Provision for cycling in Sheffield is poor
From: Dr Bing Jones
Sheffield S11
Your article (January 5) on cycling in Sheffield was encouraging. It is always good to see an article on the front page of a newspaper celebrating cycling.
However, I found the whole tone massively misleading.
Any increase in the number of cyclists in Sheffield must be despite the efforts of the Council rather than because of them.
The self-congratulatory tone of the article was misleading at best. Provision for cyclists in Sheffield is poor.
I cycle a 10-mile round trip across the centre of the city on most days. I have cycled in Sheffield for 30 years and I am knocked off my bicycle by a car or a truck about every 18 months. The last time, I had a hole in my hip that took two months to heal.
Cycling in Sheffield is potentially glorious because of the hills and ours must be one of the best cities in the world for a serious cyclist to get fit.
But the council provision for separating cyclists from dangerous traffic is flawed on almost every count.
As a cyclist, it feels as if the council has done the very barest minimum to comply with current regulation.
The provision of cycle lanes is minimal, cycle paths do not join up, the cycle lanes are too narrow in many places, there is almost no complete separation from motorised traffic, there is minimal provision on and around the tram route: bicycles and trams do not mix well.
There are almost no thought-out paths between major focal points in the city, such as hospitals and universities and most of journeys that I make leave me feeling that I have been in real danger on at least one occasion.
I am a doctor and the benefits of activity massively outweigh even these risks that I take every day.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of people die from the effects of inactivity for every cyclist injured on the roads.
However, it is at best sad and probably actually immoral that a city the size of ours has provided so little co-ordinated, joined up, well thought out cycling and walking paths.
There is an enormous potential for cycling and walking provision in Sheffield. The cost would be relatively small and the benefits massive.
We have the most glorious heritage in our proximity to Derbyshire.
This is a heavenly city for the active person. The countryside reaches into the city centre with fingers of green.
There have been massive investments by previous generations of wealthy Sheffielders and this could be extended with minimal effort to make a celebratory joined-up network of walking and cycling paths through the city and out into the Peak District.
This could sell the city far better than any retail or commercial initiative and at the same time be a real asset to real people.
Sheffield City Council should not be complacent and should involve active cyclists and walkers in improving the quality of present provision and extending it for the future.
From: Alan Moffatt
By e-mail
I should like to thank the Telegraph and Pedal Ready for highlighting the huge growth in cycling in the city, and for taking a stand against the hysteria and sloppy thinking that surrounds the issue of helmet wearing.
There are many ways in everyday life to trip or fall or otherwise sustain a head injury. Life presents its hazards from the moment you get out of bed. Why demonise cycling?
The helmet enthusiasts may on the other hand be thinking about the danger presented by other road traffic. In this case the issue is about far more than wearing a plastic lid. This month saw a community order given to a young driver who drove into a cyclist and killed them. A slap on the wrist for fatally bad driving.
Now that is a safety issue.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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Ian Brett Cooper
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 02:28 PMSorry - I had submitted my previous comment with paragraphs, but somehow they got lost in translation.
Ian Brett Cooper
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 02:27 PMDr. Jones, If you're being hit every 18 months, that is horrifying. Like many cyclists, you're probably cycling too far to the left. I did that too, for years, before I found a better - safer - way to ride. Cycling far to the left is unsafe. Although it seems like you're keeping out of the way of traffic, you are actually less visible and thus less safe. You will be better-off getting farther out into the road, so that you can be seen more easily, so that drivers are not tempted to overtake too closely and so that they don't accidentally turn into you. On a multi-lane roadway, cycling farther out into the lane also enables drivers to know early on as they approach that there is no safe room to pass within the lane - this gives them more time to change lanes and overtake safely. Cycling too far left is a very common contributor to cycling accidents - it's caused by fear of traffic. But fear of traffic is a danger in itself. Another issue is 'filtering' between lines of traffic or 'undertaking', as passing on the left is known. I know these practices are legal in the UK, but they are very dangerous. Drivers often cannot see filtering cyclists until a dangerous situation has developed. If you must filter or 'undertake', do thse things slowly. Personally, I never do these things - the risk is just too great and the need to get somewhere on time is not worth being injured or killed. An accident every 18 months is definitely not safe. You need to examine your cycling habits and look online for solutions. I've been cycling for 40 years and I've covered over 20,000 miles without a single injury, so something in my cycling philosophy must be right. Please, ride farther out into the lane - you can't keep bucking the odds forever. As for cycle facilities, please keep in mind that there are some things to watch out for when biking in a bike lane or on a path. Whenever there’s an intersection or driveway, many drivers pay attention to the middle of the road to look for a car approaching, but may not look to the edge where the bike lane is, and so may not notice a bicyclist entering the intersection or driveway. Also, if cars are backed up, someone turning through a gap in the traffic queue may not see an approaching bicyclist (or a pedestrian on the sidewalk at a driveway), since the driver is paying attention to the gap in cars but not yet to the space beyond. Finally, many bike lanes are striped in the 'door zone' of parked cars - motorists opening doors into the bike lane knock cyclists under the wheels of lorries every year, with horrific consequences. If a bike lane is in the door zone, simply avoid it by riding farther out into the traffic lane. Keep an eye out for these common causes of crashes, and you’ll be able to avoid them. For casual bicyclists, bike lanes and paths do provide an extra perception of safety that enables them to bike places they would not feel comfortable reaching without these facilities. Such facilities are essential in boosting the number of cyclists on the road and in making cyclists feel safe. However, experienced bicyclists often regard these improvements as unnecessary, since they (we, actually) have become comfortable driving our bikes in traffic, following the laws like anyone else on the road. It's very important that bike lanes be regarded as a tool to facilitate comfort on the road, and not as a permanent cycling solution. When cyclists become confident on the bike lane, they should graduate to the road. Bike paths are for learning road skills, but they do contain an element of risk that is reduced by cycling well into the travel lane as an integrated part of the traffic system. If you practice cycling well into the lane as an integrated part of the traffic community, you'll be safer and you will find that you no longer need the feeling of security that bike lanes offer. If you cycle in an integrated manner, motorists will respect you as a vehicle operator. Sure, a few will blare their horns because they do not understand the rules of the road and because they believe integrated cycling is dangerous, but you are far safer taking the full lane - cars have brakes and steering wheels and drivers do not want to hit you. Be visible - be safe - ride integrated!
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