out onto the road.Fine for regular commuters, but not great for the inexperienced folks who we really want to be getting onto bikes.

I think you're supposed to detour onto the shared use facility through the park. I do, having had an exchange of views with a bus driver in which he made it pretty clear that he felt cyclists on the paralell road at this point didn't deserve much consideration.

Shame, as the road is the more direct route by far, and far less peopled by oblivious pedestrians.