Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Champion on May 16, 2012 at 22:19

Hopefully tho the motorist is slowing for the roundabout. I'm sure the designers are expecting the more experienced and confident cyclist to be taking control of the lane prior to the end of the bike lane as you suggest.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dahondude on May 17, 2012 at 22:55

Yep its a bit of a botch job. The "corrected" line marking just fires you into the path of cars coming up behind. I guess now all the traffic islands are in place its tricky to fix properly. I'd prefer that they painted the bike lane bright green with a whopping big bike symbol, and then just leave it as dashed lines

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Champion on May 17, 2012 at 23:26

I think you are missing the point. According to previous posts the bike lane leads you to the roundabout and the bikerider takes control of and rides in the middle of the traffic lane. If you think about it if the bike lane continued right up to the island the cyclist would be caught out on the left hand side of the lane and find it very difficult to make a right hand turn and cross the line of traffic coming from behind that is going straight on. A confident cyclist will have entered the  traffic lane prior to the merge a less confident cyclist will prop in the bike lane and wait for a gap in the traffic to enter and ride in the middle of the traffic lane. As I think Sophia has said earlier this is the training given to kids at school.

My understanding of the linemarking is that dashed lines can be crossed by cyclists and cars and therefore indicate crossing points. If it was dashed lines all the way Cars could cross it anywhere right up to the splitter island legally.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by heather on May 17, 2012 at 20:50

To the people who can identify the before and after photos of bicycle lane marking on Military Road. I reported the hazard. For my records, please let me know which suburb/s: Semaphore South, Ethelton, West Lakes Shore or Semaphore Park. Near Bower Road, so could be any of the 4.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Champion on May 17, 2012 at 22:25

Well technically the approach on Military Road is from the South heading north so therefore it is on the Semaphore Park side of the intersection. Confusingly Sema4 Park is South of Sema4 South. Bower Road is the boundary between Semaphore South and Park and both West Lakes Shore and Ethelton are adjoining suburbs to the East some distance from the intersection.

Good old Google. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by heather on May 17, 2012 at 22:36

Thanks. I use nearmap but last update 3 days before planned installation of bike lanes.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by heather on June 4, 2012 at 18:08

In January I attended a cycling conference where Bob Cumming presented info on roundabout design and how to improve cyclist safety. He recommends that cyclists merge with motor vehicles about 50m before the actual roundabout. Info here which I am yet to read. http://www.australiancyclingconference.org/images/stories/acc-2012-...

I perused info from an earlier presentation by Bob Cumming on roundabouts and cyclists.
http://acrs.org.au/events/acrs-past-conferences/2011-conference/
A bicycle friendly roundabout: Designing to direct cyclists to ride where drivers look.
Bob Cumming
Page 1: All roundabout crashes occurring at Victorian roundabouts from 2005-2009 are assessed, with DCAs recategorised into roundabout crash types. The most common crash is “entering-circulating”, accounting for 48% of all crashes. For crashes involving bicycles, they account for 82%, while no other crash type accounts for more than 4%. An entering car striking a circulating cyclist accounts for nearly a quarter of all roundabout crashes in Victoria.
Page 4: Bicycle lanes provide lateral separation from cars, which “feels safe” to cyclists. However, if bicycle lanes separate cyclists from the path that drivers check before entering roundabouts, “feeling safe” may be at the cost of real safety . . . Bicycle circulating lanes and/or bicycle lanes on approaches remove that choice and ensure a complex, dangerous conflict point environment.
Page 5: Fay Patterson (2010) presents a review of roundabout design practice from an Australian perspective. A major point of difference is that UK, Sweden, New Zealand and Australian favour tangential (flared) entry which keeps speeds high to increase capacity, while Germany, France, Denmark and Netherlands favour radial entries which slow vehicles and improve visibility for greater safety.
German roundabout design rules prohibit cyclists on the dangerous outside edge of circulating roundabouts. Schnull et al (1993) found that bicycle lanes and tracks increase risk over no treatment. Similarly, a UK study by Allot and Lomax Ltd (1991) showed that the outer 1.5m of a roundabout is dangerous for cyclists. Flared entries and wide circulating lanes are also identified as hazards for cyclists. Hyden & Varhelyi (Sweden, 2000) encourage small single-lane roundabouts, with cyclists merging with cars into a single traffic stream well before roundabout entries.
. . . The New Zealand 2-lane C-roundabout, developed by Campbell et al (2006) uses tight geometry to slow all vehicles to 30 km/h, and encourages central positioning of bicycles with centrally positioned bicycle logos.
. . . After researching 91 Belgium roundabouts, Daniels et al (2008) concluded that installation of a roundabout increased cyclist injuries by 27% and serious or fatal bicycle crashes by 41%.
Page 9: Cyclist safety will improve if we ensure that cyclists follow the primary conflict path, i.e. the middle of car lanes. Roundabout designs should: (1) make it clear to cyclists that the centre of the lanes is the place to be; (2) make it obvious to drivers to expect cyclists in the centre of lanes; and (3) make it safe for cyclists to merge in the middle.
These are similar to the goals adopted by designers of the New Zealand 2-lane C-roundabout.
In the proposed diagram, illustrated in figure 8, bicycle logos positioned centrally on approaches and circulating lanes show cyclists where to ride and show drivers where to expect cyclists.
Page 10: Approaching vehicles are slowed with “BIKE MERGE AHEAD” pavement signs and, on higher speed roads, upstream lane narrowing for the car lane. Through the bicycle merge zone, bicycle lane lines are dashed and bicycle symbols with diagonal arrows direct cyclists to merge.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page