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Understood, but the 'thousands' who are ok taking in the lane must be a minority compared to all the other people who would cycle if they could do so without battling traffic. (many of whom might not even own a bike at the moment). Would you deny them that pleasure?
None of this is rocket science, just look at a country who started rebuilding their roads 40 years ago to accommodate bikes. The Dutch don't take bikes 'off' the road onto the pavement, they just redesign the roads so that bikes are catered for properly.
cyclelove-
Understood, but the 'thousands' who are ok taking in the lane must be a minority compared to all the other people who would cycle if they could do so without battling traffic. (many of whom might not even own a bike at the moment). Would you deny them that pleasure?
I would say it should be done carefully and gradually to avoid carnage. Immediate and large scale change in road use has resulted in deaths, a combination of drivers not expecting cyclists to be there, and cyclists putting themselves in dangerous positions. To get kids cycling, why not start with cycle lanes to our parks, and cycle lanes through our parks? Or cycle lanes on the more dangerous roads around schools? Perhaps if lanes were clearly geared towards a certain kind of cyclist, there would not be the antagonism of "get off the road and use the cycle lane" from drivers.
When the Dutch introduced their cycle lanes, it was probably a very different situation to what we have here in London today.
William.
Enforced segregation of cyclists on major roads will increase driver agression towards cyclists who choose not to use the cycle lanes, I have experienced this first hand, and often. It would be great if there was a way of increasing cycling among the young, and among the population in general, which did not make life harder for the thousands who have integrated into the traffic flow have found they are safer behaving like a car, i.e keeping up with traffic where possible, taking primary position on bends / chicanes etc.
There is one junction in Stockwell where a small section of segregated lane causes a chicane and leaves a cyclist with a split second choice as to which side of a kerb to go. There is also a long section of segregated lane running east from tower bridge, which gives priority to every minor road it crosses, and is too narrow to overtake another cyclist safely. I use the dual carriage way instead because the traffic is actually more predictable there than the cars pulling out onto the cycle lane, cyclists weaving / overtaking, pedestrians not looking etc. These are probably an extreme examples, but the lanes will need to be very carefully thought out so they don't cause as many problems as they solve.