We started to notice more and more cycle lanes are being added to the streets in London. And that is good news as that provides another commuting option. More and more Londoners including a few MPs are ditching their cars and use their bikes to go to work. There is however quiet a contrast to the proper cycle lanes found in Holland. The bike lanes in London are quite narrow, at times cyclists are competing with what little space they got with the red buses.
Overall it does look quite dangerous cycling in this city when the bike lanes are actually not a proper lane but something that is carved out from the streets, and squeezing the remaining space to the other heavier road users i.e. the buses and the cars. The other irony is there are hardly any places to park the bikes. So the city is trying to be green but only seems half-heartedly.
We started to notice more and more cycle lanes are being added to the streets in London. And that is good news as that provides another commuting option. More and more Londoners including a few MPs are ditching their cars and use their bikes to go to work. There is however quiet a contrast to the proper cycle lanes found in Holland. The bike lanes in London are quite narrow, at times cyclists are competing with what little space they got with the red buses. 
Overall it does look quite dangerous cycling in this city when the bike lanes are actually not a proper lane but something that is carved out from the streets, and squeezing the remaining space to the other heavier road users i.e. the buses and the cars. The other irony is there are hardly any places to park the bikes. So the city is trying to be green but only seems half-heartedly.
3 comments:
Speaking of cyclists or bikers (refer to motorcyclists, too), I'm sure you've read about the sad demise of a woman cyclist who got hit by a woman driver back home in the Peace Abode.
It is disheartening to observe that in Brunei, most drivers seem ignorant of the fact that bigger road vehicle drivers should give way or more respect to smaller road users like bikers... :(
It all boils down to common sense which dictates that we shouldn't belittle other people smaller than us. Respect for each other is a lost virtue in this day and age?
I did read about the accident. But it should already be known that it is extremely dangerous to cycle on a highway/motorway. Even if a cyclist use the hard shoulder, the speed at which vehicles ply the highway is just too risky to combine both bicycle and motorcars on the same tarmac. Anyone can make a mistake easily, be it cyclist who might want to avoid something thus making sudden swerve or motorist who got distracted by something else. In Europe, there is no way one is allowed to cycle on a motorway. Cyclist only share the same tarmac if the maximum speed is 50 Km/hr. Above that it needs dedicated cycle lane.
So in other words, the Land Transport Department and the Brunei National Road Safety Council should already be holding an 'emergency' meeting to dwell on this issue of cyclists plying the really fast highway in our country.
The Road Safety Council especially must come up with recommendations for legislation purposes soon.
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