Edinburgh cyclists sue council for tramline injuries

Walked around Birmingham city centre yesterday for the first time since the new section of tramlines were opened. Birmingham have covered themselves by simply putting up "No cycling" signs along the bits of road where there are tram tracks! Including the bit where you exit New St. station to cross Stevenson Street or ride up Corporation street to access the rest of the town  centre, if you travel by train/bike!

I actually signed up to road.cc to make comment on this.
Im fortunate/unfortunate enough to ride over these tracks on either of the two routes i take to work crossing the city.
I would consider myself an experienced cyclist and commuter however even with that when having to dodge a pedestrian once and a truck a second time over the past year i have found one or both of my wheels in a track. thankfully I dont clip in for the commute and no crash happened on either instance.
most of the routes are going to take would never allow a cyclist to cross the tracks at a 90degree angle anyways. my route takes me over the west end of princes street onto lothian road southbound. id say its only a matter of time before a serious incident however they have already happened and will most likely continue.

This product exists:

http://www.strail.de/index.php?id=197&L=1

These would do a lot to reduce the danger of non-perpendicular crossings to two wheeled vehicles, animals and people walking with crutches. Perhaps Thompson Solicitors could argue that these collective safety devices should have been deployed.

Sadly the power of the HSE does not extend to the highway just yet.

^^Amsterdam - good picture shows the tram tracks in the centre of the road with separated bike lanes to the side of the tram tracks - any crossing of the tram tracks is at right angles.....

You guys in the UK always talk about having Dutch style bike paths, Mini Holland, etc.
Now someone actually puts down a nice Dutch challenge and guess what... still not good

https://www.google.nl/maps/@52.372711,4.892939,3a,90y,217.03h,81.52t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s-Ut6AqhY9v47jQh8YOcTRA!2e0

^^Generally road layouts for motorised vehicles are consistent and seem to be designed so that they can be negotiated quickly without having to weigh up any personal safety concerns.

An experienced cyclist familiar with the location may be able to cope with the poor tram track/cycle lane layout but not all cyclists are that experienced and not all will be familiar with the locality - I'd argue that the same design standard as used for motorised vehicles should apply: Can it easily be negotiated, on first sight, safely (and at the speed limit)?

I find it annoying that as a cyclist, cycle lane layouts/junctions are not consistent or easy to read, that is a general point. Have posted on the tram track issue before, used to live in north Sheffield and riding on sections of road with tram tracks I've had a couple of "that was too close" moments that I haven't forgotten and I'd count myself as an experienced urban cyclist. Currently living in Melbourne, with stacks of trams, some odd cycle infrastructure, a lot of absolutely fantastic stuff but no cycles lanes on tram routes that mix it up like the Edinburgh or Sheffield ones

Until I moved to Aberdeen last week for work I had been cycling over the offending piece of track every day whatever the weather and I have never had an issue. I have seen a few people hit the deck but these are people who I seem like they don't really have much idea on hoe to cycle in the city on roads, positioning themselves incorrectly on road at junctions and hugging the kerb. Yes there is an issue with the markings of the cycle lane but I think in Edinburgh you need to accept that the makings aren't enough and it is better to just cycle in the lanes.

I have actually seen a motorcycle go down on the tracks at the same location when he was stationary in traffic and then his rear wheel spun out on the tracks. The bike going down made a bit of a crunch!

I think that court action is a step to far though and I think if the cyclist went on a cycling provision course they would be a lot safe and would learn how to tackle the street furniture.

I'll feel marginally better about the trams if they get the bikes-on-trams trial up and running before I next want to get my boxed bike to the airport.

The trams are a total embarrassment, massively over budget, years late, ruined businesses along the route, and it stopped well short.

To add to the injuries of the cycle lanes crossing the tracks at too shallow an angle, the final insult is that I've never seen one more than 10% full.

I'm sure that Joeinpoole would say that these people are not 'riding to the conditions.'

Where there's blame there is a claim! All aboard the gravy train.

This happened to me early on before the trams were running. My wheel did not drop in between the tracks but actually slid along the top of the wet rail. Had to unclip and jump off the bike otherwise I would have hit the deck. All this happened with an LRT bus bearing down behind me. Only damage was a punctured rear tyre.

If tram tracks were causing motorists to crash and get injured im sure huge efforts would go into solving the problem.
The more time goes on the more i am convinced that most highway engineers in the UK actually dont really know what they are doing.

I'm really surprised that the council are considering fighting this. They have all but admitted they know there is a problem by running a campaign telling people how to cross the tracks "safely". The council will need to show that there is nothing else they can reasonably do to make the tracks safer, to a degree money is no object in these circumstances. My understanding is that rubber bungs can be added to help prevent wheels dropping into tracks. I really think they're on to a losser here.

Also thompson solicitors are no mugs, they wouldn't be taking this to court without a very good chance of winning.

I came off my road bike in Mulheim, Germany in almost exactly the same way as the guy in the video. I thought I had steered enough of an angle for my front wheel not be drawn into the groove. I was wrong and came off quite badly...deep cuts, large, ugly bruises and severely dented pride.

Here is the picture of the offending area. Its easy, as a cyclist to see the issue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-30951833

As it became clear what a problem the Haymarket area was, I seem to recall someone setting up a camera for a day, knowing full well that it would capture such an incident. Part of the campaign to highlight the issue.

Funny how that camera was there at the right time.

Nothing a few hundred "Cyclists Dismount" signs wouldn't solve.

Good stuff. Hopefully we can follow suit in Manchester.