What's a black spot?

Recently the greens have launched a Black spot app for iPone users (I wonder who did the demographics to decide the iPone using cyclist vote is worth chasing:-)  ).

For us Luddite conservationists types who have a phone that is 5 years old (I have just got a new battery so I might get another 5 years out of it) you can send in your black spots by email.

So what makes a black spot?

this leads onto the vello way the bollard on the left would be likely to be hard to see at night as it is down hill cyclists may be travelling at speed.

Ideally should the bollard be pained a light colour and have some sort of reflector fitted?

or

This is the shared path on South road at Bedford Park

The bus stop and shelter have been erected to block the shared path the raised surfaces for vision impaired people also make a hazard for cyclists using the shed path.

Ideally should the path go behind the bus stop?

Are these examples of poor design bad enough to be considered black spots?

Ideally should there be standards that are followed that increase the change of doing it right the first time?

After all it is the taxpayers that end up paying to sort out any resulting muddles if people get these things wrong

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Permalink Reply by Mark Parnell MLC on July 17, 2012 at 13:16

Don, I can assure you that no focus groups were harmed in the making of the Greens' iPhone Bike Blackspot App.  Also, I doubt the next election will be decided by iPhone-using cyclists alone, but I reckon a simple crowd-sourced reporting tool has to be a step in the right direction in getting the government to take cycling more seriously. 

Cycling in SA gets $2-3m per year.  Last budget had NO new initiatives and they re-announced money that wasn't spent from previous budgets.  Today, the Fed Transport Minister is in town to celebrate (salivate?) over $812m wasted on a useless two storey 4km stretch of South Rd known as the "Superway".  I call it the "Super-waste". 

Every Bike Blackspot report goes direct to Fed Minister Albanese and SA Minister Conlon.  It's all about us as cyclists taking responsibility to be in their ears and their in-boxes with our not unreasonable quest for a fairer go.

BTW, I'll get my staff to upload your photos & reports manually if you can pin point the locations more precisely for me.

Cheers,
Mark Parnell MLC,

Permalink Reply by Don (Who's lost?) Nairn on July 17, 2012 at 17:22

I will send you an email.

Keeping the Ba..tards honest seems a noble cause.

unfortunately the mob that used to do that shot themselves in the foot by getting into bed with the Ba..tards.

I suppose it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

If money is allocated to cycling it seems curious that the money was not spent after all I would have thought that there would be plenty of things to spend it on. 

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Champion on July 17, 2012 at 21:15

Don I have had a look in Google Streetview and I could not tell and as I don't live down that way it is not easy to check can you remember if there is any signage indicating that it is indeed still a shared path at the bus stop. The pavement markings on the pavers are pretty degraded and the fact there is a bike lane on the road makes me wonder. I'm just curious cheers.

P.S. I always defend designers and in these cases neither are the designers fault should be looking more at who installed them. I would imagine the permapine post at the Veloway is an afterthought or a reaction to possibly somebody getting through there in a car. It would have been a good idea to somebody.

Permalink Reply by Don (Who's lost?) Nairn on July 17, 2012 at 21:30

There is a bike lane there there is also the shared path (I checked the signs)

it is a 70K limit at that spot and quite busy at times.

Why people would prefer to take their chances on a busy road at 70K rather than use a separate bike path I dont know.

If it is because the bike path is sub standard I suppose that would make it a black spot.

there is lots of room for a separated lane there

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Champion on July 17, 2012 at 21:54

Thanks Don

Permalink Reply by Michael Bland on July 17, 2012 at 21:30

$812,000,000 .00 holy shit that's a lot of pay slips .. 
Now that structure going up is some impressive looking piece of engineering ,, but I agree with you Mark that's a lot of cash to through at the only section of South RD , where the traffic actually flows OK.

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