01 02 03 Bike Darlington: The right-hand lane for going straight on 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

The right-hand lane for going straight on

34
This diagram is intended to represent the path a cyclist would need to take when going straight on at a junction where the left-hand lane is designated left-turn only and the right-hand lane is designated straight on.

Examples of these include the North Road-Thompson Street junction and the North Road-John Street junction, when travelling towards the town centre. There are lots of other examples around the town also, plus several roundabout approaches.

In order to go straight ahead at these junctions, a cyclist must cross the left-hand lane and take up position in the right-hand lane. This is scary, even for a confident experienced cyclist, when there are several tonnes of car travelling 15 to 20 mph faster than you are right behind you. In theory, a cyclist could take a central position in the left-hand lane, but in practise cars going left will attempt to overtake and then turn left.

These features seem to be designed with the sole intention of increasing a car's average speed within the town, with no consideration given to cyclists when designing the junction.

What do readers think of these junctions? What other junctions in the town are arranged like this?

Labels: , ,

35 36 37 38