Why Don't Cyclists Use Cycle Lanes....

A question about : Why Don't Cyclists Use Cycle Lanes....

...with such magnificent facilities as this?

Best answers:

• Well yes but even where there is a good cycle lane unobstructed and with a smooth surface some cyclists still won't use them. There's one near me built a year or so at the cost of weeks of disruption and I don't know how many hundreds of K - and still the lycra brigade insist on using the road.
  If you knocked one off I wonder if you could claim contributory negligence?
• I used to think much the same as you dzug1 until out of financial necessity I started cycling to work. I now realise that they're disjointed, poorly maintained, poorly signposted, often blocked by cars / signs / bus shelters, unusable at much above walking pace, full of dog walkers who think they have no responsibility to control their mutt etc etc.
  The link posted by the OP is NOT an isolated instance - there are situations like this in most towns. Thing is - how many posters will actually look at the link - or just type away completely missing the ironic point?
• ""I now realise that they're disjointed, poorly maintained, poorly signposted, often blocked by cars / signs / bus shelters, unusable at much above walking pace, full of dog walkers who think they have no responsibility to control their mutt etc etc.""
  Sounds a bit like the roads round here as well.
• As someone who cycles to and from work everyday (about an hour each way), most of my journey does have cycle lanes, some on the pavement some on the road, since being at this job since February I haven't been able to use the cycle lanes as they are always occupied by parked vehicles.
  The cycle lanes are fantastic around here, but unfortunately you are unable to use them, its a real shame.
• I've never found a cycle lane that I would deem safe to use at above 20mph. I will make an assumption therefore that any lane will be useless and will save my time and stick to the road.
• Whilst raising a bit of a smile (through gritted teeth !!!), the sheer waste of money is what infuriates me most about these things.
  The same moronic councillors who approve these idiocies are the same ones who cut social services/schools/libraries/etc, etc and blame anyone who happens to be passing for the "cuts" in local government spending.
• I ride a road bike. Usually on the road. If a cycle path is safe enough to take my speed, then I use it. If not, I don't.
• Personally I believe that cycle lanes only serve to give drivers a false sense of ownership over the rest of the road. Cycle lanes often lead cyclists around left hand junctions which they dont want to take, leading to conflict with cars or trucks turning left. To restrict cyclists to cycle lanes would be extremely dangerous and most drivers will never see the dangers until they themselves get on a bike...
• There are a few good cycle lanes around here but most of them dont go places I want to go. We do have one which is an old railway line which is great for a Sunday morning cycle but doesn't go anywhere useful and isn't a safe place to be alone at night.
  The rest are either part of the pavement usually with street furniture stuck in the middle of them (one runs you straight into a bus shelter) or just a painted line on the road. Even they just stop and start at random intervals and dont form any kind of logical route.
• Perhaps not, but in my experience motorists will often drive right up to the edge of a cycle lane which is why it's critical that they have a minimum width of 1.5m. If cycle lanes are too narrow then cyclists will actually be given less clearance when vehicles pass, than if there were no lane at all. So please don't put up with sub-standard facilities where you live!
• We have recently had a whole new cycle network created, and very nice it is too. Nice wide shared paths, well thought out junctions, side roads/service roads re-allocated and marked up as cycle ways, with vehicular access to frontages. Really nicely done.
  Would I use them, not usually.
  They are great for a family ride out on a Sunday afternoon, but I wouldn't use them for my commute.
  Why? Well in the first half a K from my front door, if I use the cycle path I would have to give way 5 times at roads that feed across the path.
  If I am on the road I have right of way to traffic emerging and can carry on (up a long hill) without having to stop (baring idiot motorists ).
  I will also go faster on the road, not only because it is inappropriate to ride, at speed, on the shared cycle path due to all the pedestrian traffic (dog walkers with long leads , school kids, grannies with shopping trolleys, mobility scooters, all usually with headphones or on their phones), but psychologically, if I am on the road I am impelled to ride harder to maintain a better pace. Whereas on the paths I feel I can just cost along.
  If anyone doesn't like that, then tough. I pay 2 lots of "road tax", council tax and all the other taxes that apply to the majority of working people. So pay my fair share for the upkeep of the road network .
• As a beginner to cycling, wherever I see a cycle lane that is off road I have been using it as it instinctively feels safer once on it, however, I am slowly coming off them:
• They are not maintained like a road: leaves, glass, cans etc.
• I have to continually stop to check for people entering or leaving driveways
• Similarly as above but minor junctions
• Some lanes continually switch from one side of the road to the other, with a cyclist dismount message at every crossing
• They are bumpy and cracked
• Pedestrians wander in to them

Then there are the on road bike lanes:

• Often in the car door zone
• Too narrow
• Full of drain covers and potholes

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