Remember Rule 163 : comments [Matthew's Journal]

Oops that was me, I forgot I wasn't logged in!

Best one I had recently was at the five way set of lights. The lane marking isn't that clear, but you can't turn hairpin left, so the left lane is for the slightly over 90 degree road, and the right hand lane for slightly over 180 and right. I made my way to the cycle box in the right hand lane as I was going straight on. I was aware that the merc behind me was likely to be aggressive and so didn't start as quickly as I often do. I was right and the merc did over take me in the junction. That wasn't great but was copable with, the car in the left hand lane going straight on at the same time was somewhat scary!

Actually my biggest rant these days is the fact that drivers do not seem to know what the lever by the steering wheel that makes a funny clicking noise inside the car and some lights flash on the outside is for. This is particularly the case at roundabouts but is true at many other points too.

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Absolutely - if I still indicate even though I have to stick my arm out in the traffic to do it, it wouldn't kill motorists to flick one little switch and return the favour!

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Do you get drivers overtaking you when you're signalling right so close they nearly take your arm off?

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Sometimes - more often (especially if I'm at one of those Cambridge junctions where there's a cycle lane going right but they conveniently forgot to add traffic lights or lanes for cyclists turning into it) there's a stream of traffic going past slowly but close enough that it's dangerous to stick my arm out in the first place until there's a gap where I can do the whole indicate-pull-out-turn before the next thing coming the other way. This is especially the case going into Downing Street, and I would rather go round the other 3 sides of the square and make it a left turn than do that right turn.

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This is especially the case going into Downing Street, and I would rather go round the other 3 sides of the square and make it a left turn than do that right turn.

Oh yes, *that* turn. Made even more joyous by having a tiny window to cross into a very narrow space and all of the pedestrians just stepping out into your path. Most of whom do not like it if you say "excuse me please" repeatedly at them. It doesn't get much better after that given the typical number of obstacles and people stepping out and cars turning out :-(.

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And a helpfully placed traffic island right where you want to swerve into when Mr Shopper leaps off the pavement without looking :/ I wish people who design roads would ask some actual cyclists, just for once.

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fwiw, I've sometimes had a much better experience by going the 'wrong' side of the traffic island (very slowly and cautiously obviously) . Probably illegal, but gives everyone a lot more room. Most of the time though I go on the correct side and just give way to the pedestrian stream.

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I saw quite a lot of people doing that recently when there were some roadworks there. Seemed a lot more sensible. Not having that island there would seem even better :-).

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After poking around at a few photos of the area, I've realised why the traffic island absolutely has to be there; to be somewhere to put the no-entry sign :-S.

The layout of the blue cycle lane sign and the two no-entry signs has to be like that for reasons of legal pedantry which I'd feel really sad for going into in any more detail.

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Ah, yes. I've read cam.transport enough that I can probably hazard a guess as to the sort of legal pedantry and know well enough not to ask in someone else's journal :-).

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:)

Sadly when that junction was re-done the new island was placed too far left: giving drivers lots of room, but making the lane for cyclists very narrow at that point, and certainly narrower than it used to be. I don't know if this was planned, or if it was an error on the part of the contractors doing the work, either way I don't think we'll see it fixed any time soon.

It's a nuisance even turning left into there, never mind turning right.

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Matthew's Journal

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July