bike paths

Erik Sandblom said:

There's a bike path around here which goes along a road with few cars, and
they drive slowly too. Is it just me, or is that silly? I think it's
better to have separate bike paths where the cars move fast, say over 35
km/h.

One of the common reasons for bike paths alongside slow roads, is that
roads often contain queuing traffic, so some paint is stuck on the
road, or a path alongside, so that there's enough room for cyclists to
still move fast.

Quoted message said:

I was thinking that the road could then be specially intended as a part of
a bicycle network. I know bikes are by default allowed on all roads, but
maybe bikes could be given a little more priority on some roads.

How would that work exactly?

Jim.

This is just a troll topic! Totally without any reason

Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.

"Erik Sandblom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:op.tc5a3hsmzubk0m@toshiba...

Quoted message said:

Hello

There's a bike path around here which goes along a road with few cars, and

in message <op.tc5a3hsmzubk0m@toshiba>, Erik Sandblom

(') said:

Separate bike paths are excellent marketing tools. People see them and
think "I really should get on my bike more often". The same marketing
effect could be achieved by reducing the speed limit on certain urban
roads and attaching a "bicycle and car" symbol to the speed limit sign.

By default all roads are for bicycles and cars. I'm rather against
special marking, because it implies bikes 'shouldn't be' on other roads.

The situation in Sweden may be different, of course.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Morning had broken, and I found when I looked that we had run out
of copper roove nails.

Den 2006-07-23 16:51:55 skrev Jim Ley <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Erik Sandblom said:

There's a bike path around here which goes along a road with few cars,
and
they drive slowly too. Is it just me, or is that silly? I think it's
better to have separate bike paths where the cars move fast, say over 35
km/h.

One of the common reasons for bike paths alongside slow roads, is that
roads often contain queuing traffic, so some paint is stuck on the
road, or a path alongside, so that there's enough room for cyclists to
still move fast.

Oh that's very clever. The road I've seen has very little traffic, so it's
not that. Possibly a case of solving a problem by throwing money at it.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was thinking that the road could then be specially intended as a part
of
a bicycle network. I know bikes are by default allowed on all roads, but
maybe bikes could be given a little more priority on some roads.

How would that work exactly?

Not sure exactly, but the city is building a bike route network. It's
actually quite good and lets you cover long distances without having to
contend with heavy car traffic. The main problem is that the asphalt is
bumpy, presumably to keep speeds down, and crossings with road traffic
have extra sharp turns, also presumably to keep speeds down.

Instead of building bike paths parallel to roads with slow and light
traffic, these roads could be made part of the bike network. Instead of
being car roads with bikes allowed, they would be bike paths with cars
allowed. I know there's probably no such thing, but I hope you see what
I'm trying to get at.

One big advantage compared to the bike paths would be that the asphalt
could be smooth and the crossings straight. I understand bike paths often
raise the frequency of accidents where bike paths cross car roads. By
making a leap of logic and making the road into a bike path, you would
solve this problem, at least for roads with light and slow car traffic.

I feel this idea also confronts the issue of people feeling safer on bike
paths than on "real roads".

There is a certain precedent in residential areas where the road is
blocked off every two blocks or so. The road block is made so that bikes
may pass it, and there is a bike path sign just to underline the fact. I
guess they didn't do this on the path I mentioned above, since they felt
it necessary to allow through traffic with cars.

Perhaps the best thing would be to educate the public to become assertive
and safe cyclists, but one does not need to preclude the other.

Erik Sandblom
--
Oil is for sissies