Olympic Sporting Legacy with a new extreme sport - Dodge the Taxi Rank! (click for full plan - 5MB)
We went along to the (trying saying that after a few jars!) meeting on Monday 7 January. We were hopeful that our comments made back in November would have been taken on board. This post by a local cyclist .
Sadly we were to be disappointed. Disjointed, advisory cycle lanes that form part of the nearside motor lane, no consideration at junctions other than ASLs, a taxi rank to dodge – you can (PDF 5MB) Not a design that parents will feel happy about cycling to school with their kids on. We were somewhat exasperated by the council boasting that they were being generous by giving 1.5 m cycle lanes. While this may be generous compared to the usual treatment in the borough (e.g. the recent cycle lanes on the approach to Richmond Bridge) this is the absolute minimum width recommended by the (yes, they do exist!). Perhaps the Richmond officers need a refresh.
Until the council treats cycling as a means of transport, with officers who actually use the designs they come up with, we won’t see more people taking to their bikes to cycle to work, school or the shops. Across London, other councils are waking up to this – , even . We only hope this will eventually happen in Richmond. In the meantime, here’s your Olympic legacy. Which is a shame, because when you look at, you see what could have been achieved with the space available and some political will – a vibrant Twickenham people go to, not drive through.
London Road Cycle lane saved?
It’s a real shame that the police and LBRuT Council allow cars, vans, buses and HGVs to routinely use the mandatory cycle lane (meaning are vehicles NOT allowed) as a second vehicle lane. Even police cars fly up it as a fast track route out of the centre of Twickenham, thus setting a very poor example to all other vehicle users.
This illegal practice is extremely intimidating and dangerous for cyclists, who the cycle lane is supposed to protect.
This matter was raised at the October CLG meeting, but nothing has changed since, despite the presence at that meeting of local ward Councillors Harrison (Cabinet Transport/N.Twickenham), Naylor (Twickenham town centre) and Harborne (LBRuT’s Cycling Czar)
This week I tweeted @MPSRichmond asking them to monitor the cycle lane for misuse, but received no reply. This was following their own recent tweet about monitoring misuse of a bus lane in LBRuT.
It’s a shame that they are all turning a blind eye to the dangers of the habitual illegal use of this cycle lane by every type of vehicle.