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Millions of new money for cycling infrastructure in Manchester could make roads LESS safe, warns cycle club

Manchester's track record at 'cycling improvements' not great - and we need more driver education says club leader...

£214 million of new money for cycle networks, much of it earmarked for Manchester, could make the city less safe for cyclists, the city’s largest cycling club has claimed.

The funding, announced this week by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, will be split between eight cities over the next three years, and should be used to develop cycle infrastructure and address traffic and collision hotspots.

But Ian Whittell, of Manchester Wheelers’ Club has told Mancunian Matters that the city does not have a good track record when it comes to spending money on decent infrastructure.

He said: “Manchester, like most British cities, has had numerous examples of so-called ‘cycling-friendly traffic measures’ that actually create more danger for cyclists than had previously been the case.

“Our hope is that instead authorities listen to the advice of active members of the cycling community in developing their ‘Strategic Road Network’.”

Mr Clegg said as he rolled out the funding: “I’m committed to helping our dream of becoming a cycling nation, similar to places like Denmark and the Netherlands, become a reality.

“In government, we’re putting the money down. Now we need the public and local authorities to jump on their bikes and get us to the finish line.”

Mr Whittell added:  “We are pleased to see Manchester on the list of cities in the plan.

“For too long cycling has been neglected as a mode of transport here, despite this being the home of cycling in Britain.

“In the past month, two of our members have been hospitalised after drivers exited stationary vehicles but failed to look and struck them with their car doors.

“They were completely avoidable accidents. Those drivers didn’t look over their shoulders and thought about cyclists possibly being in their vicinity.

“There needs to be a drastic improvement in road safety education and awareness.

“This initiative, therefore, is welcome but only as part of an on-going drive to make Britain’s roads safer.”

The money announced by Mr Clegg will be divided between the eight cities which have already received Cycle City Ambition funding and the Highways Agency to improve conditions for cyclists on its roads.

£114m of additional money will go to Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Norwich and Bristol to continue progress over the three years 2015/16 to 2017/18. The formula for deciding how much each city gets has yet to be announced.

£100m of funding is earmarked for the Highways Agency to improve cycling conditions along and across the Highways Agency’s network of major trunk roads. The Agency, soon to be turned in to a company owned by the Government, is also responsible for the country's motorway network.

Recently we reported how cyclists in Manchester are being asked for their views on 37 miles of new cycle routes following seven routes.

Four of the new paths will be near Manchester Airport, Prestwich, Wilmslow Road and Cheetham Hill, while three others are planned for near Salford, Stockport and the Bridgewater and Ashton canals.

The current share of transport to work by bicycle is 2.1 per cent in Greater Manchester, a figure local councils are keen to improve.

The consultations can be found in detail here, with comments encouraged.

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15 comments

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El_Gibbo | 9 years ago
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I would love to see the planners cycle up or down Ashton Old Road in rush hour. They wouldn't be able to use the cycle lanes that were put in with the last investment because nobody pays attention to them!

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andyp replied to El_Gibbo | 9 years ago
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El_Gibbo wrote:

I would love to see the planners cycle up or down Ashton Old Road in rush hour. They wouldn't be able to use the cycle lanes that were put in with the last investment because nobody pays attention to them!

There's nothing to pay attention to on Ashton Old Road. There are a few short stretches of the crap cycle 'lanes' of which it is perfectly legal for cars to enter, and the strange green square bunny hop cycle lane nearer town. As things stand, the drivers are not doing anything particularly wrong...other than ignoring ASLs of course.

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Urban_Manc | 9 years ago
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Since when does 'driver education' work, IT NEVER HAS.

Pre legislation (and post), did it work with drink driving, seat belts, mobile phone use ... NO .

Drivers only behave when there is a high risk of being caught or they risk losing their license.

The situation has worsened since local councils turned speed/traffic light cameras off and traffic police lost countless staff.

Education does f*** all, heavy fines/bans and a high risk of being caught WILL change behaviour !

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edster99 replied to Urban_Manc | 9 years ago
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Urban_Manc wrote:

Since when does 'driver education' work, IT NEVER HAS.

Pre legislation (and post), did it work with drink driving, seat belts, mobile phone use ... NO .

Drivers only behave when there is a high risk of being caught or they risk losing their license.

The situation has worsened since local councils turned speed/traffic light cameras off and traffic police lost countless staff.

Education does f*** all, heavy fines/bans and a high risk of being caught WILL change behaviour !

when's it ever been done ???? Actually training - not adverts?

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Urban_Manc replied to edster99 | 9 years ago
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People are trained how to drive correctly (irrespective of cycle specific issues) as soon as they get their license it all goes out the window.

It 'goes out the window' for numerous reasons, selfish society, laziness, but the main reason, very little chance of being caught and minimal sanctions if they are caught!

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mrmo replied to Urban_Manc | 9 years ago
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Urban_Manc wrote:

People are trained how to drive correctly (irrespective of cycle specific issues) as soon as they get their license it all goes out the window.

No, drivers are taught to pass a test. They are not taught how to drive correctly.

What does Highway code rule 170 state? now how many drivers know that?

This is the problem, there are loads of rules and most drivers don't know them, they are never taught them, they learn enough to pass the test. The fact that the day after they pass the test they forget even the few they learnt doesn't help.

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Housecathst | 9 years ago
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I think a presumed liability, a minimum passing distance for motor vehicles and accompanying advertising would be a much cheaper option to making our roads a better place for cyclist and pedestrians. But there again that would offend motorist wouldn't it.

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crazy-legs | 9 years ago
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Quote:

Yes, there's some money from government, and it's welcome, but it's nowhere near enough, and it's not good enough to allocate money to some parts of the country only. The sums are minuscule compared to those spent for vehicles.

Agreed. Bear in mind this is the week after he announced 15 BILLION pounds for roads.

So £214 million split between 8 cities over 3 years is, by comparison, bugger all. But it sounds good so I guess that's what's important...

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HarrogateSpa | 9 years ago
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Quote:

“In government, we’re putting the money down. Now we need the public and local authorities to jump on their bikes and get us to the finish line.”

I'm sure this comment from Clegg is meant well, but it is highly irritating.

1. Yes, there's some money from government, and it's welcome, but it's nowhere near enough, and it's not good enough to allocate money to some parts of the country only. The sums are minuscule compared to those spent for vehicles.

2. We're dealing with decades of under-investment, and crap quality infrastructure. It's difficult to understate how low a base we're starting from. A cycle network is going to take years/decades and lots of money to develop.

This attitude - 'we've done our bit, now it's up to the rest of you' - it's utterly misguided. It's ridiculous.

3. Get us to the finish line, Nick? He makes it sound like he's organising an office outing, and all the arrangements will have been made by next Tuesday.

Britain can become a cycling nation, but it will need years of hard work, and a lot more investment than currently planned. Spare us these facile and blasé comments.

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Kim | 9 years ago
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There is a desperate need for good quality infrastructure in this country, why is it that we manage to waste so much public money on crap? We need to learn from best international practice, not just because safe infrastructure is better for everyone, but also because it works out cheaper, too!

I have talked to Dutch traffic engineers who struggle to understand how in the UK we manage to make bad infrastructure so expensive. The tiny amount of money we do spend is largely wasted through incompetence.

We certainly don't need another TV road safety campaign, these things are pointless. What we need is better infrastructure and better laws which are then enforced.

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Yorkshie Whippet | 9 years ago
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Dutch style infrastructure only works because it has the backing of the law. Due to the law, people are better educated (generally) about what to do around bikes.

Education can work, good example are the Next vehicles I've encountered over the few weeks. Congratulations to Next, their drivers back off, give space and time to the cyclist. Only pass when it is clearly safe to do so with plenty of space. Just wish you could teach the idiot in the Celica in Ilkey yesterday, who thought it was perfectly acceptable to pass infront of a blues and twos ambulance. To do and emergency stop and nearly collected me in has boot.

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jacknorell replied to Yorkshie Whippet | 9 years ago
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Yorkshie Whippet wrote:

Dutch style infrastructure only works because it has the backing of the law. Due to the law, people are better educated (generally) about what to do around bikes.

Not the only reason it works well, it also increases sightlines, so cyclists aren't hidden. With that, it'd help if the actual parking regulations were enforced in England, so there weren't cars blocking the view on *every* corner in London.

The other reason it works is permeability, which eliminates rat running. Non-through traffic goes slow, and is unlikely to try and squeeze through.

Good to hear that NEXT delivery drivers seem to do well!

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Recumbenteer | 9 years ago
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There is little doubt that typical, shit-grade, sub-standard infrastructure like painted, narrow*, on-road cycle lanes encourage drivers to drive closer to cyclists than if no cycle lane were present.
Narrow means less than 2.0 metres wide.

Pinch-points, intended to prevent overtaking, merely encourage some motorists to attempt to squeeze-past cyclists.
If one takes primary, then one is likely to be berated for not using the cycle lane.

So, either it's fully segregated physically and high quality infrastructure**, built to Dutch best practice that's safe and suitable for unaccompanied seven year-old children, or please don't bother.

High-quality means:
Planned, designed etc. by people who want to use it daily.
Not shared with pedestrians or motor-vehicles (saving for inspection, maintenance and construction). See: http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2014/11/shared-use-paths-create-con...
A high quality smooth surface for speed
Cycle infrastructure that caters for non-standard bicycles and tricycles. Cargo bikes, tandems, hand-cycles, trailers, recumbents, bikes with panniers (yes I've encountered cycle infrastructure impassable with panniers, at least I could take off the panniers).
An integrated network built for cyclists that broadly mimics the road-network that usefully goes to places (not discontinuous pieces in haphazard fashion that often go nowhere in particular, and are as well-planned and continuous as a spoonful of spaghetti spread-out on the floor).
And pretty-well most of the other features that the Dutch cyclist enjoys.
See David Hembrow's website for details.
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/

What we don't need (small selection):
Dutch-Style cycling infrastructure (this is the type of interpreted abomination inflicted on cyclists by people who don't actually cycle)
Cycle routes with flights of steps. http://is.gd/lY2sCQ
Crap cycle facilities, see: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pete.meg/wcc/facility-of-the-month/index.htm

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rockdemon | 9 years ago
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A national tv campaign highlighting how drivers should behave around cyclists would be preferable to building any more piecemeal rubbish little bits of cycle path, with those concrete tiles at the end that turn slippy in cold weather....

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Housecathst replied to rockdemon | 9 years ago
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rockdemon wrote:

A national tv campaign highlighting how drivers should behave around cyclists would be preferable to building any more piecemeal rubbish little bits of cycle path, with those concrete tiles at the end that turn slippy in cold weather....

I agree, but tv adverts in relation to cyclist these days, in England at least are so careful not to offend the "great" motoring majority they become totally pointless.

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