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news
Stevenage, pic by Robin Hall.jpgCyclists likely to be banned from Stevenage town centre
Stevenage Borough Council is planning to ban cyclists from pedestrianised areas of its town centre, reports the BBC.
Jim Brown from the Cyclists' Touring Club in Stevenage and North Hertfordshire told the organisation he was 'slightly mystified' by the order which he believes is designed to prevent people cycling in a place where they should not be cycling anyway.
"The strange thing is that Stevenage is supposed to be supporting cycling and has had a cycleway network since the 1950s, but we seem to have ended up with a situation where you can get closer to the shops by car than you can by bike," he said.
However, Labour councillor in the town, John Gardner, maintained that it was only 'popular belief' that cycling was currently prohibited throughout the town centre.
"Actually under the traffic regulations, not all of [it] was covered so this regularises the position throughout," he said.
"The majority of cyclists in Stevenage do not cycle in the town centre. It is only a small number of people who make life very, very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous for both the young and the elderly and maybe even the able-bodied on occasions."
He told the BBC that Stevenage remained bike friendly. The banning proposal is currently out for consultation with local retailers but is likely to be enforced in April.
Latest Comments
- Simon E 6 sec ago
Did Santa subcontract some of his deliveries to pricks in BMWs?...
- E6toSE3 10 hours 17 min ago
I've posted before about being 69, lifelong cyclist as my main transport, much of it in, through, under, over London and how it's bicycles that...
- check12 12 hours 59 min ago
200 people out of a close by population of how many? Just build it and stop being a wuss
- Spangly Shiny 14 hours 32 min ago
To paraphrase Field of Dreams, "Build it right and they will come: and use it!"
- Rendel Harris 16 hours 53 min ago
And a Happy Christmas to you, road.cc staff!
- Rendel Harris 17 hours 41 min ago
The odds of not being able to find a single pedestrian - just one, note, "any pedestrian" - in an area containing more than about ten of them who...
- bikeman01 19 hours 20 min ago
I love how wannabe racer reviewers talk about fork flex under braking like their tyres are made of glue. I find traction gives long before fork flex.
- hawkinspeter 20 hours 27 min ago
They don't make them like they used to
- LongitudeLatitude 21 hours 18 min ago
Thanks for using my picture of chocolate in your opening picture. The original can be found here, chocolate! | LongitudeLatitude | Flickr.
- lesterama 21 hours 45 min ago
Fair comments. I'll put my hands up and say I got the wrong end of the stick with this one. ¡Feliz navidad! Here's a pic for the season of goodwill.
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6 comments
The variety of 'Popular Belief' is a clear indication that few people actually know for sure if council proposals have been introduced or is still in discussion. I was once shouted at by an angry pedestrian who's dog ran in front of me, saying that: 'There's a sign over there clearly stating No cycling!' When I got 'the sign' it said nothing about cycling, however, it stated all dogs must be on leads... Perhaps people just like to use 'popular belief' to back their opinion.
There are various examples of 'Pedestrian Priority' on the CycleStreets Photomap:
http://www.cyclestreets.net/location/16515,22338,25909,14992/
If cycling is not banned in a place like Cambridge, where there are masses of cyclists, and sharing the space works acceptably, why ban it in Stevenage?
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/70/article3.html
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/campaigning/issues/cyclingban/
"The majority of cyclists in Stevenage do not cycle in the town centre. It is only a small number of people who make life very, very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous for both the young and the elderly and maybe even the able-bodied on occasions."
Exactly the same could be said of cycling on the roads of Stevenage. The town was badly planned so that all types of road use has been vigorously segregated. As a result drivers and cyclists seem to be very uncertain about how to behave around each other. There have been several times when I have cycled through town on stretches of road where there are no cycle tracks or the cycle tracks are useless to me and find myself coming into conflict with drivers who just don't know how to deal with a cyclist because they so rarely see them.
Truth be told, Stevenage is a bit of a dump and there's one less reason to go now.
Only joking, errr, sort of!
Same situation in many towns. Developers even put cycling parking in places where councils say you shouldn't cycle. They'd be crucified for putting car parks in places you can't drive to, so why not for bike parking?
The solution is to do what has now been done for the Thames (Cycling and Walking) Path at Southwark and has been signposted at Pitlochry for over a decade. Sadly the UK TSRGD manual fails to deliver an official wording or pictogram but the Hong Kong Signs Manual (originally from same sources) does deliver signs and management regimes for Pedestrian Priority over all wheeled traffic.
This is a simple sign and the Highways Act 1835 with the usual well considered thoroughness of the time delivered s.71, where a user of a carriage (the bicycle was defined as a carriage in the late 1800's followed by the motor car in the early 1900's) could be prosecuted for riding or driving furiously - generally to the alarm and discomfort of the pedestrian traffic.
We desperately need an officially recognised sign and regime to deliver Pedestrian Priority on shared routes (Southwark) in public spaces (Stevenage) and in large car parks. Any MP's looking for an idea for their private member's bill allocation? Any local council care to develop the pilot as a by-law? Any supermarket or multi storey parking operator, or airport consider introducing this regime on a private site?