A cyclist's view of London's notorious Cycle Superhighway 2
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- A cyclist's view of London's notorious Cycle Superhighway 2
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Three of the five cyclists killed recently in London died on or near Cycle Superhighway 2, a cycle-path route running from Aldgate in the City to Stratford in the east of the capital. Rigged with a camera mounted on his helmet and another on his bike, Peter Walker rides the route. It takes in some of London's worst cycle infrastructure - lorry-choked roads and just a blue-painted lane for protection and the best, with a new, fully segregated section at the end
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Wait, THIS is the "superhighway" I've heard so much about? I'd always thought it was a completely separate cycleway, but it's not even a separate bloody lane on the road.
The later built cycle superhighways (~2015 onwards) were a huge improvement.
Same. In fact, I heard that it would be elevated like a bridge overlooking the traffic below!
It amazes me that Britain is one of the most developed countries in the world yet we still have pathetic cycle lanes like this.
Sam Harris I mean that kind of goes for basically every country except the Netherlands. Germany maybe
The sad thing is that is probably one of the better examples of a cycle lane in the UK.
@@FoxDren CS6 is much better.
@@adventureguy5088 Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland etc.
@@adventureguy5088 Valencia in Spain has dedicated, blocked-up bike lanes almost everywhere. It's amazing.
The lack of lane discipline by drivers is very clear to see. that's what causes these accidents.
Exactly, it looks like they have no idea how close they are.
SonofthewindsInc yes they cannot stand to wait for a second they would rather squeeze by. i can only guess the psychology that makes vans big offenders. when i drove my sports car in london that gave me plenty of room, not so the bike clearly. maybe they think there's a pecking order, and bikes are the lowest, to take their frustrations out on for not having a better paid job. maybe the well paid ones, the sole traders, drive better.
speak up cant hear you when you talk out your ass
@@unos10 A painted "bike lane" on the road makes drivers pass closer than if the bike lane WAS NOT THERE.
Collisions, not accidents.
I have taken shits wider than that cycle lane. The part at the end barely passes I'd say. Feels like the separation needs to be slightly higher.
the part at the end was larger than a regular car lane, and that amount of space in central london being solely dedicated to a minority of traffic is remarkable.
Yeah bit it seemed to be in a part where nobody goes, what's the point of having lanes/roads going somewhere that nobody needs to go. There seemed to be shops on the right side of the road, why not have the cycle lanes on the right side of the road where it would actually do some good, there also seemed to be nowhere to cross, there was a crossing at the start of the cycle superhighway but nowhere else.
When I read the words "Cycle Superhighway" I had something better in mind than this. Where I grew up in Holland, the authorities would consider this road too unsafe to legally allow any cyclists onto it*, as:
1. The cycle path is nowhere near continuous.
2. I have no problem with cycle paths that are just a strip of paint without a dividing kerb (though they should be marked with a white dotted line), but the problem is that while in Holland these painted paths are alongside a whole (not fractional) number of car lanes and with (non overlapping) parking spots on the other side, so a motor vehicle never has a good reason to drive or park on it, in London they seem to have just painted on an existing road without changing anything else about lane organisation or parking. This is just giving cyclists imaginary space with meaningless paint. They're not going to stop cyclists and cars getting in each other's way with the ensuing accidents and anger until they reorganise their roads to give cyclists and cars their own, separate, continuous and real (not imaginary) space.
*in Holland, when a cycle lane is provided (the road is deemed busy enough to require one) cyclists must stick to the lane-cycling anywhere else (pavement or car lanes on the road) is illegal.
Tim Pauwels Indeed "Cycle Superhighway"...should be something of "world class" standard...a bit like the "wow" that must of been the first "motorways/freeways/autoroutes" that car drivers experienced way back.
That seems to be the British way of planning cyclepaths currently it seems, no construction to change the road layout to allow a proper cycle lane, just slapping down a bit of painted sections haphazardly, without accounting for the dangerous sections which often seem to forget the cycle lane entirely.
Milton Keynes has proper wide shared use paths segregated from the major roads, which is brilliant though often they're planned around leisure rather than commuting so don't provide the most direct route in all situations and some sections are 1) not lit and 2) often have broken glass on them.
We really need to take lessons from Holland in their approach to the whole road and path infrastructure and apply it in our day to day plans rather than produce these grand paint projects with fancy names.
Harry Akira Eaton you do know to change the whole road layout costs money!! Where's that gonna come from??
peter lee If they're not going to change the road layout to fully accommodate all road users then I don't see the point.
peter lee council tax which pays for the roads
Some paint on the road is a cycle super highway?
* Shakes his head in Dutch disbelieve *
Good video, also painfully showing the high speed of traffic on some stretches. In The Netherlands, cyclists would never be exposed to such speeds and (non-)mercy of drivers. Any dual carriageway lay out would have a separated cycle path away from the main road. London has a long way to go!
Eric van der Horst can you tell that to Boris our Mayor, who despite running a very rich capital and making out he cares, has done little but purchase blue paint.
Seems to be the same half-baked approach to creating cycling lanes in London as it is here in Tokyo. Although, it seems that London is still further ahead the road of progress than Tokyo. If the system in Amsterdam works, why not adopt it as a 'standard' and implement it as is (obviously taking into consideration 'left-hand drive') ? It certainly looks better than a painted blue strip.
I'm speechless at the conditions for cyclists in London represented in this video. I have nothing good to say about the infrastructure. The driving of many of the road users seems psychotic (a function of the crappy infrastructure - not English DNA).
Similar issues in Toronto: Grid lock during rush hours (6am - 9am & 3pm - 6pm), Road Rage Warriors everywhere; paint-only bike Lanes that run you into opening car doors; and dangerous close passes all the time.
3:35 is where the kerb disappears at the pinch point, right where you need it the most
The only word that springs to my mind about this so called bike super highway is PATHETIC ! They can't be serious can they ?
When there is a line of parked cars in the cycle lane, I will be getting out my house keys! Enjoy getting your paintwork touched up? Park in the bike lane!
The lanes with the painted lines don't offer any protection except for a visual cue . A fully protected bike lane is the only way to go .
It is often van drivers that drive too close, here in Cheshire too on the country lanes. HGVs are nearly always excellent and will wait behind more often and always give more room. Studies need to be done to confirm this and then to see why. Doing something about it would save lives.
+Andrew Norris Also his hand gestures are not helping. He could as well signal "Hey. Hey mate! You've got a small penis. Small penis. It's OK. But rather small." at 2:35.
As someone who lives in Cheshire I totally agree, the worst is the vans that pass on a single carriageway with a double white line
HGV drivers have to do much more training to get their licence. Any half-wit with a regular licence can drive a van.
When I moved to Denmark and started cycling I Thought - this is brilliant why have I never cycled so much in the uk? Now I remember why
Yeah, cos you take your life into your own hands every time you go out for a ride. No matter where in the country it is. The UK government want more people to cycle. I say dont. It is too dangerous.
The cycle superhighways have improved.
What an unpleasant place to ride a bike.
This is insane! Come to Denmark and see how we do cycling here.. or see it at my channel becuase, this is not a cycle path.. its rubbish.
That sidewalk is so wide, why not take a portion of it and turn it into a cycle path?
I believe where the bits are just blue it’s not a cycle lane, just simply a cycle route
THIS is a "cycle superhighway"?! Jesus Christ!
This could be safe. One car lane and one bus/bike lane with strict enforcement. We don't want cars used to kill people.
If you were an experienced cyclist you'd be terrified on that route.
It's been improved since this was filmed.
Wow. 8 year old and barely anything has changed apart from Boris went from Mayor to PM...
Very fair read through. So many cycle ways promise and just don't deliver. They need mass cyclist action, but without safe roads, we will not have mass cycling. Chicken and egg, or, cycle lane and cyclist.
I live in Whitechapel and I can tell you, Whitechapel Road is very dangerous for cyclists
"cycle highway", a motor vehicle highway/motorway of this quality would basically be a village back road where you have to push your car across a river every 15-20 minutes
I think the blue lane is very misleading to drivers, as it suggests that they can just go past in the other part of the inside lane as long as the cyclist is in the blue area. This is blatantly dangerous.
Boom this dude gets it!
They're all driving their car or truck in the buslane and they don't even care
cycle lanes should be segregated, and they only need to be the width of 2 cyclists to ride but feature the same structure as roads, keep left unless overtaking,.then you won't be taking up the width of the road that was really needed.
besides... most cyclists still don't use them lanes so it hasn't helped at all.
OMG, this infrastructure is terrible. While watching your video I was scared every second that you might have an accident. You are very brave to use this so-called cycling lane which is more virtual than real.
The cycle superhighways have improved.
You ought to see what it is like in the rest of the UK. At least you get a budget for improving cycle facilities.
There no point building a proper superhighway because some cyclist prefer to stay on the road and moan about the cycle lane not been good enough...The councils should spend the money drilling for oil....This bike superhighway is poor and nothing to boast about ..It just a low budget in a city stuck for room ...Maybe the cyclist should start funding it more privately and go underground or high rise lanes ?Turn the cycle mass movement into constructive work ..There be a low turn up like most protest..All talk and no action ....Just blocking it..
Pity the cyclist can't move out of the most Overcrowded, overpriced and very overrated City in the UK.
The problem is there is not enough space for cycles and the amount of traffic on our roads
1 question why dont you wear a hi viz ? i no its not needed in day time but the highway code 59?60 advise to do it so the drivers can clearly see you
The cycle lanes have been improved in 2015.
In this country, cyclists and heavy traffic are a lethal combination. There needs to be someone far more committed and 'savvy' than Boris Johnson to catalyze a meaningful change.. My advice to cyclists in places like London is DON'T DO IT. The UK 'missed the boat' decades ago regarding cycling. Holland got it right.
I've ridden CS2 a couple of times, including the Bow roundabout, and most of what I saw was segregated, although I also couldn't figure out the traffic lights.
Brighton seems to have it right, although I was usually around Sussex Uni so it kind of had to make it right.
It was segregated fully in 2016 after multiple deaths.
Paints a blue strip on a busy road, calls it cycle SUPERhighway. Briliant "engineering". Maybe someone mistook a repair technician for an engineer, since they're called the same in Britain.
The superhighways have been improved in 2015.
As you say. Absolutely crazy. There is No actual bike highway
The queen must of found a bunch of extra blue paint in her basement! Had to do something with it!
Have any of the planners actually visited Holland to pick up any tips.
Cycled in London once and will never do it again, almost got hit by buses, lorries and taxis. Put me off cycling on roads for months!
Suggestion to improve the situation for cyclist in London: allow cyclists to ride counter flow in 1 way streets for motorists traffic. You know the quiet residential roads. Less accidents for cyclists. All it takes are "exepted for cyclists" under a "forbidden entry" sign. This situation is practice in the Netherlands for decades. Cyclists take a shorter route than a car. So motorists may consider to get on their bikes.
Sh** london. Bad attitudes from drivers, bad cycle lanes, bad TFL. Protect yourself people !!!
Seb K You right...wish it was different and sadly i think it will always be a "make the best of it" type of thing with people left to fend for themselves...
For foreigners: Basically they wanted to look like they were doing things without spending any money at all. So they got a company to pay to paint some bits of the road blue and put up advertisements and such and that was basically it - a regular road with some paint on it. They didn't make the lanes differing widths to allow traffic to pass cyclists, there isn't even a cycle lane, it's just blue paint at the side of one lane.
Aug 2016 and big improvements - segregated nearly everywhere. Only tried it 2x and on weekends but now pleasant to use.
I'd refuse to use it.
Seems to me these Cycle lanes are an after thought
Great video, well done budy.
Rob. Montreal, Qc.
CS2 is getting (marginally) better with alot of segregated sections . Although if you're travelling further east past Stratford and onto Ilford, it all goes pear shaped again. Really bad
Anyone here from Jay Foreman?
Tesco Lemon Bleach
Me
Μe
Thank God ! I live in the Netherlands.
Lucky !!!!
Man, I feel like London has come a long way since this. At least I really hope so 😂
and what are they building to ease the traffic in north london, which would be far more important? Need wider roads and less traffic lights. The traffic there is ridiculous
Just ban cars. Boom problem solved, no car menas no big traffic.
all they have to do is give trucks room when turning ans tuff
Shame on you London
You realise the cycle lanes have improved? There was a 60% increase of cycling in London when they were (properly) built.
It's just like New York.
I would have a bunch of Cycle Lane stickers printed-up and stick them on the windshields of the cars parked in the Cycle Lane.
Wait mayor of London I thought London was ran by the queen. Learn something new everyday.
Can you tell me the road name please?
Pathetic. If London has a better cycle infrastructure it would mean less pollution, less noise, less expenditure on health, less congestion on tube and billions saved on not having to build more tube lines. If London streets are so difficult to incorporate bike lanes into then why not build raised concrete super highways that motor vehicles can’t get near?
Bikes should be allowed on pavements. The roads are not made for cars in London. Change the infrastructure or change the rules governing traffic.
If you don't know you need to at red light you shouldn't be on the public highway
3:55 Looks like New York.
death trap, truly naff, we need a credible london mayor to sort !
I mean thats a bit crap but better than nothing, good start
Look at the superhighways now, they're amazing!
yeah, I understand your concern, but sadly is amazing cycling infrastructure by international standards. I really like how there's no lane for parked cars, and on some parts there's a segregated bike path on the road. Even though I've only been to London once, I think I've seen part of the road you showed at :32 on the internet, so that's really cool. Keep up the good work in standing up for cycling infrastructure:)
The only way forward is to completely seperate cyclists from motorised traffic. There is bad behaviour from both sides and that is not likely to change any time soon,nor are we going to see seperation soon either because that would cost money.
I'd feel safer base-jumping than cycling in London .
It seems people just don't get it. To those people I say, go to Amsterdam!
Or any other Dutch city.
0:53 Why is he outside the blue cycle lane, while simultaneously complaining about a van driving to close to him?!?!!
metallitech A cyclist can use any lane s/he likes as per any other vehicle (unless signs say otherwise)...van driver should not have got that close regardless.
Vincent de Guard Yeah but if there is a marked cycle path to your left and you don't use it, then cars might get too close to you; common sense.
On that basis it would be "better" if there was no cycle lane? The cyclist then can cycle in any lane without cars getting too close? I agree that if there is a "suitable" cycle lane that as a cyclist then "should" try to use it. Though in some cases the "cycle-lane" ends up with cars parked on it...or has a bus stop...or a unloading bay...or turning vehicles going into it.
Vincent de Guard Er, no. The cycle lane should guarantee you a certain margin between you and the cars, but only if you are in it.
metallitech There is a door zone immediately before 0:53, then a vehicle is at the junction where being in primary is more visible (Plus more leeway if he sticks his bonnet out) and then more door zone.
There are lots of reasons a cyclist may be out of what you perceive as a cycle lane (paint doesn't qualify imo) glass, gravel or potholes, door zones, lane too narrow to share, planning lane change/ turn, overtaking slower road users, pinch point ahead or to make themselves more visible.
This is nothing. lol
Message to The Guardian... this is what we call "heaven"... this is good to cycle in, it's the easy traffic. Try cycling in places like Oxford Street or Regents Street in rush hour. It's an obstacle course. Buses, lorries, pedestrians running across the road almost taking me or others out, especially when they run out from the front of a bus or big vehicle and you have no idea they're about to pop out. It's crazy.
I know it's not great but it's a lot better than the infrastructure in many other British cities
Appalling cycle infrastructure!! Yikes! And I thought I had it bad in the US!
ban cars. problem solved
Ban cyclists.
Work harder. Get a car.
Ady Blake Cyclists are the most self entitled morons on the road. But don't worry, karma will get you. that's - getting killed by that turning lorry.
You keep calling cyclists self-entitled, but you give the impression that you believe you are better than them because you own a car. Its a little hypocritical, if you ask me.
jimbo11235813 The point being is that cyclists want their segregated lanes and couldn't care less about the fact it will reduce the width of the road, increasing more congestion for motorists. No I don't believe car users are better than cyclists. I believe that many cyclists are self-entitled because they don't care about car users.
DrJams You call cyclists self-entitled. A cyclists occupies about 2 square metres of road space compared to a car that occupies about 10 square metres. If the car has 5 people inside, then the road space shared is about the same, but very few cars I see have more than 2 people inside, let alone have 5 people. Perhaps if people drove cars that are the right size for their needs, they wouldn't worry about the lanes being narrower!
THEY INVESTED MILLIONS INTO THIS AND ALL THEY DO IS PAINT BLUE SPLODGES
"TAKE SPACE AWAY FROM CARS"
It's not just London, this is a nationwide problem.
Cyclists are a second thought, but then so are the roads.
The entire road network in this country is just falling apart and to be honest it's getting to the point of beyond repair.
Not as bad as Riga.
There is no way I would like to cycle in London I've got no interested in doing so.
I take the Jeremy Clarkson school of thought work harder and buy a car.
Bikes are better. They're safer, smaller, faster commute, no pollution, no license.
Cycle "superhighway" cs7 is a big blue car park with huge potholes until central London so so so pointless !
Just like Taipei's Dunhua Road cycling path......
depressing
" Cycle Super Highway." ?? What rubbish. This is a lame attempt by the authorities to appease bike riders . The city can say , " see we made a bike lane for you so stop complaining "
What they created is something that is MORE dangerous than if there were no signs indicating it is a bike lane. The situation now makes bike riders think that the busses and other vehicles will be considerate of the them, but that is false security as it has already been proven to be a death trap. Shame on those that instituted this sadistic so called solution .
The cycle lanes have improved in 2015.
It's gonna be bad with the Brexit ... ?
Alas not enough dead cyclists.
A significant percentage of those lorry related deaths were cyclists undertaking. That's asking for trouble!
That´s why you´d create free laying cycle paths on roads with this kind of busy traffic with a lot of lorries. Here in this video the focus is NOT on protection of life, as you can see at the end. The last protection barrier before the crossing has been left out, without having separated traffic lights for cyclists or other traffic and a stopping line which leaves the turn-over-space empty. Turning lorries will cross the lines onto the cycle lane and endanger cyclists. Bad design hurts...
You are right but there is no political will to implement anything but token cycle lanes. Cyclists are insignificant in numbers, are more inclined to vote LibDem or Green so their vote is ineffective and lastly, motorists (the important voters) hate us!
Nah thats just lorry drivers who have not setup mirrors properly to cover blindspots and not checking mirrors.
Seriously, major cities needs to plan these "cycle" path much better, so that it is safe/safer for everybody, the city engineers need to look at the neighboring country/cities such as Holland and Copenhagen. But in the end it's all about money, form a economic standpoint it is much cheaper to just draw a blue track on a piece of road and deal with the accidents here and then, as well as the lives it costs.
While I understand from both the cars and the cyclists perspective, I know that both can be assholes and respectful. Cyclist needs to respect cars and don't treat themselves as a motor vehicle, and cars needs to be more aware that there are cyclist around them.
I'm so glad to live in the Netherlands.
Echt hè !
Jesus
Funny how you expect life to change just for you and for everyone else to suffer.
I am a cyclist and all I can say is stop going up the inside of bloody lorries and cars.
Absolutely, could not agree more.
Do you mean the left side when you're talking about the inside? Because I'm not sure if you noticed, but that's where the bike lane is. And yes, you definitely ARE supposed to go there, the lane is there so that you can go ahead unhindered, even if the whole engine powered traffic is completely stuck in a jam.
Complete joke...a token effort at best...
A Lot of the problems would be solved by doing three things. Give bikes nice big cycle highways. Where the highways are ban the bikes from using the traffic lanes and give push bikes numberplates to stop the muppets who jump the lights all the time
Nah better to just ban cars and have more rental bikes. That way drivers have to get off there fat arses more!
I cycle this root every day and traffic isn't always like that. We are the ones that need to pay more attention to the roads! That cycle lane has made it much easier but will agree that the traffic light will be a bit confusing for people who don't know the road (I thought green was for me to go right through) I nearly went the the second set of lights!
What are you crying about? It wasn't bad in otdays standards at all.
Shit, not understand that english)))
Laughing in Dutch
Here's a idea use the pavement
Unless it states “shared use” then cycling on the pavement is illegal
@@insurgentspi0 It isn't illeagal.