Police use speed guns to target cyclists on Bristol & Bath Railway Path

I'm on the BB Cycle Path A LOT, but rarely need to use the bit they're on about (close to Bristol), and have never seen/experienced any 'aggro', issues etc in over 5 years of use. Someone at work knows the bit in question and said it does get a bit manic, but his rant was cyclists with no lights. It's all quite simple; go 'balls out' when there's nobody about and slow down for pedestrians and other cyclists as necessary. I wish we'd stop 'pandering' to a vocal minority who constantly 'bash' it. Every time I'm on it I always think we're so lucky to have this piece of cycle infrastructure. Love those 'school mummies'; if they're not trying to muscle me off the road in their 4x4, they're trying to get me with their pitchforks on a cycle path! Great work for the 'rozzers'; tackle inner city crime - nah, lets go and nab some speeding cyclists. Another bit of cycle path I use is a thoroughfare for the mums and kids heading to/from a McDonalds. Captain Ahab hunting ground (apologies to real whales).

If you want to slow cyclists on the bristol2bath do what they did in the 80s and put gravel on it.I remember when I was twelve and cycling to bath with my friend, you would have people walking in both lanes so you wouldn't want to be going fast on gravel because trying to stop was like trying to stop on ice.Anyway the police are reactive ,not proactive.Also I thought it was called the Bristol and bath cycle way ,or has the name been changed.

Another David Hembrow related piece, on how/when/where the Dutch provide separate pedestrian facilities.
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2014/04/is-that-shared-use-path-do-...

Simple answer that Holland already have - don't have shared access paths - 1 for pedestrians,1 for cyclists.

That said there is one of these around Derby's Pride Park - i.e. it's solely a cycle path, yet when I've used it it is always littered with dog walkers who complain that you're cycling too fast on it and get upset that it's a path just for cyclists not pedestrians! I even had people refuse to get out my way and purposely spread out across the width of the path forcing you to take to the grass.

Problem is no all cyclists have a cycle computer or a garmin so how would they know how fast they were going?
Speed is a relative thing.

I haven't used that cycleway but may well be using it regularly in the near future.

Sustrans stated aim is to provide routes for cycle commuting. Commuting you notice. If you commute between Bristol and Bath for very many weeks you will soon be cruising along at 20mph - bit of wind behind you and maybe a little late and 30mph could easily be maintained - judging by that picture in the article.
We have the same problem with some of the routes here in N.Wales - great for the less confident, beginners and children, unfortunately uselless for actually getting anywhere.

It is a trunk route between cities intended (but not designed) for cycle commuting. Like the A4 then, it should have priority over all the side turnings and no chicanes gates or other obstructions and designed to safely allow cyclists to easily pass each other at 30mph; just as the A4 allows motorists to pass at 70mph.

That is if you take cycling as a serious transport option. Apparently it still isn't.

Accordingly now that it is so heavily used it should be turned into a dual carriagway with a footpath that is fenced from it. Although of course now that it is so heavily used the sensible thing would be to close a lane of the A4, which now presumably carries proportionaly less motor traffic.

Of course as a public highway the highway code applies. Keep left at all times except when overtaking, turning right or lane markings indicate otherwise. Mandatory approved lights during lighting up time etc.

“One cyclist was going so fast that he fell off his bike right in front of us." Going fast makes you fall off your bike then? Oh no, better tell the pro teams quick, and cancel the tour de France.

I've pretty much given up riding on the Bristol-Bath path. It's too busy with walkers, dogs, children, there are bike muggers, you often get shouted and sworn at often if you just innocently try to announce your presence to walkers. Bell ringing is not advisable. I've had everything from 'all right all right, I've seen you', to 'F... off you f...ing twat', just for ringing a bell. Ruins your day if you're a sensitive flower like moi.

We have a shared use path near us. When it was being planned the deaths of cyclists on the adjacent road were used as part of the business case for the shared path.
The shared path is a death trap.
Dog walkers, who don't control their dogs or use extending leads that block the entire path.
Joggers wearing headphones who can't hear a bell or a shout.
Family groups who believe it's their right to walk four abreast, blocking the entire path.
I've come to believe in a simple principle. Any road or path where users conflict at speed differentials greater than times three requires segregation. If I'm doing sixteen miles an hour I'm potentially lethal to pedestrians. Shared use paths on commuter routes are a recipe for disaster.
Oh, and, just out of interest, what power do police have to stop cyclists for a chat about their speed?

Would the PCOs be willing to do a similar exercise after dark stopping walkers (with & without dogs) & cyclists who use the path dressed in black with no reflective gear & no lights? I don't think they realise who invisible they are. ditto for dogs both on & off leads.

The dog issue is caused, in my opinion, by the lack of clarity about what these paths are for.

I use some areas of grassland by some playing fields when training fairly regularally and the area is also used by dog owners to excercise their animals, particualrally at the times that I ride there (in the mornings before work). Almost exclusivly the dogs are, quite reasonably, off the lead. Sometimes this causes me a 'problem' however there is really no conflict as there is a mutual understanding that we are sharing the space and have to make allowances for each other.

Due to the lack of clarity and failure to set expectations about the use of shared use paths some dog owners essentially consider them as linear parkland and treat them as such. If they assume that cyclists take the same view it's understandable that they expect us to behave as I do in my example above.

Unfortunately these problems will only get worse as cycle use increases. It is crazy to expect what has become a popular commuter route to accomodate all comers. BTW Have you tried riding along the B2B on a fine Sunday afternoon? Victim of its own success. The utopian solution of course is a wide, dedicated, cycle only route ........

I'm with Matt on this one. The B2B is effectively an intercity highway as far as bikes are concerned. This is a classic example of build it and they will come. The popularity of the route has made it unfit for purpose. It no longer makes sense that it is shared in the way it is. Definitely needs an upgrade, widening, segregating whatever. Perhaps it does need speed limits in the built up bits or by schools and 'national limit' on the long open stretches in the country, though to be fair some of those are a bit narrow to justify much speed.

Meanwhile 8-9 people were killed on the roads today. How many died on this path?

Motor vehicles have dedicated routes - motorways.

Is it any wonder chaos ensues when everyone else is forced onto a wide pavement with the ever present painted line?

You have to laugh at the naivety of its 'design'

Dogs

On

Massively

Long

Leads............................

Usual guff - ignore motoring slaughter whilst pointing the figure everywhere else when those not willing to subject themselves to the genocide instead look for alternative and safe routes. Cyclists are legitimate victims to cars but pedestrians should be protected from cyclists.

Perhaps every cyclist should just resign themselves to the inevitable. I'd suggest something along the lines of:

1: Buy the largest 4x4 you can, preferably amassing huge debt so you can compete in the Jeremy Clarkson game of car value being proportional to your intelligence and value as a human being.

2: Eat, sit on your back end and watch a mindless soap, preferably with a lot of arguing in it.

3: Look down on anyone using transport cheaper than yours whilst selectively ignoring anyone in a more expensive vehicle.

4: Despite loving your fellow motoring chums ensure you park your offensive mass on pavements (as you secretly know your great compatriots will smash into your pride and joy and then drive off). Get aggressive if a peasant like pedestrian has the audacity to question why you've parked on the pavement.

5: Dust off the credit card and get ready for the weekly trudge around the local retail park collecting more crap you don't need, might as well use that huge boot for something.

6: On the way make sure you use your horn, sit up the arse of anything in front of you that you can see over and berate clogged roads whilst failing to recognise they are just like you and driving the same 4x4.

7: Despite spending 50 minutes to travel 7 miles conduct a punishment pass on a vulnerable road user of your choice as they held you up for 20 seconds.

8: Trip up on the broken pavement at the retail park then berate the wisdom of local council spending.

9: Stop off with the kids at a fast food emporium 'as they're starving'.

10: Make sure you use the disabled parking bay (wider so those pesky cyclists don't dent your doors)

11: Buy a 'Baby on board' sign for the rear window. You love your pals out on the roads but somehow you still feel the need to place a public sign pleading with them to crash into someone else as your child is special.

12: Marvel at your man boobs and gut, you've worked hard for those. Make sarcastic comments at anyone in the office who shows any sign of doing anything active whilst having a set of pre-prepared stories ready about your prior athletic prime.

Bloody hell-its a shared use path-why would anyone want to blast past pedestrians and run the risk of injuring them or yourself ?

As I understand it the main issue is where the path nears a school-what is there to disagree with here? If the cops really are responding to anti cycling comments in the press,how about going on a charm offensive rather than all this reactionary stuff that plays right into the hands of the bike bashers?

Of course pedestrians can be unpredictable and daft -even more reason just to slow down a bit-there was life before Strava and not every commute needs to be a TT

Just show a bit of common sense !!

Its worth reading David Hembrow's article about shared use paths.
http://tinyurl.com/l6n877u

In their code of conduct, Sustrans point out themselves that their paths "aren’t suitable for high speeds" and suggest that "if you wish to travel quickly [...] this is better done on quiet roads". For all their claims about having provided a network of cycling infrastructure, they're actually admitting that this network is not suitable for cycling.

For shared paths if everyone kept to the left - just like when we're in our wheeled tin boxes - most of the "problems" would go away. Plus keeping to the left is handy to get drummed in to kids for when they venture onto roads.
From daily experience it's the "middle of the path" brigade that are the pests, especially the one with earphones in cranked up to 11.