Antwerp’s streets are too narrow for motorists to leave a safe passing distance when they are overtaking cyclists, so they shouldn’t be allowed to do so, argue campaigners in the Belgian city.
The Brussels Times reports that Belgian traffic regulations dictate that drivers must leave a one-metre gap between their car and any cyclist they are overtaking.
According to a study by the Cyclists’ Union (Fietsersbond), this is impossible on many streets in Antwerp.
“If that metre is not respected, it can lead to dangerous situations, especially in an urban environment with many parking lanes,” said Maarten Vrebos of the group.
The Cyclists’ Union therefore argues that overtaking should be completely banned on such streets.
“It should not be necessary to entirely change the setup of the street, with markings and traffic signs in order to enforce a ban on overtaking,” said Vrebos.
In July, Hertfordshire council said that it wouldn’t reinstate cycle lanes on a road it had just resurfaced because the narrowness of the carriageway would put cyclists in danger if the lanes were in place.
“Following a safety review, we won't be replacing the cycle lanes in North Road, Hertford after the recent resurfacing,” it said.
“Our safety engineers found the narrow cycle lanes were doing more harm than good, by encouraging drivers to pass too close to cyclists.”
The council’s view was supported by an Australian study carried out in April which found that passing events that occurred on a road with a painted bike lane or a parked car had an average passing distance 40cm less than on a road without a bike lane or parked car.
I bought my first MTB at Brixton Cycles decades ago and it's still in use as my hack. I've also bought bikes from there for my sons. I've had...
"Pleading for leniency, the barrister had asked the court to treat it as an aberration by a young woman" She's 34 FFS!
So what you're saying is the "baseline" would move from "lit up like a Christmas tree" to "like a chameleon at a rave" * ... and it would have...
Thank you for asking Aidan, much appreciated....
And I liked endura too. Got a nice long sleeve mostly merino long sleeve a little while back, in orange.
No, the Ebay lights have been around for several years, this Lezyne light just appeared.
They shouldn't worry - the second part of the "tariff" refrain is "they can make it in US and they'll do very well".
"At the going down of the sun, it will get in our eyes and cause us to crash into things."
Indeed - but again these are perhaps questions we should keep asking. Even if the immediate answer is "well we are where we are" or "how on earth...