Tuesday 21 December 2010

white bollards on snowy cycle route

South Gloucestershire Council has been criticised for installing white bollards on a cycle path - which has led to cyclists crashing into them in the snow.

Cyclist Ian Redmond, 56, a biologist, was on his way from Bristol Parkway Station to the city's university when he smashed into one of the bollards, which blended perfectly into the white line marking the boundary between the cycle path and footpath.

The biologist split his lip open, cut his forehead and suffered severe bruising on his hand and thigh when he fell off his bicycle and onto the concrete path.

Apart from the problem with the white bollards, the design self-evidently falls well below Dutch standards for a two-way cycle path (even though the space is plainly there) and the absence of physical separation from pedestrians adds to the difficulties.

This is yet another piece of cycling infrastructure which has presumably been designed by someone who doesn’t cycle and who knows nothing at all about European best practice. This path would be completely inadequate if you had mass cycling.