Tax on Cars parked on Pavements

[Two_Sheds]

If its not cars, its wheelie bins...I just retrieved ours from the pavement - obviously it's not in the binmens job descriptions to leave it INSIDE the gate

[OverWyreGrower]

I don't accept the point that roads are too narrow to park on. There's just the one road in this town that has no pavement parking...yes its narrow, with cars parked all up both sides, but you can still get an ambulance down it. The residents still don't park on the pavements.

There are roads still too narrow! Our first house was on a road full of terraced houses near the centre of Preston. There was no off-road parking.

All cars had to be partly on the pavement, as one car parked solely on the road would have blocked the road for all but motorcycle users.

I think in areas where "factory" housing is prevalent (industrial towns, older housing etc), you'll still get cars which have to be parked on the road.

[shirlthegirl43]

What I would like explained to me by any cyclists out there please is...

Our local council spent a small fortune putting a cycle path alongside the main road from where I live to the nearest town. Why then do the cyclists still cycle along the road? Got me confused - maybe I am supposed to drive along the cycle path but nobody bothered to inform me?

By the way, I would love to be able to cycle more but my energy levels just won't let me.

[Alison]

I have a bike, but I wouldn't dream of riding it in rush hour for safety reasons.

That's part of the problem, people don't feel save using their bikes therefore don't and so you get more traffic on the road - if more people felt safer, more people might cycle therefore making it safer again. Unfortunately it's a bit of a viscious circle.

Personally I was far to terrified to ride mine in busy traffic until the past year or so and I've found that with a little (well quite a lot really) of planning I am able to avoid some of the worst spots and will now ride more or less any short distances at any time of day or night. I would also encourage others to do the same as it's actually quite empowering. However, as for cycle lanes, most of them round here are useless and often ignored by cars anyway. Think there's been some survey done that showed that you're actually more at risk using an inadequate cycle lane as car's assume you're out the way and don't give you enough space, as oppose to when you're on the road normally, they'll often give you a wider berth. Weird one really.

[Alison]

What I would like explained to me by any cyclists out there please is...

Our local council spent a small fortune putting a cycle path alongside the main road from where I live to the nearest town. Why then do the cyclists still cycle along the road? Got me confused - maybe I am supposed to drive along the cycle path but nobody bothered to inform me?

By the way, I would love to be able to cycle more but my energy levels just won't let me.

Cos the people that put them in aren't cyclists and therefore get it wrong - it doesn't work for either cyclists or drivers most of the time!

[Two_Sheds]

Our local council spent a small fortune putting (in) a cycle path ...Why do the cyclists still cycle along the road?

By the way, I would love to be able to cycle more but my energy levels just won't let me.

I think you mean it's an off-road cycle lane? I don't know the answer, but some reasons why it might not be used:
1) if it's that new, people might not be aware of it yet
2) sometimes dropped kerbs are not in the right place, or are blocked by parked cars (!) so if you're already cycling on a road how are you to get onto the bike lane? Levitate?
3) a lot of bike lanes are targeted by vandals who drop glass on them. Get a few punctures and you give up using them (the council doesn't sweep them, but I now carry a small brush with me for this purpose...daft huh?)
4) maybe the bike lane isn't going where you want to...they often divert off on some daft direction of their own (we have a new one from my house to Asda...but as you get within sight of Asda, the path diverts AWAY from Asda, but the road and the pavement don't)
5) perhaps there are too many pedestrians using the bike lane? I do a quick survey when I'm out and about...given a choice between a footpath and an adjacent bike lane, more than 50% of pedestrians walk on the bikelane...they are a real hazard, believe me...step out without looking and allsorts.

[Two_Sheds]

I would love to be able to cycle more but my energy levels just won't let me.

Try it, it might improve your energy (I have CFS, it doesn't worsen it). The benefits to your health are many: better circulation, improved heart and lung function, stronger leaner muscles, glowing complexion, smaller bum...you see and smell the outside, noticing things you just can't from inside a steel box, and you actually receive less pollution than you when inside a car. If I lived closer, I could 'bike-buddy' you

[Alison]

I've been amazed at how wrong so many of my fears proved to be now that I've got into cycling. For distances of upto about 6 miles I genuinely find it far more convenient, don't get held up by traffic, it's good for my fitness and I don't have to hang around waiting for buses or parking spaces. I too love noticing things around me that much more and don't find it hard now to plan my routes or organise things so that I don't have to carry too much.

[shirlthegirl43]

I think you mean it's an off-road cycle lane? I don't know the answer, but some reasons why it might not be used:
1) if it's that new, people might not be aware of it yet
2) sometimes dropped kerbs are not in the right place, or are blocked by parked cars (!) so if you're already cycling on a road how are you to get onto the bike lane? Levitate?
3) a lot of bike lanes are targeted by vandals who drop glass on them. Get a few punctures and you give up using them (the council doesn't sweep them, but I now carry a small brush with me for this purpose...daft huh?)
4) maybe the bike lane isn't going where you want to...they often divert off on some daft direction of their own (we have a new one from my house to Asda...but as you get within sight of Asda, the path diverts AWAY from Asda, but the road and the pavement don't)
5) perhaps there are too many pedestrians using the bike lane? I do a quick survey when I'm out and about...given a choice between a footpath and an adjacent bike lane, more than 50% of pedestrians walk on the bikelane...they are a real hazard, believe me...step out without looking and allsorts.

Yes it is an off-road cycle lane - on what was a grass verge previously but...
1) bike path is parallel to the road (main road direct from the roundabout up from me to the next roundabout along - no need to deviate) - if the cyclists can't see it then they shouldn't be on the road!!!
2) dropped kerbs at regular intervals - anywhere you would need to cross the road but understand your point
3) no signs of vandalism - not a heavily populated area - nice and rural with not too many trouble makers about
4) as 1 above - no need to divert from the particular path - much safer than the road which is used by refinery traffic
5) there are occasional pedestrians as it is a foot/bike path but they are nearly as seldom seen as cyclists.

My real gripe is that whenever there is a cycle race on you can guarantee that the guys with the serious bikes are on the road and causing a traffic obstruction. Just narks me that they still use the gravel-strewn road when they have a beautiful black-top cycle path 3 feet to their left!

[shirlthegirl43]

Try it, it might improve your energy (I have CFS, it doesn't worsen it). The benefits to your health are many: better circulation, improved heart and lung function, stronger leaner muscles, glowing complexion, smaller bum...you see and smell the outside, noticing things you just can't from inside a steel box, and you actually receive less pollution than you when inside a car. If I lived closer, I could 'bike-buddy' you

I also have CFS, have trouble getting out of bed and getting dressed some days. By the time I have cared for the children and our animals, I have a little energy left for the garden - no way I could get the bike from the garden to the road. Biggest problem is that whichever way I cycle, I have to finish with a long steep uphill ride - if it was the other way round I would give it a go more often - specially now we have the cycle path as it looks really inviting. And just by the way - I would like to find a form of excercise which gives me a bigger bum - not a smaller one!!

[Two_Sheds]

My real gripe is that whenever there is a cycle race on you can guarantee that the guys with the serious bikes are on the road and causing a traffic obstruction. Just narks me that they still use the gravel-strewn road when they have a beautiful black-top cycle path 3 feet to their left!

But Shirl, you can't have a road race unless you're on the road! I take your point regarding utility cyclists, but would point out that the road is for everyone to use not just motorists (drivers hate horses, caravans and tractors too for holding up traffic), and while cycle lanes aren't compulsory, they WILL be used IF they are safer/quicker/more convenient than riding on the road. However, many bike lanes stop and start in the most ludicrous places, eg at roundabouts. Is there are provision for cyclists to get around the roundabout, or does the bikelane simply terminate at it?

PS. I should point out that I am a law-abiding cyclist - I give way to peds even when they are on MY lane (!) I don't hold up traffic on purpose and I use bike lanes where I can...I don't enjoy battling along with the modern motorist. I am considerate to others when using my chosen form of transport, and I expect the same from other road-users.

A nice, friendly, balanced debate, I like it.

[Two_Sheds]

I would like to find a form of excercise which gives me a bigger bum - not a smaller one!!

Er...competitive pie-eating?

[zebedee]

Like a lot of other things, it's not the general car user, but the 'few' who cause problems. However, another revenge thing, but not from me! For my sins, I used to be in a bike gang. We weren't overly horrible, but being honest we weren't the best of behaved people. But, walking down a pavement one day, a man pulled onto the pavement to go into a shop. Virtually without breaking stride, this hairy biker (not the cooking variety!) climbed on the bonnet, walked across the roof, down onto the boot, and back onto the pavement!!!
There are times when I am tempted to emulate this.

[shirlthegirl43]

Like a lot of other things, it's not the general car user, but the 'few' who cause problems. However, another revenge thing, but not from me! For my sins, I used to be in a bike gang. We weren't overly horrible, but being honest we weren't the best of behaved people. But, walking down a pavement one day, a man pulled onto the pavement to go into a shop. Virtually without breaking stride, this hairy biker (not the cooking variety!) climbed on the bonnet, walked across the roof, down onto the boot, and back onto the pavement!!!
There are times when I am tempted to emulate this.

Love it!!

[Mrs Dobby]

I used to work with a BMX rider who specialised in doing stunts, I saw him once coming down the cycle path on the main road, which had a car parked in it, he bunny hopped up onto the bonnet and rode over the top of the car, he stayed within the cycle lane and I dont think he damaged the car at all, but it was surely an amazing sight to see, and when the car owner returned to the car to find tyre treads on his car I think it would probably have put him off parking in a cycle lane ever again!