Re: Bourke Street Bicycle Road

On May 12, 6:54 pm, Zebee Johnstone <zeb...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> In aus.bicycle on 12 May 2008 08:41:15 GMT
>
> Zebee Johnstone <zeb...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>http://cycledog.blogspot.com/2008/01/copenhagen-cycling-not-what-it-s...
>
> Looking at the full re****t, the biggie appears to be (as you would
> expect) how many vehicles turn across the bike lane.
>
> In the area studied, the construction of the cycle lane meant parking
> was removed from the main road, meaning people were now parking on the
> side roads - more turning traffic.
>
> It also seems that - again as you would expect - that if you mix bikes
> and cars at traffic lights, especially if the cars want to turn and
> the bikes want to go straight then that's bad news.  I'm not sure what
> a "shortened cycle track" is, but I think it's where the copenhagen
> lane finishes so the bikes are spat out into the road, and where that
> happened and there was no turn lane for cars, so cars and bikes mixed,
> then bike injuries increased even though actual crashes decreased.
>
> The injury rate at intersections with Copenhagen lanes increased 45%.
>
> Apparently what increased was right turning (in Oz, left turning)
> traffic hitting cyclists.  I suspect that's a sightline thing -
> drivers not turning their heads to look but relying on mirrors which
> are notorious for being badly adjusted and not good at seeing
> singletrack vehicles.  A driver turning from the far lane has more
> vision of the bike lane.
>
> The other big rise was bike on bike action.  Usually, it appears, from
> passing.  I can see that - anyone who rides on bike paths knows the
> Sunday rider is as bad as the Sunday driver for having poor lane
> discipline and poor awareness.
>
> However...
>
> "The construction of cycle tracks in Copenhagen has resulted in an
> increase in cycle traffic of 18-20% and a decline in car traffic of
> 9-10%. The cycle tracks constructed have resulted in increases in
> accidents and injuries of 9-10% on the reconstructed roads"
>
> Stats aren't my strong point, but doesn't that mean that the injury
> rate is half the expected increase?
>
> Zebee

That's a pretty stunning set of statistics there. I would be very
interested to know what kind of evidence base council is working from
in terms of claiming this kind of development would then be making the
roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians alike. Nobody so far has been
able to show me any kind of evidence that this type of development has
worked in the past but maybe I'm just not looking in the right places?

I am tempted to email the woman in charge of the project Fiona Lewis
and ask her about this but to be honest I really don't feel like being
brushed off again like all my other queries have been up to this
point.