Sir, – Where I know that the cycle lane has a very bad surface compared to the road, I use the road. Bikes feel the bumps much more than cars, and large bumps can both damage the bike and cause accidents, so it is strange that cycle lanes are typically where the gutters and drains are, and where roads are typically dug up to access services and are badly resurfaced after. Cycle lanes also tend to be closer to the trees and may be badly rippled by root growth. Some dedicated cycle path surfaces seemed to disintegrate badly in the cold weather of 2010 and have never been repaired.
Many cycle lanes, expensively built in recent times and in excellent physical condition, are so badly designed as to be impractical or dangerous. This is most frequently the case when the lane is physically separated from the road by a raised kerb or barrier, meaning that it is impossible to easily leave the cycle path when need arises. For example, to avoid pedestrians walking carelessly or standing in a crowd at a bus stop or when some oaf has parked their motor across it.
Cycle lanes that adjoin the footpath often end abruptly, with no scooped kerb to allow riders to rejoin the road, forcing them instead to either continue on the footpath or to dismount and lift their bike onto the road. Physical segregation also make it difficult to change lanes in preparation for a right turn or to cross the road to access a building or dwelling that is not at a junction. Even on road-level cycle paths, it is obviously safer to change lanes to the right when there is a gap in traffic rather than waiting until you arrive at the junction, which means leaving the cycle lane early, or on busy roads with multiple lanes, avoiding using it at all. Other cycle paths are designed to cross side-roads some metres back from where the side-road meets the main road. Cars coming from the side have less time to see an approaching rider and their attention is naturally focused on the main junction, so this is particularly dangerous. Then you have those cycle paths where the cyclist is supposed to stop and wait for the green man to cross over a side road, even though traffic on the main road is allowed to proceed ahead.
Choosing to travel on cycle lanes like these is a mistake a rider makes only once. It really makes you wonder what goes on in planners’ heads. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Phibsboro, Dublin 7.