CYCLE LANE MADNESS
Sheffield City Council monitored traffic levels in the area throughout the “trial”, and data showed that motor traffic had risen from a low of 38 per cent during lockdown to 85 per cent of usual volumes in recent weeks. Subsequently the cycle lane was removed at the end of August.
MAIDSTONE: FURIOUS CABBIES DEFEAT CYCLE ROUTE RANK MOVE
Taxi drivers have successfully prevented their town centre cab rank being relocated to another street to make way for a cycle route - a move they claimed which could have disadvantaged the disabled. The cabbies secured the victory in just a few hours after one driver spotted contractors moving in overnight to start work.
Cambridge Dutch-style roundabout
PHTM Facebook featured a video clip of a cyclist who was nearly hit by a vehicle on the roundabout last month; also shown was a cyclist wrongly stopping on the cycle lane to give way to an approaching car. Local taxi drivers claimed it took “at least a couple of weeks” to get used to the new roundabout, and some local residents expressed their displea- sure at the new roundabout’s “confusing” layout, warning that it would turn into a “killing zone”. It was also reported that the large articulated lorries were struggling to get around the roundabout due to the reduction in the approach road widths.
Early days yet… but is this huge expenditure on one round- about justifiable? As we said last month, £2.3million would buy an awful lot of protection screens for our saloon drivers; an awful lot of CCTV protection, and an awful lot of bolt-on emission reducers.
SHEFFIELD: TEMPORARY CONED CYCLE LANE REMOVED
A newly installed cycle lane in Sheffield was slammed by motorists and a local Councillor for causing traffic chaos and stopping access to emergency vehicles. The new path between Shalesmoor roundabout and Corporation Street was installed in early July and immediately attracted criticism.
Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed of Ecclesall ward posted a video of an emergency ambulance with its blue lights on, having to creep along the road as a paramedic ran alongside it to remove cones that were blocking its entry to the road. He said: “I’m all for cycling but some thought needs to go into this, because the road already has a cycle lane on both sides and a pretty wide pavement.”
He said that he had been getting a lot of angry phone calls, mostly from taxi drivers who use the road a lot, and they were being affected by the congestion that the cycle lane was causing. Occupying one driving lane in each direction, it sparked howls of outrage from unsuspecting motorists caught in the congestion. Businesses in the area claimed the blockages cost them a lot of trade.
OCTOBER 2020
The idea for cycle routes was originated by Maidstone Bor- ough Council but to be implemented by Kent County Council. By 11am on 4 September, when members of the local taxi drivers' association met in King Street, KCC had already decided to climb down.
The cabbies say the King Street rank was to be moved to Church Street and that there would have been too few places for the 40+ licensed cabs. There are seven places currently feeding two spots in the High Street which drivers move into by watching a monitor screen. By moving around the corner, they would no longer be able to see the screen.
Driver Neil Cox, 60, of Allington told the Downs Mail: “We were not consulted on this at all. The first thing we knew is when the contractors showed up last night. This was not thought through because no one thought to ask us.”
All taxis are wheelchair accessible on the passenger side but in Church Street, that would have meant that wheelchair bound passengers would have had to board the cabs in the middle of the road as the rank would have been on the drivers' side, said Mr Cox.
The taxi drivers held a meeting 11am on Friday 4 September, attended by local Tory councillor Jonathan Purle and Liberal Democrat member Ashleigh Kimmance, himself a taxi driver.
Cllr Purle, whom the drivers contacted in dismay the night before about the issue, said: “There appears to have been no consultation whatever with the drivers, who are a powerful and vocal lobby. I am the local councillor and I haven't been properly consulted and now it appears that the drivers, who make their living here, weren't either.
“But the county council rapidly saw the flaw in the origi- nal plan and listened to the drivers. This is after six months of them having taken a massive financial hit.”
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