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Leicester exploring parking protected cycle lanes, says city's mayor

Infrastructure used in N America and Europe reduces risk of cyclists getting doored and separates them from motor vehicles

Mayor of Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby says he would consider introducing parking protected cycle lanes in the East Midlands city.

Such lanes, which are widely used in North America and Europe, are located between the pavement and car parking lane spaces, with a buffer separating them from the latter.

According to US organisation the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), their location “Reduces risk of ‘dooring’ compared to a bike lane and eliminates the risk of a doored bicyclist being run over by a motor vehicle.”

Those were the circumstances in which Leicester schoolteacher Sam Boulton was killed in July when a taxi passenger opened the vehicle’s door into his path on London Road, knocking the 26-year-old into the path of a van.

> Leicester teacher killed after taxi passenger opened door

Speaking to the Leicester Mercury after his return from NACTO’s Designing Cities 2016 conference in Seattle, which he had been invited to address, Sir Peter said that some locations in the city might be suitable for a parking protected lane.

He said: "It is a creative, simple and relatively inexpensive method which means the parked cars actually provide a physical barrier to protect cyclists from traffic.

"It is possible we could apply that in Leicester. There is some potential for it possibly in Granby Street and maybe elsewhere.

"It is something to explore,” continued Sir Peter, who also visited New York City to see the cycling infrastructure put in place there.

"It does not take much. It can sometimes be achieved with a line of paint and perhaps wands to separate cyclists and pedestrians similar to those we have placed on West Bridge."

Leicester Cycling Campaign Group questioned whether the city was suited to such infrastructure, however.

The group’s press officer, Eric Ludlow, told the Leicester Mercury: "It is an interesting idea but I think it would need the kind of space you get in really big cities.

"We would need to see actual plans before saying we were totally behind them," he added.

But Sir Peter said that his conversations with counterparts from North American cities at the conference in Seattle showed that they had much in common.

"They were keen to debate the issues around how you get the balance between competing usage of precious road space,” he explained.

"While many American cities are larger than Leicester we found their share the same challenges and issues with transport that we face – but often on an enormously different scale."

The council aims to increase modal share of cycling to 10 per cent by 2024, and last year its Leicester City Cycle Action Plan was joint winner of the Best Cycle Network Infrastructure Project at the inaugural Cycle Planning Awards.

> Dublin, Leicester and Brighton & Hove among winners at Cycle Planning Awards

In May, Leicester was the host of the fourth edition of the Cycle City Active City conference and exhibition, which brought together “all those working to encourage Dutch levels of utility cycling and active travel in Britain.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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9 comments

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Tjuice | 8 years ago
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Just following up on my own post (sorry).  Looking again at the picture at the top - it is MUCH clearer there that there is cycle infrastructure between the cars and the pavement than it was in my German adventure.  But nevertheless, for hurried, stressed, non-concentrating car travellers, I still think it would be all too easy for them to get out of their cars and, without lookin,g walk straight into the path of a cyclist as they head to the pavement in a tunnel-vision way.

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Tjuice | 8 years ago
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Hmm.  I'm a bit in two minds about this one.  It would be good to see the real-life dynamics of how it works somewhere where it is already in place. 

I like the overall intent - no issues with that, but I can see potential dangers.  I would have thought that it is highly likely that people (whether driver or passengers, and particularly with child-filled cars), could end up getting out of the car and walking straight into the cycle lane (causing a collision hazard), without really thinking, because they are automatically programmed to think of parking spaces being right up against the pavement.

If you can reprogramme all car occupants to think, "We are now parked, but we are actually still in the carriageway with vehicles moving past on both sides.  We must look carefully irrespective of which side of the car we are getting out," then I think this could work well.  But somehow, I think the likelihood of being able to get everyone into that mindset is, frankly, zero.

Particularly challenging for people who are not familiar with this kind of infrastructure.  I visited a German city a few months ago.  The taxi pulled up to the pavement to let me out.  I climbed out onto what I thought was the pavement, only to discover (after a poor cyclist had pulled brakes, swerved around me, and (rightly) expressed her annoyance) that I had actually climbed out onto a cycle 'lane'.  I felt pretty ashamed to have caused this situation.  I had looked that I was clear to open the door - not wanting to door a pedestrian - but of course, a 15+mph cyclist can arrive very quickly between opening the door and climbing out of cab with a rucksack.  It's a mistake I won't make again, but it just highlighted to me how easy it is to make a mistake if you are programmed to think of particular infrastructure in a particular way and are unaware of a different model.

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Beecho | 8 years ago
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I love architects drawings. There's one of these running between Camden Road from just north of St Pancras. Functionally it works well enough (bus stops can get a bit fruity) but those flowers last about two weeks and the baskets holding them about another fortnight longer. As it looks like a bomb site after a month, best just make those dividers bollards or nicely painted breeze blocks from the off.

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ktache replied to Beecho | 8 years ago
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Beecho wrote:

I love architects drawings...

Yes, and when showing the busiest of roads and junctions there will be 2 cars and a bus, rather than the reality of total gridlock.

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jestriding | 8 years ago
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"Leicester Cycling Campaign Group questioned whether the city was suited to such infrastructure, however."

It appears to be suited to using large amounts of public road space to store private cars.  

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me | 8 years ago
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Bristol?  You know that there is machine politico now and not red trousered independent?

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Dnnnnnn replied to me | 8 years ago
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me wrote:

Bristol?  You know that there is machine politico now and not red trousered independent?

Yes, but Ferguson was in post until recently.

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HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
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It's good that the Mayor is thinking about possible cycling solutions, whether this particular idea turns out to be applicable to Leicester or not.

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Dnnnnnn replied to HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
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HarrogateSpa wrote:

It's good that the Mayor is thinking about possible cycling solutions, whether this particular idea turns out to be applicable to Leicester or not.

Yes - and noticeable that cities with well-known, outward-looking mayors (Leicester, London, Bristol) seem to be doing more of the thinking than traditional council leaders, who are often machine politicians more concerned with the game of politics and their own backroom dealings.

Rather a sweeping generalisation, I admit, but perhaps there's something in it?

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