| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Terrific new proposal for the High Street | |
| Posted by: | Richard Carter | |
| Date/Time: | 02/02/13 18:38:00 |
| I accept that you're not a councillor, apologies for suggesting such a thing (lol). But I think it's quite clear that you're trying to downgrade what some people have been saying by suggesting they represent special interests - otherwise why say it? Whatever, I will state here that I am interested in seeing better cycling provision, not because I'm a cyclist (I do think it's misleading to refer to people by one of the forms of transport they use: I cycle sometimes, walk and also, when the need arises, drive a car) but because it's a way of improving the balance of road use. I'd also like to limit car use and boost walking - as others have pointed out, half the journeys in London are less than two miles, so increasing walking and cycling will make things better for everyone. However, turning to more substantive points, the general idea in Dave Irwin's proposal, to reduce the amount of road space, is a good one, but the way he suggests it's done is, I think, mistaken. It's be based on present road usage, which is one mistake (the present road layout is the main cause of present usage, whereas the layout should be based on what it might become if it were more favourable). Here the 1 per cent figure for used cycles is what leaded him down the wrong path (it's derived from a survey that showed that around 6 per cent of the vehicles were cycles but, because of multiple occupancy in cars and buses this reduces to 1 per cent of the people). This may be "fairer" but it leads him to ignore cycles altogether; this is not only wrong in principle but makes life much more dangerous for people on bikes on the High Street. I think this is the biggest mistake in the proposals. I think the idea of putting planters at intervals won't make any significant improvement - in fact, it'll make it worse because it'll cause pinch points for pedestrians and impede their flow, and I also think it's wrong in principle to encourage vehicles to park up on the pavements (half pavements?). Good point about deliveries, though, Tesco's in particular are [something I shouldn't write on a family forum], and I wish they'd get fined heavily every time they disobey the rules. |