“Dear mechanics”: Cyclist asks bike shop staff to stop “shaming” customers on social media over poorly maintained bikes; Is council’s “painted leaf” experiment an “accident waiting to happen”?; Dutch-style roundabouts reap benefits+ more on the live blog

Kicking the day off with some crazy images from Wokingham Borough Council’s head-scratching experiment of painting “leaf patterns” on the road to “encourage drivers to move slowly and make the area better for pedestrians” has got cyclists, motorists and pedestrians — well, pretty much everyone tied in knots.

First of all, cyclists raised concerns about the swathes of paint on the California Crossroads in Finchampstead, part of a series of improvements to the village centre being a big no-no for cycling safety in the rain. Dan Swain commented on Facebook: “Ooh lots of white paint in the road. Lethal for those on two wheels in the rain.”

According to the council, “the leaf pattern is part of the design to slow traffic and make it clear to drivers that they are approaching an area where they don’t have priority,”. And well, some motorists haven’t taken to this well…

One person wrote: “I’m a professional driver and I can’t believe this.. The most important thing on any road is clear instructions more so when children are in the vicinity.. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel and put safety first every time.”

But the loads of (more than 600, to be precise) comments on the council’s Facebook and Twitter posts makes us believe that the early arrival of autumn wasn’t taken to very well by a lot of people.

And there were some people who raised genuine concerns for pedestrians, especially children — with two schools in the neighbourhood near this quirky paintjob. Maybe it’s time for a comments roundup?

“Any reason why we’re part of an experiment, why not use a Zebra crossing, you know the one that’s in the Highway Code ? I looked up leaves but nothing in the Highway Code about leaves on the road!”

“Looks like a playground!! So deadly for children who are going to think they can play in the road.”

“Dangerous for those with visual impairment, and for children who might think this is a new playground game. Did you consult Guide Dogs for the Blind, for example, to see if they are training their guide dogs to navigate random pretty patterns and know this is where their partner crosses?”

“This is bizarre to say the least. Drivers should be focusing on the road and potential hazards not being confused and distracted by leaves painted onto the surface. It should be painted as a normal roundabout that people are familiar with and know how to deal with when approaching. This is plain daft and I can’t believe highways approved such a scheme.”

“Who the heck signed this off? This is an accident waiting to happen with pedestrians particularly children put in needless danger, looks like a children's playground not a busy [when there is traffic on it] set of main roads.
“It must be changed back to the markings as in the highway code and road traffic rules before anything horrible happens.
“Also this is close to two schools -- were they consulted Wokingham Borough Council over these changes, what do the schoolkids think and their parents/guardians and also the teachers of the schools as well, of the changes and the leaf designs and colourful dot to dots etc.
“Please let us not read of kids or adults with visual limitations or the elderly or anyone else being seriously injured or killed because of these fancy leaf and other designs that no one seems to understand.
“What will it take to get it changed to something sensible? How many people have to be injured or worse?”

Interesting.

I think you need to provide more information as to how to navigate this space on the approach when driving. yes people will possibly slow down because they are confused but some idea on if these junctions should be treated like a roundabout still or some other junction.

— Rob Zebedee (@zzebster) September 19, 2024

Some, however, found reasoning in the council’s decision to paint the road with leaves. One person replied on Twitter, saying: “People here totally missing the point - it's not meant to look like a normal roundabout or road, it's meant to look like an area that's also used for other purposes, including pedestrians. It certainly makes you think carefully before driving into it.”

Another person noted that the road safety audit status is available on the council’s project page, and that it “looks fab”, before adding: “As with any new layout it will take a little time and extra care and attention until it becomes familiar.”

Which reminds me, if anyone else is wondering how the junction used to look before:

After all the attention (something something no press is negative press), Wokingham Borough Council said: “There is clearly a lot of interest in this new junction design. The scheme has gone through an independent road safety audit stage one and two, in line with the Department for Transport standards, prior to work commencing. There will be a further independent road safety audit (stage three) when the work is fully complete. This is standard practice for any new system delivered on the public.

“We would ask that all drivers, cyclist and pedestrians take extra care while everyone gets used to the new layout. The ‘hierarchy of road users’ places those road users most at risk at the top of the hierarchy.”

“On the junction, drivers should give way to pedestrians, as per the Highway Code, but we would also ask pedestrians to be sensible and wait for a break in traffic or for vehicles to stop before crossing.”

What do you all think about this? Will the painted leaves help improve road safety or is it going to distract or confuse drivers and add more risk for pedestrians and cyclists?

Fashion, they say, is cyclical. So too, it appears, is doping in cycling. Cortisone and testosterone, mainstays of the 1970s and 1980s (though they have lurked in the background for much longer), enjoyed a public renaissance over the past decade thanks to jiffy bags, missing laptops, and medical tribunals.

Meanwhile, in the early 2000s, the seemingly old-fashioned and rather gory use of blood transfusions suddenly became flavour of the month once again  among the sport’s biggest names, after the UCI finally introduced a test for EPO, the performance enhancer of choice for the rocket-fuelled, big ring-climbing peloton of the 1990s.

And now, over two decades later, EPO itself is back in the news, in the wake of three quick-fire positive tests for the banned blood booster among either amateur or semi-professional cyclists since May.

Read more: > Is EPO making a comeback in cycling’s lower tiers? Asia-based Irish cyclist banned for three years after blood booster found in doping sample, week on from Astana development rider’s CERA positive

 

 

 

 

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An uninsured teenage motorist who swerved onto the wrong side of the road in a bid to “scare” a group of approaching cyclists, hitting one and leaving them with “catastrophic” fatal injuries, has been sentenced to over ten years in a young offenders’ institute and banned from driving for 12 and a half years for what the prosecutor described as an “exceptionally dangerous manoeuvre”.

> Teenage driver who swerved into opposite lane to “scare” cyclists, hitting and killing one, cleared of murder – but sentenced to over a decade in young offenders’ institution and banned from driving for 12 years

Build it and they'll come, behaviour shift, strength in numbers... we can keep going.

But it seems that the much-maligned Dutch-style roundabouts in Cambridge, built in Cambridge in 2020 have finally led to more cyclists and pedestrians using the intersection. 

The roundabout made headlines last year when collision figures showed that there had been more reported collisions in the three years since it was installed than in the three years prior in its old layout.

The report, released by the BBC using figures provided by Cambridgeshire County Council, showed that there had been 10 reported collisions, three of which were serious, at the Fendon Road roundabout in Cambridge since the new layout giving priority to cyclists and pedestrians was introduced in 2020, more than the six minor incidents that were reported between 2017 and 2019 with the old layout.

> More collisions at UK's first Dutch-style roundabout than old layout, figures reveal

However, Melissa & Chris Bruntlett, authors of ‘Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality’ and ‘Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in our Lives’, wrote on Twitter that "shifting to a more human-centred approach and creating a safe, attractive link in the city’s active travel networks" has led to the intersection becoming welcoming and attractive for cyclists and pedestrians alike.

They added: "Using elements like reduced turning radii and grass islands and central medians to help slow car traffic, the design gives priority to and improves safety for walking and cycling at the junction."

On a series that seems to be never-ending on the road.cc live blog, here's a new edition...

Twitter user AZB wrote: "Plenty of parking spaces just in front. Will the driver use them? No! Better to illegally park on the pavement and block the garbage excuse for a bike lane.

"Drivers - don’t complain when cyclists don’t ride inside those death-trap lines."