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hawkinspeter.
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May 1, 2025 at 8:29 am #1150369
hawkinspeter

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/invisible-cycle-lane-finally-made-more-visible/
Looks like they’ve finally realised what a stupid idea it is to make bike lanes the same colour as the rest of the pavement. If only there was someone they could have asked who could have let them know (hint: any cyclist in the world).

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hawkinspeter
bensynnock wrote:
bensynnock wrote:Surely the main problem with the rainbow cycle path is that you can never reach the end.And you have to avoid all those bloody leprechauns running around.
Bungle_52
No pedestrians on there so it
No pedestrians on there so it obviously works. 🙂
chrisonabike
But if you can, it’s self
But if you can, it’s self-financing though!
bensynnock
Surely the main problem with
Surely the main problem with the rainbow cycle path is that you can never reach the end.chrisonabike
Interestingly while the Dutch
Interestingly while the Dutch cycle infra all looks very similar (red asphalt cycle paths … except the older ones are sometimes red tiles, and there’s a bit of concrete also)
… I believe there are very little or even no mandated standards! There is a standards organisation which produces a design guide so you can easily look things up. There are legal responsibilities on e.g. local authorities if they create something which is not safe. I think between the pull of “we can just look it up” and the push of “or we could invent it ourselves … but if we make a mess we’re in court” a standard is maintained. With some flexibility if for the odd “has to be yellow in this historic area” / if someone actually has a *good* new idea.
History of “but why red asphalt cycle paths” here.
Why we should do likewise (or at least pick a colour and stick to it).
Tom_77
Bungle_52 wrote:Surely someone should decide what colour a cycle lane should be and stick to it.I thought it would be in LTN 1/20. But section 6.7 Coloured Surfacing just says this about the choice of colour:
The choice of colour is a matter for the local
highway authority but, in the interests of consistency and
simplifying maintenance, a single colour should be used
for cycle infrastructure within a highway authority’s area.
Green and red surfaces are most commonly used.quiff
Blue in Cardiff
Blue in Cardiff
quiff
“If only there was someone
“If only there was someone they could have asked who could have let them know (hint: any cyclist in the world).”
They probably misinterpreted all of our comments lamenting that painted cycle lanes are more dangerous than nothing at all.
Bungle_52
Yep I used to use that route
Yep I used to use that route quite regulary but I always accepted that I would have to cycle slowly and carefully. I always slow down and cover the brake levers when I see a dog but on one journey through there I had a dog suddenly change direction and run just in front of me on 3 seperate occasions. I managed to stop each time but one was so close I can’t believe I didn’t hit it. Some owners say sorry in such a way that you know they don’t mean it and the rest look at you as if it’s your fault.
I hope the ribs have healed up and you are enjoying life in Devon? I think it was.
chrisonabike
Bungle_52 wrote:
Bungle_52 wrote:Surely someone should decide what colour a cycle lane should be and stick to it.Are you quite mad? That’s the sort of oppression by remote unelected bureaucrats which got us bonkers rules on bananas, working hours and human rights (is this right?). Local people are far better placed to decide on what is appropriate for them (ideally no cycle infra whatsoever, not even paint).
chrisonabike
Does this picture represent
Does this picture represent (in the eyes of some of our new political masters in US, in Europe, in e.g. Lincolnshire) “peak woke”?
(Read all about it here. Also how to do a legal rainbow crossing – there are standards even when you use all the colours *!)
My Bristol contacts suggest that might be easier to get a rainbow cycle path there than in – say – Grimsby, or the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea…
* Possibly not that newly “discovered” one though. Although perhaps we just can’t see it there?
mdavidford
Bungle_52 wrote:Surely someone should decide what colour a cycle lane should be and stick to it.The Dutch are way ahead of you.

BalladOfStruth
They’re not even consistent
They’re not even consistent there, the cycle route from Charlton Kings through Coxes Meadow, Sandford Park and into Cheltenham town centre that I used to use was red. Peds seem blissfully unaware its there, and even on the segregated bit with barriers in Coxes Meadow walk on the wrong side.
It’s that cycle route that made me give up on cycle infra altogether after a dog off the lead on the MUP (very common on that route as it goes through three parks) left me with two broken ribs.
brooksby
Of course the next thing in
Of course the next thing in the BP will be opening up to comments so the motorists can all complain about the CAZ being a rip-off just to pay for stuff for cyclists.
That picture is the lane going up from the Centre toward the Bristol Beacon (Colston Hall), isn’t it? That bit is just as much a nightmare as the ones running across the Centre – you’d think that having it paved differently, and painted cycle markings, and having a sort-of kerb between the cycle bit and the pedestrian bit would do the job, but noooo…
Bungle_52
Well it doesn’t seem to make
Well it doesn’t seem to make much difference in Cheltenham but the they decided to use green for the cycle lane. Surely someone should decide what colour a cycle lane should be and stick to it.

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