Bikeuser shared blog

I’ve been tracking the local news lately, and one of the things I notice is that most days there is news of at least one traffic accident, and sometimes more. Often these are collisions involving cars and lorries on the motorways. Sometimes they involve motorbikes on the Botley Road. Occasionally—one recently—they involve cyclists.

Of course, the motorways carry huge volumes of traffic, while cyclists are relatively few. Cyclists travel in town, where speeds are low and cars can stop quickly if something unexpected happens. It’s no wonder really that by the day, more serious accidents happen involving motor vehicles on the motorway than involving cyclists in the town, although I imagine that not all accidents are reported by the Daily Echo.

Cyclists typically feel very vulnerable, I think, and it’s one of the offputting things about cycling for many people, especially cycling out of town. New York City’s “streetsblog” used to run weekly carnage articles, rounding up deaths and injuries in the area each week—with the purpose of (among other things) emphasizing the relative accident rates in and out of cars, I believe.

At the cycle forum, John Waugh picks up on the use of the word “accident”. The correct term nowadays is “collision”. “Accident” explicitly doesn’t impute blame. Hey, it was an accident. “Collision” is agnostic on the subject. It’s a fine point.

Point? I didn’t have a point. The People’s Millions is airing information about the four projects on TV this week, with a recap on Friday, when voting opens. Voting closes on Monday, which is coincidentally when the lights go out on Lovers’ Walk. I cycled down there about 7pm last night and it didn’t feel especially dark or spooky (I have noticed Southampton often feels light at night when it’s cloudy) and there were several other cyclists and pedestrians along the path. I wonder if just turning them off after, say, 10pm would have been a better option? (Although you really wouldn’t want to be walking along there at 10pm and suddenly have the lights go out on you).

Here’s a cartoon illustrating the future when cars run on biofuels, because I liked it:

From the steps up from Chamberlain Road
The Council, through the Common Management, are proposing to switch off the lights along the length of the Lover’s Lane path in the NE corner of the common from 10th December until March 2008 as a ‘pilot’ scheme for increasing users’ security. They already intend to remove (the few) lamps along the stretch of gravel footpath behind houses on Burgess Rd where this approach has already “been very successful”. But this is an entirely misleading comparison to use to back their contention that simply deterring pedestrians and cyclists from using the path will prevent attacks and muggings after dark. It might well, if no-one uses it, but if they do venture along there will be the additional hazards of slipping off the steep edges or colliding with unseen pedestrians to contend with in the darkness! They seem to have completely overlooked the fact it will not only greatly inconvenience people but more seriously, cyclists will be forced to resort to alternative local very busy roads where they will be exposed to far greater danger than the risk of a rare attack on the path—only two attacks have happened on this path in a year. They have, by their own admission, not consulted cyclists or cycling organisations but have since apologised for this. The minimum we have come to expect is notice of such proposals through the Cycle Forum or the Cycling Officer and at least a decent period of consultation, not just two weeks. Lindsi will be requesting that cyclists are represented on the Common Safety and Security group in the future.
Please read their case [pdf] ([word doc]) and if you are concerned to give an opinion please either contact Lin Hand (in charge of Common management) direct on T: 023 8067 1921 or email : lin.hand@southampton.gov.uk or the Campaign through Lindsi or come to the next Southampton Cycling Campaign meeting on Monday 10th December to express your views so that we may formulate or response as a body.
It is also important to copy in or contact Dale Bostock (Dale.Bostock@southampton.gov.uk) or Peter Brunskill (Pete.Brunskill@southampton.gov.uk) about this too as they are very concerned about this as they were not consulted either! You can also contact or write to the Cabinet Member for Housing and Neighbourhoods Councillor Philip Williams (e: councillor.p.williams@southampton.gov.uk) who is responsible for the Open Spaces section which is in charge of the Common Management Unit.

[Files: loverswalk.pdf loverswalk.doc]

Online voting is now open for the people’s millions. Of the four projects, only one would affect communities right across the UK; the Sustrans Connect2 project, which would divide the funding among 79 projects from Scotland to Southampton which aim to improve walking and cycling connections between local communities. One of these projects is to build a footpath along the Itchen parallel to the Empress Road Industrial Estate - read more about it from the Daily Echo article. Please do go and cast a vote!

Did you know about the Southampton Cycling Campaign?

It exists to try and give Southampton Cyclists a voice. It interacts regularly with the Council cycling officer. Its stated aim is “to improve the lot of cyclists in and around Southampton for reasons of health, environment, economy, convenience and pleasure.” although we’re working on some new aims with shiny bullet points.

Aye. I said “we”. You’re represented on it. Aren’t you the lucky ones.

It meets at the Friends Meeting House once a month, on the second Monday of the month. If you can’t work out which Monday that is, there’s a handy events list on their website. Opinionated cyclists turn up between 19:30 and 20:00 (often arriving late) and are marshalled indirectly through some kind of agenda by the chairman until the meeting house warden kicks ‘em out at 10pm. Tea and biscuits are provided. Membership costs less than a decent set of lights, but you don’t have to be a member to show up and get listened to. You just have to be the loudest.

If you want something pushing at the cycle campaign,
let me know,
let Lindsi the chairman know,
or turn up!

intriguing. Apparently the “new” transport manager left already.

Oybikes!
However, the oybikes now have an article on the unilink site (which links to the business&community service page). Huzzah huzzah, both that there is some information available, and that the unilink site finally has some non-bus information.

Cycle scheme
And, finally, the new cycle 2 work scheme has opened, and has an article in the latest bulletin (October 22 2007). If you are a taxpayer and want a bike in the next month, visit http://www.resource1.soton.ac.uk/hr/working/pay/taxfree/bike.html for details and signup information (you will need your SUSSED/ISS login). Apply between 1st and 30 November 07

Dark here. A couple of geeks attacked my dynamos for an hour or so last night and now I have illumination. Maybe not legal (no standlight) but safe, I think. The front one is superbright, part of the back one is dead, not sure why. Bike’s been through a lot lately though as I’ve been away. It got dragged up to Scotland where it suffered the indignity of spending a night under a wheelbarrow, and then instead of being pampered to make up for this, it spent three nights alone in a peat bog. The deer were a bit bemused. I fetched it down eventually and before it had come out of its sulk it was thrown onto a plane with no air in its tyres, and then, still mostly flat (I never did get the hang of those gas station pumps), dragged all round Orlando. It put up with it for a few days, and then an inner tube went *bang* at a curb (tip, kids, keep your tyres inflated, or you’ll get punctures). Then it got flung back on a plane and tipped out into the cold morning air of Surrey in October. So maybe it’s no wonder one little LED isn’t working any more really.

Anyway, we’re back in Southampton, and it’s full of freshers (oh my. Look at that enthusiasm), and it’s dark at night, and my lights are functioning, at least for the moment. Anyone used an OyBike yet? They’re still sitting there… waiting… waiting…

Here’s an idea. I tried it when I moved in and was trying to get to know Southampton. Sign up to freecycle. It’s almost impossible to claim the things you really want, like sewing machines and working laptops, but claim some small fun things - golf balls and Christmas tree lights - that are in parts of town you haven’t visited yet, and bike over to fetch them. Good way to see more bits of Southampton. Really. Just get your lights working first.

Flashing or static?

Southampton Cycling Forum again last night. Same bewildering crowd of cyclists all talking at once, this time over in the Ordnance Survey building with amazing wheeled chairs, and a good selection of free biscuits. My first opportunity to use my new pink notebook.

First, a talk from a Sustrans dude about the connect2 project; he said get blogging but given voting for it isn’t till December that can wait really.

Then, a talk from Angela Gill of Portsmouth about the 20mph limits that they’re covering the residential areas of the city with. Where the traffic is already not exceeding an average of 24mph, you can whack a 20 limit sign up. Everyone is vocally keen to have these put in. I don’t really get it. Councillor Gavin Dick is the dude whose mailbag you want to be in to push for or against the things. I should go and visit Portsmouth one day; crazy I’ve never been.

Time went and ran out, as it always does. The final item on the agenda was to discuss changing the format of the Cycle Forum. The cyclists were worried their opinions would be pushed out in favour of a more formal forum with a genuine police presence. Perhaps we should take along a fake police presence next time … Individuals, of course, can keep bothering the council about what they want to see on the roads. They’ll get themselves out on the streets and have a look at your proposals and if they can find the money might even implement them.

I got a lift home, the Brompton tucked in the back of the little Renault between me and Lindsi…

Next stop is 27 October, a Saturday morning ride, 9am at the Civic Centre, to discuss cycle facilities in the St Denys and Bitterne Park area, and have a look at the planned route from Horseshoe Bridge to Jamie’s Computers (the one that will go ahead much faster if the connect2 project wins “The People’s Millions” in December… ). All welcome.

It’s the same deal people, it’s always the same deal. The council wants to spend its cycling budget where it’ll benefit cyclists most (well, the more happy cyclists, the more likely they are to vote for them, right?). It has to judge this based on the opinions of the half-dozen people who noisily bother the cycling officer once a week. The university is in the same situation. Give them feedback people.

So, who’s tried the oybikes that have appeared? I’ve seen them outside VistaB32 (Highfield), but they’re listed as being at various other locations about the place: Archers Road, Avenue Campus, Chamberlain, Glen Eyre, Wessex Lane halls.

I went to the Southampton Cycle Campaign meeting the other night. Think about the kind of people that might get off their bums and go to cycle campaign meetings. Yes that’s right, people with opinions about cycling. Quite varied opinions. I don’t envy the chairwoman. Anyway people discussed cycle paths, and some future events that might be fun, and swapped hats from the Tour of Britain that came through Southampton on Monday.

I got lost in Romsey at the weekend. Romsey has a network of cycle paths. I followed one along a river and popped up by the station, and then I followed another one to Mountbatten School.

• Yes, the university supports cycle2work
• BUT, in short “openings” (a month at a time): last one March, next one anticipated October. Look out for more in the bulletin or contact HR to request information.
• AND, through Halfords, controversially. Halfords will buy any bike for the scheme.
• The scheme is run by Human Resources contact HR for more information and to express your opinions.

I was ringing at Bishopstoke the other week ~ just after that burning Jeep was driven into Glasgow airport. Remember that? It’s been forgotten in the excitement of the flooding. I was suddenly attacked by hunger, not the stomach rumbling stuff, but the sudden knockout feeling of low energy. I stopped wearily at a garage in Eastleigh, but couldn’t quite bring myself to buy anything. At Southampton Airport Parkway, I pulled in to the station, but the hall was closed and there aren’t any outdoor snack machines. I shouldered my bike, crossed the bridge and headed to Southampton Airport Departures. As I walked over the last zebra crossing in front of the entrance the door, security approached me. Was I planning to try and leave that - the bike - out here? I smiled, and explained that actually I was just looking for a source of chocolate. Security told me there was a WHSmith inside. What I should do, he said, is take the bike in with me. “After what happened on Saturday”. I nodded. My sense of time is a bit scrambled at the moment, but I knew we were all on terror alert. Because “this kind of bike” - they were actually used in bombs a few years back, he told me. The tubes all filled with nails and so on. I hope I made the right noises. He was between me and that chocolate. “So they’re being treated as as much of a security risk as cars, you see”. He pointed out the WHSmith and I pushed my bike down to it. Moments later I was back outside, sitting on a handy concrete wall and eating my Snickers Duo (2-for-£1). He came back to ask if I’m often at the airport. Not really. Well, when I am, there’s a bike shed in the short-stay car park opposite departures. I thanked him. I didn’t know that. Did you know that? I wonder if it’s a secure bike shed. How many people cycle to departures anyway? Would it be useful for people concerned about leaving bikes at the station?

some recent searches that have found this site:

shirley high street charity shops blog
legally run red traffic light (you can’t, okay! http://stopatred.org)
halfords shares phone number
east london street names ending in lane (try google maps)
cycling on motorways (don’t do it.)
find puncture without water (blow lots of air into it, listen, feel. spit! I almost never use water.)
cycling development officer southampton
BHF london to brighton accident stats
cycle2work not cycling to work (why not?)
why does my bike tyre always puncture? (wish I could help…)
bromptons back tyre puncture (kind of like any back tyre puncture.)

and lots of cycle2work and cyclescheme, lots of naked cyclists, naked bike ride, etc, southampton cycle paths, and so on.

Cycle lanes: love ‘em or hate ‘em?

There’s that cycle lane that goes over the railway bridge at Southampton Airport. Cycle up the bridge in the cycle lane, and then it suddenly vanishes, just as you reach the top where there’s a tight blind corner. If you’re /in/ the cycle lane, it clearly isn’t safe to just keep going if there’s traffic that’s charging up the hill at going-past-bike-speed (since you’re in the cycle lane and not in the way), so you kind of have to pause (on an uphill!) and wait for a gap to tuck into. Personally, I swing off the mini-roundabout at the bottom in the middle of the lane, and keep out of the cycle lane, especially towards the top. But it’s uphill, so I’m not going that fast, and I’m pissing off the cars behind who could perfectly well pass me if I tucked into the lane.
There’s a lane at the end of Waterloo Bridge that disappears like that, too.
There was some debate at the cycle campaign about lanes going through islands, when there just isn’t room for bikes and cars; safer to keep them or leave them?

The cycle lane they put in on the bridge just below the Itchen Bridge, on the other hand, I love. I used to stick there if I went home at rush hour, queuing with the traffic, and with the new lane I can just slip past it all up to the roundabout and onto the bridge.

Cycle lanes that go through the “dooring” region of parked cars? A friend of mine recently broke her arm when a car door opened unexpectedly as she approached. But keeping out, I have this sense of being nudged inwards by passing cars. Cycle lanes filled with parked cars? (here’s a website of them). My pet hate is cycle lanes filled with pedestrians. Unsegregated, fine, although a bit of awareness that there might be bikes about would be nice. You don’t need to jump right out of your skin when I toot my horn. But those nice green strips on the pavement? No, they aren’t fake grass for you to walk on. Leave ‘em alone. Grrrr.

The analogies that were coming up during the Highway Code petitioning were along the lines of comparing bike lanes with small country routes, and big roads with fast motorways; many drivers, especially new and timid drivers, don’t like motorways, but oh yes, they are faster. And sometimes the country lanes can be more dangerous, with blind corners and hedges pinning you in…

… from mine to Southampton Airport (Parkway), the direct route is Thomas Lewis Way, A335. Straight and flat. Full of whizzy cars. When I’m rushing for a train, I take that, and it takes me five minutes. When I’m coming home, in the dark, I take the slower parallel route down Wide Lane and Portswood Road ~ it’s not bike lanes, but it’s definitely slower. And feels safer.

There’s a wonderful cycle path down the river near Lincoln that makes the third side of a triangle, cutting off a much longer boring route. There’s another on the other side of the river that makes two sides of a triangle, giving you as alternatives a whizzy dual carriageway (straight, flat), or a rather longer (but still flat) cycle route. I found another splendid one running along a dyke parallel to one of those roads that gets packed with traffic but isn’t wide enough to edge past easily. These are great. Bring ‘em on. I enjoy the route from Cobden Bridge down the Itchen; why isn’t the second half of it official cycle path? But it’s a little too crowded with dog walkers for my preference. I’d like to see more cycle contra-flows on one-way streets.

The flip side, lines painted on roads where there isn’t really room, where the lanes are filled with parked cars, where the lanes are too narrow, where the lanes disappear unexpectedly, painted on pavements where they are crowded with pedestrians (tried to go up the Avenue in a hurry?), painted around the edge of roundabouts, those I will continue to ignore.

An alternative to bike lanes: these things called sharrows which are appearing in parts of America, a kind of explicit “share the lane” marking with a picture of a bike and a couple of chevrons on the road. Mixed opinions, I guess. Possibly something like that would be an alternative in places like the Airport Parkway bridge?