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news
TfGM - Bolton Trinity Street_Newport St CYCLOPS'Cyclops' junction to be introduced in Manchester is 'genius' says Chris Boardman
A new approach to junction design that will become a key feature of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network has been described as ‘genius’ by the region’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner, Chris Boardman. The Cycle Optimised Protected Signals design (Cyclops) is said to be safer for cyclists and pedestrians while being optimised all modes of transport.
The principle feature of a Cyclops junction is an orbital cycle route that separates cyclists from motor traffic. This reduces the possibility of collisions and conflicts – ‘left hooks’ in particular.
It basically amounts to a roundabout-style cycle track that encircles the junction with traffic signals controlling the movement of pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles.
Cyclists can make fully protected two-phase right turns and filter left onto and off the orbital route without signal control.
People on foot are said to be able to get where they want to be in fewer stages and with more space to wait than in other junction designs. There’s also potential for diagonal pedestrian crossings.
The designers say the concept allows all types of junction arrangements to be incorporated within the external orbital cycle system.
Transport for Greater Manchester said that the first locations where a Cyclops junction will be installed would likely be Bolton and Hulme.
Several other UK cities, including Cambridge and Aberdeen, are also working on plans based on the Cyclops design template.
“Junctions are where most collisions occur and can be a scary experience for people travelling without cars,” said Boardman. “If people are faced with one or more of these stressful experiences on a journey, in many cases they simply opt to jump in the car, so tackling this is a top priority.
“Our traffic engineers have come up with a world-leading junction design that will be introduced in towns and cities not only across the UK but abroad too.
“The Cyclops approach makes foot and bike travel far safer and more direct without disrupting other modes. It is frankly genius and we’ll soon be wondering why we ever did anything else. I can’t wait to see the first one installed in Greater Manchester.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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74 comments
Cornford, are you saying that the only way that you can drive below the legal speed limit is by fixing your gaze on your speedometer?
Really?
How do you manage to see the posted limit without being able to see the signs that tell you what it possibly could be?
Burt, a few "camera enforced signals" and a couple of boxes that could resemble cameras and compliance rises massively.
And a little bit of fresh complexity may make some drivers pay a little more attention, or at least look up from their "distractions" for a few more seconds.
If if works like the Dutch example in this vid, then it will be brilliant, but I think it is going to take some serious police presence for the first few weeks to get the drivers to behave.
https://www.facebook.com/dutchcyclingembassy/videos/1030074563829579/?t=47
The thing about this junction looking "complicated" is that it has several separate decision points, some of them give way lines and some of them signals (lights). But at each point you only have to make one decision, because the traffic you are joining is only coming from one direction. Compare this to a crossroads or T-junction, where you have to check traffic from several directions simultaneously. And even that is not a problem for most people at cycle-speed (though might be for children) but when things speed up, it all gets more difficult.
Unfortunately it wouldn't work around here as a number of drivers simply ignore red lights at junctions and crossings.
This is not heresay, but something I see on a regular basis, on foot and on my bike. There are just no Police around here and no Police station in the town where I live at all.
The nearest Police station is a few miles away, in the library.
It is slowly descending into anarchy on the roads because drivers know there is very little chance of being caught.
I don't know where all of the new Boris Bobby's will go, maybe they can sit in the bus shelter?
Will fellow roadcc forum members make sure xena never gets a gun licence. I want to be able to sleep at night.
Is he skateboading?
Though does it really matter, he's using a street in the way he wants without the danger of being hit by a massive, polluting motor vehicle.
To me the guy in the picture looks like someone who's about to be run over by a bunch of cyclists (but could also be a trick of optics if the pic was taken with a large telephoto lens). From the air the crossroads concept looks complicated, I think it would be simpler on the ground, just like a roundabout.
The Dutch have solved their problem by providing for largely separate cycling infrastructure wherever possible AND (and this is the part most people miss) by enforcing strict fines on persons who don't follow the rules, be they cyclists or car drivers. Try riding on the road in the Netherlands if there's a separate cycle path (the use of which can be made mandatory over there, just like in Belgium). If a cop sees you that'll be 100 Euro, please. Wonder if that aspect of the superior Dutch system will find many fans here. Hate to be cursing in church but the problem are not only the car drivers, I see just as much dangerous behaviour from cyclists.
If you are going to lie at least try to make them vaguely plausible.
Not lying, get your libellous arse and a bike over here and I'll show you. Of course, we have actual rules and codified laws here, I get the impression that in the UK it's the far west.
the complexity and the confusion of this kind of setup is that you will have to anticipate and predict the movement of multiple moving objects across multiple conflict points in front of you,beside you and even behind you,it effectively becomes a grid that square roots in the number of things your brain has to consider.
and whilst software like in the Apollo missions Lunar Lander can raise a 1202 alarm that its processing too much data and is prioritising only the most important data, your brain will go generally go ugh when its overloaded...followed by an urgent request to process the intense pain of the collision that you failed to account for.
You don't have to process lots of information.
It's a roundabout.
You give way to your right when you enter the roundabout, you obey any traffic lights on the roundabout and you exit the roundabout by turning left.
Just like every other roundabout.
the only roundabout this looks like to me, is one of those magic roundabouts, that generally have a poor accident record because people just get confused using them, and on those they only have to just give way to the right to make it round safely, here youve got to give way to the right & left potentially for pedestrians, look both left and right crossing roads and be aware of what the other cyclists around you might be doing.
You really don't.
It's a normal roundabout with traffic lights. So when your light is green you check it's clear and go.
That should be absolutely second nature to anybody that's spent any time driving or cycling.
The cycle path is entirely segregated from motor traffic so you've only got to deal with other cyclists and pedestrians which, again, should be second nature for anyone that's spent any time cycling in cities.
3 Points.
a) No need to swear.
b)No need for politics.
If they are important please use them in the proper place, not somewhere where children may be present. Or adults for that matter.
c) Looks like a whopping roundabout. Is it really thought that the irresponsible element of cyclists are going to go all the way round? Somewhat hopeful that.
In order:
a) Sometimes swearing is the only rational response to the crass incompetence and idiocy inflicted on us
b) Politics influences everything about cycling, from the law and its application, the guidance issued to the funding it is denied
c) Yes.
(a) it's up to the website owners if they tolerate swearing or not, and 'need' has nothing to do with it - there's no 'need' to post anything here at all. I take it you are one of those 'snowflakes' they have nowadays?
(b) There's always need for politics. The topic is intrinsically political. Your post here is itelf political, which makes you a hypocrite.
(c) What are you on about? "irresponsible element of cyclists"? I'm far more concerned about the irresponsible element of motorists, those are the ones who kill people. I reserve judgement on the roundabout.
It would be better spending the money on policing the motorists and cyclists who fail to use the roads correctly.
My biggest issue with these well meaning schemes is that they actually reinforce the beliefs of many motorists that bicycles don’t belong on the same infrastructure as cars and that roads are not meant for us. The biggest challenge for British cyclists is the attitude of car drivers. I’m not at all convinced that infrastructure can change those attitudes - they actually reinforce them. If motorists continue to run red lights, like I see them do every day, at every junction in central London, then there will be carnage at these “cyclops” junctions as they actually place the cyclist in a more dangerous position relative to the car where they will be hit square on, at speed. I much prefer solutions like the one suggested above with speed limits through junctions, with camera enforcement, as that actually starts to educate and change behaviour. It’s not clear to me why every single traffic light isn’t equipped with a camera.
I notice a lot of people talking about the apparent complexity of the layout as if that by itself proves that it cannot be good design. From a software engineering perspective, I'd say that doesn't matter. Computer software is complex, but the end user doesn't have to know or care about that; all that matters is that the designer provides a protocol by which the software can be used, and that said protocol is comprehensible and functional. Unless I have misunderstood the article, the protocol here is to follow your marked route while obeying signals and giving way at any pedestrian crossings. If that is the case, then I see no issue there.
If I were to state a concern, it would be timing of the lights. Some crossings respond within 1-5 seconds of being pressed. Others have you wait for a natural light change, prioritizing the convenience of cars and making it faster to use the road (for which you'll be abused.) That's probably why Dutch infrastructure isn't being used here.
People aren't computers or software, and it is a maxim of road design that complexity increases risk. In this case, the user experiences that complexity and has to make complicated judgements in a short time. A software user doesn't see any of the complexity behind their computer use and doesn't have to make complex decisions in limited time. Your analogy is false.
I'm not sure why there's so much confusion.
It is just a separate traffic light controlled roundabout for cyclists.
That's it.
Seems like a really good idea for cyclists who aren't confident at junctions.
but it doesnt feel right to claim something is a genius idea, if it doesnt seem that easy to understand how it works on paper, let alone trying to navigate it on the move at 10-12mph in all weathers/times of day and trying to maintain an idea of all the hazards like where the cars/trucks/buses are going to fit in, where other riders are and then sprinkling a bunch of pedestrians into the mix. the case study even shows a junction where cyclists will be riding both ways only avoiding each other by obeying various give way lines.
it feels alot like the current approach many councils take to treating cyclists as just pedestrians with wheels, except with a bit more green paint chucked in.
I dont understand really why if the Dutch have surely solved this kind of problem with their infra, we arent just copying them,why try to invent something new?
This does look remarkably like what the Dutch do with their roundabouts.
this isnt a roundabout though...
It is on the outside! Or will be when (if) this is built. I guess that once you have introduced fully separated carriageways for cycles and motors, they don't really have to follow the same type of junction.
Look at just the cycle lane.
It's a traffic light controlled roundabout.
Anyone who has cycled or driven on UK roads will be completely familiar with the layout and the rules concerning its use.
It isn't a roundabout. It isn't round. It's a wibbleabout.
I'm just not sure I want to be made to cycle that close to the front of the Royal Oak.
Hush now sweetie, the karaoke and clientele is legendary.
I live about 5 minutes from the 4 banks junction (2nd photo) in Chorlton, and it does look like a bit of a mess. There's no left hook problem at that junction in my experience, and it seems to promote the possibilties of pedestrian / cyclist collision (a la the Oxford / Wilmslow Road ballsup) and shouty beepy people from Gorton telling me to stay in the cycle lane if I'm going straight on or turning right.
Only benefit I can see is making it easier for right turns for newer riders, and that depends a lot of the traffic light timings. Better to spend the money on improving the roads and bike training for inexperienced riders imo.
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