Water carry-on: Rum roadworks in York

Yorkshire Water are busy digging up York's bike lanes at the moment.

The Planets Trail is up somewhere between Mars and Jupiter (right), necessitating a five-sides-of-a-hexagon detour through the asteroid belt, also known as Bishopthorpe housing estate.

As I discovered yesterday en route to a job yesterday. It made me arrive five minutes late, despite travelling at six times the speed of light, according to the scale.



More worrying is this operation on Malton Road, the A1036, between Monks Cross and the Toby Carvery, where hungry cyclists can refuel on limitless hearty vegetables.

Not only is the cycle lane (but only the cycle lane) closed off on a fast, busy road where some cars pass too close anyway.

First breath of wind and some of the plastic barriers do their impression of a Saturday night stag party in Stonegate, collapsing chaotically.

This forces cyclists out even further into the territory too many drivers think belongs exclusively to them (above right). The carvery must be quite an attraction, because most of the drivers can't wait to get there.

Blood and Thunder: The Times puts cycling safety firmly at top of agenda

Yesterday's Times caused quite a stir by using its whole front page (right), and substantial amounts of space inside (below right), to launch their campaign to improve cycling safety.

It was prompted by the serious injury sustained by one of the Times journos, Mary Bowers, while cycling. She is still in a coma.

Today's issue has continued coverage of their campaign.

The paper has involved several high-profile cycling names - Nicole Cook, Bradley Wiggins, Victoria Pendleton, Sir Chris Hoy et al - and has issued an eight-point manifesto for action.


The eight points, briefly, are:
1 Mandatory sensors and safety equipment for trucks entering city centres
2 500 most dangerous junctions to be identified and fixed
3 National cycling safety audit to be done
4 2 per cent of Highway Agency budget earmarked for cycle routes
5 Cycle safety to be core part of driving test
6 20mph to be default speed limit in residential areas
7 Business invited to sponsor cycleways, as in the Barclays Cycle Superhighways
8 Every city to appoint a cycle commissioner to push reforms


Some aspects of the Times's proposals are open to debate. I'm not sure about point 2's suggestion of 'Trixi mirrors' (right) as a matter of course, for instance (there's no evidence either way on their effectiveness yet, and we can't afford to splash money on unverified measures).

The idea of London's Cycle Superhighways as some sort of best-practice model is arguable, too.

But the fact that a major newspaper has put cycle safety so firmly on the national agenda is excellent, if overdue, news.

I'll be in more of a joke-cracking mood next post, but this is serious stuff.

However, there was one subbing error that made me smile in the Times's 'Covenant for Cycling', in point 1: "Trucks entering a city centre should be required by law to fit censors"...

It does make you wonder what those naughty truck drivers get up to in their cabs to need such moral scrutiny.