New cycle infrastructure for olympics

I may have been harsh when talking about the disjointed - indeed non-existent - cycle infrastructure which will apparently whisk thousands to the games on their cycles.


One such facility was the excellent greenway which stops at one end in a mess of industrial estate roads and the other at the A11 where there is no crossing.


I spoke too soon. The Wick Lane end of the Greenway has been revamped and re-surfaced and up has sprung the new cycle infrastructure to aid cyclists on their way to the "green" olympics.

So there it is! What do you mean where? Right there. The little ASL. Underneath the stationary car. 

A very unpleasant incident

A pretty unpleasant incident happened in Stratford one way system the other day.

A driver took exception to me being in the bus lane (which is open to cars during road-works) and beeped and shouted - even though I was in stationary traffic. I tried to indicate for him to pass after the lights, but that got him even more worked up, so when the lights went green he basically drove at me and hit my arm as he past. He stopped and reversed, so I moved to a parking space where we exchanged abuse before he drove off.

Then it gets strange. I caught up with him within minutes of him driving off, and had a word. I kept it very polite and said his driving was a real problem. He actually apologised, which got me apologising (for what I don't know) before both of us went our ways. He seemed quite calm and reasonable, yet minutes earlier was forcing me off the road for no reason at all.

Driving like this makes a mockery of the advise about primary position and so on. There are some car drivers (and they aren't all of them by a long shot, but they are a significant number) who simply don't care and will decide to drive through no matter what.

For this reason I will be using a video camera when I cycle from now on. If I do get knocked off, I at least have evidence.

The incident isn't the first around the gyratory at the moment - I have seen other cyclists bullied as well. The problem is that the bus lane is open for cars during the road-works, but most don't realise this. Therefore a queue builds on the outside lane, and the bus lane is used by aggressive drivers who want to pass at any cost. Precisely the people who shouldn't be allowed to share road-space with cyclists (or anyone come to that). But Newham are a deeply cycle unfriendly council, for whom this sort of consideration to cyclists isn't worth it. Hence the complete lack of even basic cycle facilities on their appalling road system.

The incident made me the closest to given up cycling since I started using the bicycle again a few years ago. I won't give up, but think that it is a sad reflection on the state of our roads that I feel the need to record my journeys because of the dangerous driving that some seem to think is acceptable.

The imperfect art of vehicular cycling

Baker's arms last Saturday. Spot the cyclist? Yes, sandwiched between the bus and the stationary red car. Personally, I would overtake the red car to gain some space, but it is all a bit subjective - positioning where the motorcyclist is driving also holds dangers.


All countries require cyclists to cycle amongst vehicles to a greater or lesser extent. Holland and the Nordic countries may require less vehicular cycling due to cycling facilities, but there are still many roads where cyclists and motor transport mix together.


However, there seems to be something fundamentally different about the attitude surrounding vehicular cycling in these countries and the UK. In the UK, vehicular cycling is used as a method to control the motor traffic around the cyclist. I cannot help but think that it is deeply troubling when the most vulnerable road users are expected - by their actions - to control the actions of the least vulnerable. I think it would be quite jolly if the cyclist could concentrate on their cycling whilst the drivers concentrated on their driving. I would at least expect the courts and law-makers to believe that this should be the case.


Instead, one finds the strange situation where drivers - even ones that are found guilty of careless driving or worse - can mitigate based upon the clothing or helmet usage of the victim. It is certainly an odd precedent. One wonders if it could be extended to car drivers themselves. After all, when I drive, I don't use a car with a roll cage and 5 point harness - yet in the case of an accident, I doubt these deficiencies would be noted against me.


Learning how to safely navigate roads on a cycle is one thing. Expecting people to use these skills to mitigate some drivers' lack of training or sheer impatience is quite another. Whilst we are expecting these techniques to be required for safely cycling on mixed streets, then cycling is not going to appeal to a large number of potential cyclists.


The situation is difficult. Certainly segregation on fast, difficult roads (as long as this segregation actually helps the cyclist instead of simply sideline) can help. But the cyclist still needs to negotiate roads open to all traffic at some stage. Part of the answer is that drivers need to know how to act around cyclists, and to actually take responsibility for controlling a dangerous piece of equipment. This is much easier said than done, but whilst the establishment try to mitigate this responsibility by questioning the victim's attire, or taking the attitude that "accidents happen" (even when the guilty party is proven to have been acting carelessly or worse) then we stand no chance of changing this mindset.


Of course when I didn't cycle I had no idea about a cyclist's needs on the road when I drove. I had no idea what difficulties inconsiderate driving can pose to a cyclist. It wasn't until I started cycling that I understood and could modify my driving behaviour. Maybe giving people found guilty of driving offences the option of going on a bikeability course instead of taking points and a fine might help more drivers understand as well.

Leytonstone get the Waltham Forest Treatment

According to the Hubbub newsletter, Leytonstone High Road will be the latest area to become Walthamised . After the success of Alexandra Road, I imagine Waltham Forest is now getting in its stride and going after some large scale projects.


The newsletter optimistically thinks that it won't be as bad as the Wood Street makeover, since the High Street is wider. I do think that the author has unfairly under-estimated Waltham Forest's capabilities here. The small matter of whether there is a lot of space available is no barrier to implementing some really shoddy cycling provision, as Forest Road proves.


True to form, the plans (which are not available online from WF as far as I can see) seem to involve a lot of extra pavement parking for cars. Presumably vast amounts of money will be spent raising the tarmac by a couple inches as well since this is what Waltham Forest believe constitutes an improvement to the "streetscape".  

Mayor on the run

According to the ever excellent HubBub newsletter, Newham's Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, is stopping cycling campaigners from attending the next cabinet meeting, presumably because they may be less than happy with his "efforts" with regards to cycling. Apparently, this includes a group called the "Woodcraft Folk". Unaware of this organisation before reading the newsletter, I had images of angry hobbits picketing the council offices, but on closer investigation, they are a children's / young adult community group.


Newham's mayor appears to think that making cyclists face the misery that is the Stratford gyratory and A11 without any provision at all is acceptable, whilst facing some questions on said policy by some well meaning cycling campaigners - well that is simply too much.


I would like to suggest that any cycling questions would be better illustrated by the great and the good of Newham council responding to them whilst also trying to cycle the A11 from the Bow Flyover to the other side of the Stratford gyratory. I would provide a change of underwear to anyone completing the route. For extra bonus points they could attempt this road with their children, since they clearly think that this route is fine without modification to accommodate families attempting to cycle to the "green" olympics.

The Sixth Emergency Service?

Is BT now classed as an emergency service? I only ask because the driver of FE07 TXZ appeared to be in a desperate hurry along Upper Clapton Road. Maybe there was a telecomms emergency somewhere in East London. Maybe somewhere an internet hub was down and a facebook or twitter page was being left unattended.

Obviously it was something really important otherwise the driver wouldn't have passed me at speed with inches to spare. It was on a narrow piece of road where I try valiantly to stop idiotic passes by taking primary, but clearly I underestimated the idiocy of this driver.

I took this picture a couple of minutes later when he caught up with the back of the traffic light queue. So, I was glad my safety wasn't disregarded for nothing.

The Olympic Tower

This looks like the beginings of the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture which will be a major legacy structure after the Olympics have finished. It looks like it might be a quite extraordinary building. To pique your interest here are some fascinating facts about it


1) It will be 115m tall
2) It will cost £20M
3) It will have two observation towers
4) It will be constructed entirely from discarded TfL cycling strategy documents
5) The structure will not use bolts but will be held together by the collective disappointment of all those cyclists wanting to get to the games  who weren't expecting Newham Council to block CSH2 through their borough.


* It is possible that I may have made some of these facts up.