A cyclist said she was lucky to avoid being hit by a driver after cycle lane bollards were removed from the B3108 between Bradford-on-Avon and Winsley in Wiltshire. The markings and signs remain, so Caroline Tassell used the lane as normal but soon found herself riding towards oncoming traffic with no protection from the bollards that usually seperate cyclists from drivers..

In the pictures below you can see how riders heading eastbound from Bradford-on-Avon towards Winsley were directed over to use the lane riding towards oncoming traffic, while riders heading westbound were encouraged to use a pretty questionable shared-use path...

The cyclist told the Wiltshire Times (link is external) that if nothing is done then she fears somebody will be seriously injured on the road. She said: "I know the cycle lane between Winsley and Bradford-on-Avon has been a controversial subject for sometime now, and as a regular cyclist I have been using it somewhat reluctantly when travelling from Bradford-on-Avon to Winsley."

"It never felt safe - narrow, potholes, full of debris, and lethal if meeting another cyclist coming the other way. However, it was marginally preferable to the abuse I experienced from motorists if I chose not to use it and cycled on the road instead. Today, I started to cycle along it only to realise that a car was heading straight for me.

"I then realised that the bollards have been removed so there is nothing to separate cars from cyclists, however the white lines and signage remains in place indicating that this is still a cycle lane. As if it wasn’t dangerous enough before! I am lucky that I wasn’t hit but this has to be dealt with as a matter of urgency before somebody is seriously hurt. An absolute shambles."

Wiltshire Council says it intends to replace the temporary infrastructure with a permanent facility next year and the bollards have been removed under temporary traffic signals. The temporary facility was installed as a response to the Covid pandemic to make active travel more accessible.

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-26-august-2021-285917

On 26/08/2021 04:45 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> A fairy-cyclist said she was lucky to avoid being hit by a driver after fairy-cycle lane bollards were removed from the B3108 between Bradford-on-Avon and Winsley in Wiltshire. The markings and signs remain, so Caroline Tassell used the lane as normal but soon found herself riding towards oncoming traffic with no protection from the bollards that usually seperate fairy-cyclists from drivers.

Millions of journeys per day are made on those roads of Britain where
traffic heading in one direction is not physically separated from
traffic coming in the opposite direction.

What's wrong with that?

> In the pictures below you can see how riders heading eastbound from Bradford-on-Avon towards Winsley were directed over to use the lane riding towards oncoming traffic, while riders heading westbound were encouraged to use a pretty questionable shared-use path...
>
> The fairy-cyclist told the Wiltshire Times (link is external) that if nothing is done then she fears somebody will be seriously injured on the road. She said: "I know the fairy-cycle lane between Winsley and Bradford-on-Avon has been a controversial subject for sometime now, and as a regular fairy-cyclist I have been using it somewhat reluctantly when travelling from Bradford-on-Avon to Winsley."
>
> "It never felt safe - narrow, potholes, full of debris, and lethal if meeting another fairy-cyclist coming the other way. However, it was marginally preferable to the abuse I experienced from motorists if I chose not to use it and cycled on the road instead. Today, I started to fairy-cycle along it only to realise that a car was heading straight for me.
>
> "I then realised that the bollards have been removed so there is nothing to separate cars from fairy-cyclists, however the white lines and signage remains in place indicating that this is still a cycle lane. As if it wasn’t dangerous enough before! I am lucky that I wasn’t hit but this has to be dealt with as a matter of urgency before somebody is seriously hurt. An absolute shambles."
>
> Wiltshire Council says it intends to replace the temporary infrastructure with a permanent facility next year and the bollards have been removed under temporary traffic signals. The temporary facility was installed as a response to the Covid pandemic to make active travel more accessible.
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/fairy-cycling-live-blog-26-august-2021-285917
>