On pavement cycling, I agree that these stupid 'shared use path' white lines down pavements are completely counter-productive. As well as leaving me stranded on pavements when they run out all of a sudden, they get POBs used to riding on pavements.
I was in York recently, as driver/pedestrian/cyclist. Their roundabouts are STUPID as they have cycle feeder lanes that follow around the gutter.
As a driver I HATED driving on the roundabout as I could see cyclists approaching at speed but did not know if the cyclist was going to:-
- stop
- continue in the cycle lane
- enter the roundabout properly
Therefore I had to slow and hit the brakes to avoid a potential collision even though I had "priority" at the junction.
York's council generally don't have much sense, despite the number of cyclists.
Cyclists jumping the red light, even if the law is changed, put drivers in the same position.
Also in York, there's a shop that runs a big
Stop At Red campaign, aimed at cyclists. Some York motorists I know, can also be heard spouting bile about how cyclists RLJ. All this despite the fact that in four years of living there, I never saw any hint of RLJing as a general practice. Maybe a couple of instances, but I honestly can't remember them. The motorist complaint about RLJ is not rational, it is a stick used to beat cyclists. It has been promulgated by the media and swallowed by the masses, who'd have never thought of it themselves. Our abstention from RLJ will not stop the complaints, and if we adopt a holier than thou attitude towards it (like the shop I mentioned), all we will do is raise the profile of the issue still further.
