Do Brighton and Hove's cycle lanes measure up? (From The Argus)

Wait for it...

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The priority with cycle lanes is to make sure they’re safe and legal but, depending on available space and how heavily a route will be used, the widths may vary."

So.... waffle waffle blaa blaa no reason except we hate cars and people trying to make a living in this town, the sooner it is put back to pasture the better our useless council will feel.

Hove Actually wrote:
A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The priority with cycle lanes is to make sure they’re safe and legal but, depending on available space and how heavily a route will be used, the widths may vary."

So.... waffle waffle blaa blaa no reason except we hate cars and people trying to make a living in this town, the sooner it is put back to pasture the better our useless council will feel.

Blame all the students who voted the Greens in, thinking that by voting for this bunch of Marxist loons, they were being trendy and 'alternative'...

Thank goodness someone has finally brought up this important issue. I've spent the last eight years measuring various pavements, roads, lanes and pathways and can confirm that they are NOT all the same width! That's right, they are NOT all the same! Can you believe it?! It's nothing short of a scandal! Some pavements vary by as much as 1.37mm, particuarly in busy areas. What is going on? It's about time we all woke up and smelt the coffee! This issue is not going to go away!

may I recomend the following article

http://www.thedailym
ash.co.uk/news/socie
ty/bikes-and-cars-fu
ndamentally-incompat
ible-201202104884/

Tony Harrison wrote:
Thank goodness someone has finally brought up this important issue. I've spent the last eight years measuring various pavements, roads, lanes and pathways and can confirm that they are NOT all the same width! That's right, they are NOT all the same! Can you believe it?! It's nothing short of a scandal! Some pavements vary by as much as 1.37mm, particuarly in busy areas. What is going on? It's about time we all woke up and smelt the coffee! This issue is not going to go away!

Nice one Tony.

Ridiculous cycle lane mentality.Lets face it these loony Greens love squatters,travellers
,cyclists,anarchists
,tenters,campers,99 percenters.They hate hard working,taxpaying,mo
ral living,car driving bores.Keep on taxing us to the hilt with your car parking charges,council tax increases.Playing games with traffic lights to cause gridlock and high blood pressure for the car drivers.Your naive voting undergraduates and silly middle class save the planet recycling,windfarm loving sweeties with no experience of life will have gone and so will you.

Well said tony, this Ted Kemble guy should have tried to do something constructive when he was a councillor.

It's too late now Ted, can you move out the cycle lane and let me pass.

If we are to have these under used cycle lanes as a large number of cyclists seem to prefer the pavement, then any cyclists flouting the law or ridding on the pavement should have the bike confiscated and not returned until a fine is paid.

ripmaxman wrote:
If we are to have these under used cycle lanes as a large number of cyclists seem to prefer the pavement, then any cyclists flouting the law or ridding on the pavement should have the bike confiscated and not returned until a fine is paid.

Wow. Hard core. Imagine if motorists had their cars swiped off them on committing a speeding offence. Good on you, you've hit on something there.

shame ex cllr kemble did not sort out the grand cycle lanes whilst in power, he may now realise why he was voted out after many years for not listening along with mary mears they talked the talk but did not walk the walk they were too scared now look at the mess.

graham_Seagull wrote:

ripmaxman wrote: If we are to have these under used cycle lanes as a large number of cyclists seem to prefer the pavement, then any cyclists flouting the law or ridding on the pavement should have the bike confiscated and not returned until a fine is paid.

Wow. Hard core. Imagine if motorists had their cars swiped off them on committing a speeding offence. Good on you, you've hit on something there.

Motorists can have their cars swiped for certain offences.

Joshiman wrote:
Ridiculous cycle lane mentality.Lets face it these loony Greens love squatters,travellers

,cyclists,anarchists

,tenters,campers,99 percenters.They hate hard working,taxpaying,mo

ral living,car driving bores.Keep on taxing us to the hilt with your car parking charges,council tax increases.Playing games with traffic lights to cause gridlock and high blood pressure for the car drivers.Your naive voting undergraduates and silly middle class save the planet recycling,windfarm loving sweeties with no experience of life will have gone and so will you.

Great, that really put a smile on my face! Not sure if it's intentional parody or not but either way, keep up the comedy posts :)

Joshiman wrote:
Ridiculous cycle lane mentality.Lets face it these loony Greens love squatters,travellers ,cyclists,anarchists ,tenters,campers,99 percenters.They hate hard working,taxpaying,mo ral living,car driving bores.Keep on taxing us to the hilt with your car parking charges,council tax increases.Playing games with traffic lights to cause gridlock and high blood pressure for the car drivers.Your naive voting undergraduates and silly middle class save the planet recycling,windfarm loving sweeties with no experience of life will have gone and so will you.

Brighton seems to be of the belief if it is different, it must be utopia. Everyone has the right to be gay, but in Brighton it is pushed as the modern right thing to do, that I feel ashamed to admit I am hetrosexual. It is the same with being a green supporter, anything else makes you feel someone pre magna carta

george smith wrote:

Joshiman wrote:
Ridiculous cycle lane mentality.Lets face it these loony Greens love squatters,travellers ,cyclists,anarchists ,tenters,campers,99 percenters.They hate hard working,taxpaying,mo ral living,car driving bores.Keep on taxing us to the hilt with your car parking charges,council tax increases.Playing games with traffic lights to cause gridlock and high blood pressure for the car drivers.Your naive voting undergraduates and silly middle class save the planet recycling,windfarm loving sweeties with no experience of life will have gone and so will you.

Brighton seems to be of the belief if it is different, it must be utopia. Everyone has the right to be gay, but in Brighton it is pushed as the modern right thing to do, that I feel ashamed to admit I am hetrosexual. It is the same with being a green supporter, anything else makes you feel someone pre magna carta

Maybe the cruelly oppressed white heterosexual male conservatives who frequent the argus comments should form some kind of support group for themselves? It must be so hard for them when only most of the national media and the con/lib government reflect their views...

Hovite wrote:
Well said tony, this Ted Kemble guy should have tried to do something constructive when he was a councillor.

It's too late now Ted, can you move out the cycle lane and let me pass.

Couldn't agree more Paul

Good point and as always well made!

Mr Kemble, I can't see what is worth reporting here. Instead of measuring the width you should be commenting on the quality of the cycle lanes. Over many years Labour and Conservatives administrations allowed council officers to squander most of the little money provided for cycling facilities on terrible cycle lanes, many are simply a joke, some dangerous. No wonder people don't use them, I certainly don't. I have to say I was disappointed with Ian Davey defending the extremely poor design of a bus stop in a cycle lane as "shared space". Why not look at good practice on the continent and use a bit of common sense? This website shows the best and the worst cycle lanes in B&H...http://www.wei
rdcyclelanes.co.uk/.
..a lot of these are yours Mr Kemble.

I'm hoping to be up in the Montpelier / Clifton area at the weekend, so will take a look at the bike lanes around there and will report back on findings, unless of course one of the posters lives in that area and can save me the trouble.

Are the Tories so bereft of new talent and ideas that even their losing Councillors can't retire? I am minded of a leaflet that I received some time ago containing photos of all of the Tory councillors - they all looked drained, tired and well-past retirement!

The roads are there to be shared between us all - and that includes all forms of transport.

However cycle lanes just make me feel like a second class citizen on the road. Especially when people suggest that we shoud be fined if we don't use them. Seriously!

Much of the time the cycle lanes appear nothing more than a painted strip.

Some are nothing short of an assault course: pot holes, lamp posts, trees, bollards, parked cars, pedestrians and spots of flooding.

They are also let down - by being disjointed in vital places. Like at the Vogue gyratory on the Lewes Road. A busy route that serves the universities.

I would rather have money spent on better road surfaces and road awareness campaigns.

I injured myself quite badly on a poorly designed cycle lane on the Drive near Wilbury Avenue, colliding into the small ridge of curb that is there to distinguish the cycle lane from the road. If you look at the new old Shoreham Road cycle lane there is a small drop off to the side. Which could pose a similar problem if you cycled into it from the right hand side.

It is still very awkward for cyclists wanting to get to the North of the town towards Preston Park from the sea front. It's absolutely farcical! The cycling near the viaduct on the Preston Road is horrific for everyone involved.

"Mr Kemble was a member of the previous Conservative administration that brought in the controversial cycle lane in Grand Avenue – which was predicted to have cost £250 a metre"
My recollection is that the Grand Avenue cycle lane was planned and paid for by the previous Labour administration, but didn't get completed until after they'd been voted out. And I think I'm right in saying that during the 4 yrs of the Conservative administration no cycle lanes were approved. The senior officers in the sustainable transport dept. are able to hoodwink gullible councillors to spent money on their pet projects. Hence most of the designer road congestion projects get built during Labour and Green administrations. This site really shows what the money is wasted on www.weirdcyclelanes.
co.uk

Whilst some of the cycle lanes are indeed a joke, a lot of them are ok.

Here's a radical idea .... rather than sit and complain at how it causes congestion etc etc .... why not encourage people who could potentially cycle to cycle .... yes there's plenty of people who can't (workmen, doctors, salesmen etc etc ) but there are plenty of people who drive their cars a couple of miles max just for it to sit in a car park all day ... if we got more of these people plus school kids cycling it would be a win win for everyone .....

let's face it ... if everyone who wants to have a car and drive everywhere has one in Brighton going forward in the future .. no one will be going anywhere as it will be total gridlock ...

grabur wrote:
The roads are there to be shared between us all - and that includes all forms of transport. However cycle lanes just make me feel like a second class citizen on the road. Especially when people suggest that we shoud be fined if we don't use them. Seriously! Much of the time the cycle lanes appear nothing more than a painted strip. Some are nothing short of an assault course: pot holes, lamp posts, trees, bollards, parked cars, pedestrians and spots of flooding. They are also let down - by being disjointed in vital places. Like at the Vogue gyratory on the Lewes Road. A busy route that serves the universities. I would rather have money spent on better road surfaces and road awareness campaigns. I injured myself quite badly on a poorly designed cycle lane on the Drive near Wilbury Avenue, colliding into the small ridge of curb that is there to distinguish the cycle lane from the road. If you look at the new old Shoreham Road cycle lane there is a small drop off to the side. Which could pose a similar problem if you cycled into it from the right hand side. It is still very awkward for cyclists wanting to get to the North of the town towards Preston Park from the sea front. It's absolutely farcical! The cycling near the viaduct on the Preston Road is horrific for everyone involved.

Cracking post sir!

I'm a cyclist, car user and pedestrian and to be honest, I'd rather have all the cycle lanes removed, the roads resurfaced where required and drivers awareness increased. I would also like to see enforcement of lighting and red light jumping by cyclists and I would also make it law to have high vis and helmets. It's not rocket science but the mad minority have gone totally the wrong way with all these half-backed cycle lanes in the town. I love to ride up ffrom Preston, down the Drive (avoiding the lethal cycle lane) and along the seafront. Getting back to Preston is a lottery - you feel oblidged to use the cycle lanes but it's an impossible task fraught with danger.
If somebody really wants to make a difference to our roads then scrap them and lets have a 20mph limit in town with a free for all road use scheme.
As for the current residents of our town hall - make the most of your time, it won't happen again because people are wise to you now.......

This story is almost as pathetic as some of the comments on here. A man with way too much time on his hands sees a difference in cycle path widths, measures them and gets in the local paper. this is real journalism at its best here.

fiskar wrote:
This story is almost as pathetic as some of the comments on here. A man with way too much time on his hands sees a difference in cycle path widths, measures them and gets in the local paper. this is real journalism at its best here.

Compared with a man with too much time on his hands reads a thread..............
..

LOL waster

Joshiman wrote:
Ridiculous cycle lane mentality.Lets face it these loony Greens love squatters,travellers

,cyclists,anarchists

,tenters,campers,99 percenters.They hate hard working,taxpaying,mo

ral living,car driving bores.Keep on taxing us to the hilt with your car parking charges,council tax increases.Playing games with traffic lights to cause gridlock and high blood pressure for the car drivers.Your naive voting undergraduates and silly middle class save the planet recycling,windfarm loving sweeties with no experience of life will have gone and so will you.

Yeah, loony greeny squatter cyclists should pay for all the cycle lanes to be made the same width cos THEY DONT PAY ROAD TAX AND ALWAYS GO THROUGH RED LIGHTS WHICH THEY MAKE WORK SLOWER BY MAKING US WAIT FOR THE LIGHTS WHEN THEY DONT AND THEY DONT EVEN PAY FOR THEM WE DO THROUGH OUR TAXES AND FINES. I say wipe away the greenies.

And we cant park in the center of town near the shops and restaurants cos it costs so much even though were the ones WHO PAY ROAD TAX and I cant walk very far it's a disgrace.

therighttodrive wrote:

Joshiman wrote:
Ridiculous cycle lane mentality.Lets face it these loony Greens love squatters,travellers


,cyclists,anarchists


,tenters,campers,99 percenters.They hate hard working,taxpaying,mo


ral living,car driving bores.Keep on taxing us to the hilt with your car parking charges,council tax increases.Playing games with traffic lights to cause gridlock and high blood pressure for the car drivers.Your naive voting undergraduates and silly middle class save the planet recycling,windfarm loving sweeties with no experience of life will have gone and so will you.

Yeah, loony greeny squatter cyclists should pay for all the cycle lanes to be made the same width cos THEY DONT PAY ROAD TAX AND ALWAYS GO THROUGH RED LIGHTS WHICH THEY MAKE WORK SLOWER BY MAKING US WAIT FOR THE LIGHTS WHEN THEY DONT AND THEY DONT EVEN PAY FOR THEM WE DO THROUGH OUR TAXES AND FINES. I say wipe away the greenies.

I know this is probably just a fake post to troll people but I would just like to point out to this particularly brain dead individual that there is no such thing as road tax. You pay car tax - which is effectively a laziness tax.

As a car user, a motorbike user, a cyclist and a pedestrian I pay for the roads through my tax contributions.

You need to have a look at your own finances a bit better if you don't know where you're money is going.

Also, I am in hysterics reading some of these posts. A weirdo measures some cycle lanes and its a cue for the fat jaded minority to come out of their cat-p**s smelling holes and make bizarre links between bicycles, anarchists and people who like camping.

Joshiman - Perhaps you should confuse them with an equally logical protest outside the doors of Halfords and Millets. You absolute lunatic.