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Nottingham, door lane, graffitiMore bike lane graffiti appears in Nottingham
Bike lane graffiti has once again appeared on Nottingham streets calling for better cycling infrastructure, this time dubbing a bike lane a “door lane” because it runs alongside parked cars.
The words, and an impression of a car door, were stencilled on a painted bike lane on Haydn Road, Sherwood, which runs alongside car parking bays.
This is the latest in a flurry of similar white stencilled graffiti to appear on Nottingham roads in recent weeks, with “unsafe bike lane” and “cyclist priority” appearing on cycle routes during one week in March.
Nottingham cycle graffiti artist strikes again
In a discussion on the local Critical Mass Facebook page one user, Luke Powell, wrote: “I live around the corner, these cycle lanes are some of the worst examples of cycle lanes I’ve ever seen, massive waste of money.”
“Taking money out of future pointless and dangerous lanes is probably a saving grace until we can have cycle lanes designed by cyclists with an understanding of safe and useable infrastructure,” he said.
Michael Metcalfe, who said he has a trike which he can’t use on many bike lanes as they are too narrow, disagreed with the use of graffiti to make a point. He said: “Some valid points regarding design aspects of the cycle lanes but, this isn't protesting, it's vandalism”.
Dooring is the verb used to describe a situation where a passing cyclist is hit by someone opening a car door. Bike lanes positioned near to parked cars are often criticised for putting cyclists at risk of being doored.
In response to earlier graffiti Nottingham City Council defended road safety and pointed out £6.1m is being spent on cycle improvements in the city.
A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said in March: "We will be removing this graffiti as it could confuse or distract motorists, which would be dangerous. We would also strongly discourage anyone from painting graffiti on a road as they are putting themselves and others at great risk."
Work started on Nottingham’s "cycle superhighway" in October, one of a number of cycle routes being introduced across the city as part of £6.1m Cycle City Ambition Fund money from government.
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
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18 comments
I don't like these designs legitimating pavement cycling one bit (as kindly illustrated by bikebot). Firstly, they are often at the expense of pedestrian space. So pedestrians walk on the bike lane. Which is still their right in my view, but the requirement for civilised passing speeds in such circumstances (probably as low as 3-5 kph in the presence of pets or small children on the footway) will make cycling slower. Longer distances (>2k) in such systems are harder to contemplate.
Such lanes are often still in a door zone, generally a passenger door. Who is likely to be more mindful about opening a door: a licensed driver, or their random passengers? Or go round the back of bus-stops. Why do you want to send me whizzing between some poor old dear who's just got off the bus and her pension pickup?
If a door does open, you have nowhere to go. At least on a carriageway lane you can maintain primary position, continue to make rear observations, and pull out into the principal lane as necessary, should a door begin to open. But on the pavement lane you're going to have to swerve and bunny-hop to avoid the collision. Quite demanding!
But the real problem is at junctions. I find it notable that we are generally presented with pictures of these schemes mid-street. A left turn (in Holland or Denmark) likely involves two sets of signals, with the inevitable delays that this implies. Correctly positioning yourself on the left of the carriageway on the approach to the junction, then turning in one phase is undoubtedly more time efficient. This manoeuvre becomes more demanding with increasing motor vehicle speeds, which is why 30 kph speed limits backed by strict liability laws and proper collision investigations should be the true priorities for urban road safety.
And another thing: a narrow pavement lane may be just about bearable in completely flat topographies (see Holland, Denmark): elsewhere in the world we have these things called hills, which are rather significant for cyclists, and I question whether these narrow pavement lanes can ever work on descents.
I guess I can live with such folly with one very important proviso: all cyclists retain their right to the road alongside as they judge fit. But in Holland and Denmark, if there's a cycle lane, you have to use it, even if it's cobbled nonsense that jogs the drool from your jealous mouth as you contemplate the motorists' smooth asphalt 2m to your left.
I would be happy, BTW, to be pointed to a proper cluster randomized trial of different designs (with injury data) to back the "safety" argument of proponents of such schemes. Such studies would be hard to do, and I suspect they do not exist.
So no! Keep your eye on the big picture, which probably means saving the cash for education, tachygraphs, speed cameras, and traffic cops.
Perhaps "dooring lane" would have been a better thing to write - I suspect many motorists will actually take the graffiti to mean that the lane is reserved for them getting into and out of their vehicles. At least dooring is something that might make them think as well as the cyclists.
Learn from those who know what they're doing. Look what was changed here.
Bike lanes go on the inside, because a parked car will open its driver side door into the road.
Image via @bicycledutch
I remember paths like this as well in Denmark. A stepped track on the inside without separation. Needs less space, still much safer.
Nice example of a door lane (the driver is on the left in europe so all those cars will be opening their doors into the cycle lane)
True, my mistake, but it's a rarity (the road, not me making mistakes). Simply the first picture that came to hand for Denmark, which is almost certainly a one way street.
But hundreds of other examples available
That style *might* work in the UK, but more likely, drivers will just use it as a car park, as is already happening with the bike "superhighway" (not actually super in any way) in Leeds/Bradford. With the UK being a place where there is no enforcement, nobody would stop drivers doing this and the infra would end up being useless.
Better would be the earlier pic of the Dutch approach with some physical separation. A few bollards or posts could possibly be added to help car-parking culture adjust to the changes, which could be removed after a few years (maybe 30 to 70 years if current car driving and parking attitudes are any clue).
No, that's a classic example of a lane on the right of parked cars. For some reason the image is inverted -- just look at the P on the parking meter.
If the car parking was designated so that vehicles have to have two wheels on the pavement as the van and the Prius are in this image, then it'd be a safe design. But this doesn't appear to be the case as the car in the foreground is parked entirely on the roadway in its bay. It's a pity as the pavements are wide enough and this item of fine detail would improve the design significantly. But as it is, the proximity of the cycle lane to this parked car means that cyclists will run the risk of being doored. From a legal perspective anyone getting out of a car would have to look out for a cyclist before opening a door and would be at fault in the event of an incident, but many vehicle occupants would not be so aware as to look first
It's a poor piece of design from a cyclist's perspective. The presence of a cycle lane means that cyclists will be expected to use it, even if the design is flawed. Motorists who don't cycle and don't appreciate the poor design will be frustrated when the more aware and experienced cyclists don't use the lane. Cyclists who do use the lane will be at risk.
This type of infrastructure helps no-one. It's an example of a box ticking exercise on the part of the local authorities, so they can show they're meeting targets on sustainability. In reality, it's dangerous and makes things worse and has been designed by someone who doesn't cycle commute.
It's another example of overcoming one issue and creating another.
Cycle lanes?, well the bicylce seems to be the only vehicle which is granted the luxury of it's own lane. Buses and taxis expcpted on the basis that this remains a shared space with cyclists.
The implication of a dedicated lane is that the user it is designed for has no right ot be anywhere else. Of course that isn't the case, but many road users do view it that way.
My view? Don't bother with cycle lanes, but rely on the education of motorists through empathy and enforcement. Share the space.
hahahahahahahahahahhahahahhahha.
I laughed so hard I almost crapped my pants.
motorists are granted the luxury of 6 lanes going all over the country there called motorways , blood trains get there own tracks too.
I realise your view is in good faith, and I think I get why you feel that way, but I just think, as a question of practicality, that you have it wrong.
If "empathy" were going to work it would have done so decades ago. Besides, it only really works if lots of motorists cycle, or know cyclists, so its a bit of a circular problem.
And "enforcement" likewise has gone backwards rather than improving. And the heart of it is that its always going to be far more costly to 'enforce' good behaviour by means of human beings (i.e. police) watching every road and junction at all times, than it is to do so by putting in physical structures that make the bad behaviour much, much harder, just by existing.
If we had computer-controlled robocops, I suppose the difference between the two things might get a bit blurred, but as we don't, it seems to me that physical infrastructure requires less of an on-going cost than enforcement by humans.
excuse me but, what's wrong with this cycle lane? from the picture, i see even some space for the door to open, something i haven't seen yet. I'm one of those who think that we (cyclists) are road users , and not too much a fan of dedicated cycle lanes. My two cents.
I always take a moment to review the road on streetview before commenting.
For some reason, almost every single car is also parked up on the pavement.
Quiet agree with you frogg, I use this road daily, not as a cyclist but as a motorist. The layout of Haydn Road is quiet interesting, seems to me that it's a bit of an experiment, the road speed has been cut from 30 to 20 mph, there are two large cycle lanes in both directions, the centre markings have been removed from the centre of the road. Personnelly I think this is a great design. I was pretty impressed when it was completed, although it doesnt segregate cyclists completly its a great solution for all road users.
Are the 20mph limits actually obeyed at all in Nottingham?
Boroughs here in London are introducing them, and they don't seem to make any difference. What most baffles me is there's an A road that apparently is covered by them (it has 20mph painted on the road surface), yet drivers will zoom over those 20mph roundels while doing up to 80mph. I'm actually wondering if the 20mph signs are a mistake and maybe that road isn't supposed to be included. Certainly I see no sign of any enforcement of the 20mph limit anywhere.
Good on them. These lanes utterly ignore advice in the highway code and cycle training which tells cyclists to keep out the door zone.
and despite the onus very clearly being on the driver / passenger to look before opening a door - again in the Highway Code...if they kill someone while doing it they'll still get off as proven in that case the other year an no doubt others
Too many cycle lanes are painted alongside the parking bays, almost exactly the right width to delineate the so-called door zone. I just take them as helpful advice on where NOT to ride