The recently installed experimental cycle lane on Thame Road has attracted some mixed views, to say the least! Here Cynthia Floud, Chair of the Haddenham Safe Walking & Cycling Group, provides some background information.
Bucks Council received Government money specifically for Active Travel Schemes, by which the Government meant schemes to encourage us to get out of our cars and walk or cycle instead. They also realised that this would mean inconveniencing vehicle drivers in order to provide a safer environment for cyclists. Haddenham was chosen for one of the experimental schemes because a Section 106 Agreement was already in place here, signed with developers to provide money for a cycle lane along Thame Road.
Thus, it is an experiment in the first instance and, as such, the 20mph signs are makeshift and all down the North side of the road, facing both ways but not where we would expect to see them; the old white line hasn't been properly removed and the white bollards look pretty awful. All that could easily be put right, if it were to become permanent.
Haddenham Safe Walking & Cycling Group has not sent in a response as a group. We have responded individually. We had nothing to do with the design of the scheme, though we would have preferred the Council's original plan to close Woodways to through traffic (bar buses and emergency vehicles) before and after school, as we think that would get rid of rat-running traffic which would then go back to the A418.
I posted the quoted Rules for the Road on the Haddenham dotNet Facebook page because so many villagers were confused about where they should be on the road. I therefore asked the relevant department to give an official answer which I could publicise.
I have also asked Buckinghamshire Council to explain to the public what is going on, its purpose and their plans, preferably with maps or diagrams. Delays with their contractors led to the schemes' arrival with no explanatory publicity, but none has appeared since. Unfortunately my request has yet not been answered. Thus, there is still uncertainty among villagers over where the cycle lane begins, actually well past the station near a chicane, where the white lines are painted, and where it ends!
Haddenham Safe Walking & Cycling Group doesn't endorse all these failures. What we do stand for is safer travel for all of us. This means vehicles have to go slower so they can pass each other and us safely. Every cyclist, not in a cycle lane, fears the car or van which passes centimetres from one's elbow. Pedestrians and cyclists should not have to get out of the way of vehicles. Haddenham Safe Walking & Cycling Group asks everyone to think about this and take part in the consultation.
Please note:
The Highway Code / Cycling consultation closes at midnight TODAY, Tues 27th October.
To submit your comments, click here
Cynthia Floud
Chair, Haddenham Safe Walking & Cycling Group
