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Segregated cycle lanes planned for accident blackspot in Leeds

Painted cycle lane isn’t doing the job

Segregated cycle lanes and Copenhagen style junctions are planned for a stretch of road in Leeds on which dozens of cyclists have been injured over the past five years. The Yorkshire Evening Post reports that £245,000 will be invested in improving the A65 Kirkstall Road between Woodside View and Weaver Street.

The 850m stretch of road saw 59 people injured in reported collisions between January 2011 and January this year with 32 of those incidents involving cyclists.

In September 2012, the Quality Bus Initiative was launched on the A65 Kirkstall Road with the intention of delivering a range of benefits to bus users, cyclists and pedestrians. However, it appears to have had little effect.

In several of the recorded incidents, the cyclist was in the cycle lane and according to a council report was “masked to the vehicles which were turning up a side street.” As well as segregation, the new proposals therefore also include Copenhagen style junctions.

The junctions, which feature side road speed tables, are designed to slow down motor vehicles with cyclists and pedestrians given priority.

Leeds Cycle Forum was consulted on the proposals, with the report stating: “The forum members were in favour of the scheme and saw it as a change in a positive direction.”

Leeds City Council’s chief highways and transportation officer has approved the scheme.

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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9 comments

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severs1966 | 7 years ago
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Keep in mind that Leeds will replace the useless painted lane with an equally bad new lane (or possibly a very much worse one), which will almost certainly not help bike riders at junctions; The so-called "super" highway is engineered to take the right-of-way from bike riders and give it to those entering from a side road, or exiting into the side road, in a number of places (the council lied about their intentions in this respect, at the planning stage). This new facility will almost certainly be at least as bad.

Whatever plans were shown to Leeds Cycle Forum are irrelevant, because Leeds does not build what it shows to the forum; it gets their approval and then builds something different. The council lies about its plans and designs at the planning stage.

Leeds council's primary motivation will be the peculiar objective of "somehow we have to get the bike riders out of the way of smooth car traffic flow". That's all that matters to them; they only care about "accidents" involving bikes because of the impact it has on the flow of cars in rush hour. Lives and deaths of bike riders are not part of their plans.

A new facility that massively slows bikes down and makes their travel more uncomfortable and inconvenient will be perfectly OK for the council. A path which causes injuries and discomfort to bike riders will also be acceptable, as long as cars are not held up. The canal towpath is a good example of this.

Once built, the drivers will of course use the whole thing as a car park anyway, so it is all largely moot. The council will not enforce parking restrictions.

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Broady. | 7 years ago
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A cyclist was killed here yesterday.

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CygnusX1 replied to Broady. | 7 years ago
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Broady. wrote:

A cyclist was killed here yesterday.

A person (who happened to be on a bike) was murdered there. I know it will never come to trial as a murder charge, or even manslaughter, but let's call it out for what it is. 

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/our-city/north-leeds/men-bailed-af...

RIP.

 

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the little onion | 7 years ago
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I'll reserve judgement on this. The intention sounds fine, but Leeds council have such a terrible record in building cycling infrastructure (the 75cm wide superhighway, the 100m long cookridge street cycle lane where you by law must dismount to both get on it and get off it) that it may well end up being more dangerous than the current set up. If past experience is anything to go by, the plans will be adapted to ensure that no motorists is inconvinienced in any way, rather than to ensure cyclists' safety

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Yorkshie Whippet | 7 years ago
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Maybe LCC could spend the money on educating drivers rather than pushing cyclists off the public highways.

I'm getting fed of drivers telling me to stick the not so super highway.

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harrybav replied to Yorkshie Whippet | 7 years ago
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Yorkshie Whippet wrote:

Maybe LCC could spend the money on educating drivers

You can't educate a million drivers, not with the budgets in question. Better to buy 5 or 6 flights to Copenhagen to train those Leeds road planners!

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Yorkshie Whippet replied to harrybav | 7 years ago
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vbvb wrote:

Yorkshie Whippet wrote:

Maybe LCC could spend the money on educating drivers

You can't educate a million drivers, not with the budgets in question. Better to buy 5 or 6 flights to Copenhagen to train those Leeds road planners!

 

I disagree, simply replacing the silly flags which show the route, along the route would be a good start. There is a dot matrix sign at Owlcoates Roundabout that could employed.

To be honest I think the planners have got it right on the shared space, it's the drivers that can not make it work as they simply ignore the road markings. 

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Leodis | 7 years ago
3 likes

I commute down this stretch, you just need to keep your eyes open and your speed within reason.  the problem with segregation on this part is that Leeds council will do what they did on the cycle highway and cause more dangers at junctions.

LCC are not doing this for the saefty of cyclists, they are doing it to get cyclists of the road, they will turn these plans into another Highway failure where drivers are confused at juctions and pull out into it.  Also on this road are a lot of buses, how are we meant to over take them or is it going to be another bus top island which are death traps?

Thanks LCC but I'll stick to the road

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Russell Orgazoid | 7 years ago
3 likes

Painting a cycle lane in this fashion (in the photo) is bad news.

It encourages drivers to close pass because they think it's safe in cycle lane for a bike.

then you take the lane and they get the hump because you aren't in the cycle lane! and punishment pass.

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