The Facepalm List: Stupid cycling treatments

[wellington_street]

Hi All,

Apologies if there is a similar topic already - I have searched but did not find. Mods, please feel free to move this.

I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread illustrating what not to when it comes to providing cycling treatments on our roads and paths.

I want to kick things off with this intersection at Burradoo, between Bowral and Mittagong NSW. Burradoo Road runs east-west and forms part of a quiet streets cycling route as publicised in Council's bicycle strategy of 2008 and the Best of Bowral and the Bong Bong Trail cycling brochure.

Unfortunately, some genius has installed the traffic island depicted in GSV and associated signage which has made it illegal for cyclists to proceed along the route without dismounting and becoming pedestrians. Aside from the fact that this is an undesirable element on any cycle route, crossing as a pedestrian is very unsafe as you have nowhere to go except on the road. The traffic island is blocked by signage so is no use.

What needs to be done is:

- Add a ‘bicycle excepted’ plate below the ‘all traffic must proceed left’ sign, making it legal for cyclists to continue straight through the intersection.
- Remove the ‘cyclists must dismount to cross’ sign as this sign will be ignored by cyclists and therefore serves no useful purpose.
- Narrow the traffic island to provide a short length of contra-flow bicycle lane, 1.5m wide, which allows cyclists to legally and safely enter the western leg of the intersection.

I have absolutely no idea how/why this occurred or how anyone could possibly have thought this was a suitable treatment for a cycle route. You have to wonder.

So, what other treatments have made you facepalm?

[il padrone]

There is a UK version on Warrington Cycle Campaign's Facility of the Month

This month's (on a roundabout )