• Do people think cyclists are more dangerous than cars?

    And why did the Royal Parks decide to highlight these comments (out of thousands)?

  • There is something in this train of thinking. If you remove all the cars, you suddenly have some of the best roads in London to learn to ride bikes, learn to skateboard, learn to roller blade etc etc.

    For a while, when cyclists were also banned from Richmond Park at peak lockdown it was idyllic to go skateboarding with my eldest in the evening. The descent from Pembroke lodge to Ham gate is just great fun and she learnt to carve her penny board there.

    The issue is, if you ban cars, you need to decide on what terms the ring of tarmac can be used and there will be some who suggest experienced road cyclists averaging near 20mph is not the ideal. There is no doubt in my mind that if you ban cars but keep all other rules the same, there will be a lot of riders out for fast laps. That's great, but it does mean others who may like to use that tarmac could feel marginalised.

    Not sure what the right answers are, but the concern is genuine. There are some clash points with peds too. The cycle permitted path through the middle, and the crossings particularly by the top Broomfield Hill and Pembroke lodge can be kinda manic at peak times.

  • I see your point. However, I don’t think all cars should be banned from the park, just the elimination of through traffic. IMO, people should be able to drive to the nearest car park and back out of the same gate. I don’t think that even with this (significant) reduction in traffic-volume playing in the road would be a good idea.

    In the Netherlands they have marked rollerblade routes around the suburbs! Cyclists are allowed to use them too but the pace is slow and you get people of all ages. You don’t see large groups of fast riders because there are heaps of other places they can go. Many of these shared-space problems in the UK are due to how limited the space that we have to cycle / walk / skate / etc is.

    Edit: yeah, through motor traffic

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