What's your Views on this new roundabout

NVP

NVP

Soldato
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6 Sep 2007
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12,649
The only real solution is to turn every city into Milton Keynes. ******* cyclists bringing round the end of days smh
 

LiE

LiE

Caporegime
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Milton Keynes
Wow someone was trying way too hard when they designed this. Surely it would have be better to move the zebra crossings away from the roundabout and set them further back on each road.

If I was on a bike I'd feel more safe on the road than on those cycle paths and hoping someone saw me.
 
Associate
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18 Oct 2002
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Netherlands
I've gotten used to these roundabouts over the years. But you do need to be very aware of your surroundings or it can easily go wrong.
Not only do you have to look out for cyclists, pedstrians and traffic, but you also need to be aware that a car may stop in the roundabout in front of you. Almost caught me out a few times when driving into a space in traffic.

Also got rear-ended when I had to stop before exiting the roundabout to let pedestrians pass (no one hurt and only minor scratches to the rear bumper thankfully).

I wonder how many drivers, not used to roundabouts like this, will have the awareness?
 
Soldato
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21,785
I've gotten used to these roundabouts over the years. But you do need to be very aware of your surroundings or it can easily go wrong.
Not only do you have to look out for cyclists, pedstrians and traffic, but you also need to be aware that a car may stop in the roundabout in front of you. Almost caught me out a few times when driving into a space in traffic.
what percentage of the NL ones have priority to the cyclist ? the nl video I linked, the motorist has priority over cycl(scooter)ist.


Maybe the uk interpretation is to make cycling more risky, early evening poorly list cyclists just, blindly, cycle across the arms, like lemmings.
 
Associate
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Netherlands
what percentage of the NL ones have priority to the cyclist ? the nl video I linked, the motorist has priority over cycl(scooter)ist.


Maybe the uk interpretation is to make cycling more risky, early evening poorly list cyclists just, blindly, cycle across the arms, like lemmings.

All of them with the red cycle lane. In fact, just about every other road user has priority over cars (Not actually 100% true but thats what it feels like. Even buses pulling out of bus stops have priority)

My main bugbear is that the cyclists are supposed to indicate whether they are going to go around the roundabout or pass it. An awful lot dont bother, they dont even look (to busy staring at their phones) so you always have to stop when there's a cylist near by just in case.
 
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Caporegime
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20 Oct 2004
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....
I'm all for priortising cyclists, it might force more people into cycling, but this is a disaster.

Too much stuff going on, too many different road markings and I bet theres a million signs.

It looks like a lot of the Dutch ones almost share the pedestrian crossings with the cycle lanes which gives you two sets of traffic rather than three in one tiny space. Seems to make more sense.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Oct 2004
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10,884
Already been one crash I heard yesterday, gives me a headache just looking at it!

Yep, a motorist somehow crashed into a Belisha beacon and drove off leaving it damaged

The cost of this is something that always seems to be raised. Something like £2.4m. Was supposed to be £800k but they failed to account for the utility pipes running underneath that had to be rerouted as a result. If they started with a budget of £2.4m they could have probably planned something better (and then let the costs spiral to £7.5m, I'm sure)
 
Associate
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24 Oct 2002
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Cambridge
I cycle around Cambridge quite a bit. From what I remember from the planning stage it's not on a major route. Looks a bit pointless though. Most cyclists are just going to use the road as it'll be safer and quicker than chancing it on the cycle path not knowing if cars are going to stop for you. The planners in Cambridge hate cars. It wasn't long ago they were thinking about closing local village roads to cars forcing them to take a longer route along the A428 dual carriageway.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Oct 2004
Posts
10,884
I cycle around Cambridge quite a bit. From what I remember from the planning stage it's not on a major route. Looks a bit pointless though. Most cyclists are just going to use the road as it'll be safer and quicker than chancing it on the cycle path not knowing if cars are going to stop for you. The planners in Cambridge hate cars. It wasn't long ago they were thinking about closing local village roads to cars forcing them to take a longer route along the A428 dual carriageway.

There are a number of roundabouts along that stretch of road (A1134 for anyone who wants to look it up). I also cycle a lot in and around Cambridge and that roundabout was one of the better ones (before the work). Never registered as even a slight issue when cycling. The one just up the road that intersects Cherry Hinton Road is much worse for cyclists in my opinion.

I wouldn't be surprised if the thought process at the council was more along the lines of "those dutch roundabouts look kinda cool, where could we fit one of those?" rather than "what could we do to genuinely improve cycling in the local area?"
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2006
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9,573
I'd prefer to mix with cars on the roundabout. Alternatively, I'd prefer the cycle lane to be the opposite direction to the cars so at least I could see the car that was about to hit me.
 
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