With the majority of the Lake District’s 16 million visitors a year travelling by car, the sight of queues of traffic and badly parked
vehicles on narrow roads has become a ubiquitous one in the region during
the holidays, prompting last year’s ban on parking at some of the area’s major tourist spots.
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-12-september-2023-303801#live-blog-item-49585
QUOTE: “With so many diverse landscapes from lakes to mountains, the Lake District is a great place for an adventure holiday. To keep as safe as possible on your trip, from hiking to mountain biking, ensure you have
the appropriate gear or equipment to keep yourself and your group safe."
“Make sure you have a good map, not just a smart phone, as there’s often no signal in the Lakes. A compass is also essential. Check the weather
before you set off and be prepared for all eventualities. Accidents and emergencies do happen, but do your best to reduce the risk,” says Jerry. ENDS
I have a Garmin Edge 750 GPS on the bike - who uses a compass these days?
wtjs replied to hawkinspeter | 3034 posts | 47 min ago
0 likes
Whilst there is real danger on the roads, it tends to be magnified in
the minds of non-cyclists as it's easy to imagine situations where you get hurt
There definitely is real danger, with disaster lurking milliseconds away. Yesterday, I was returning from the Lakes on the bike below. I was
descending towards Lancaster at about 25mph down hill coming from Nether Kellett. There's a very rural crossroads and I saw a white Jaguar
approaching fast from my left and not slowing at all while turning left
onto my road. The driver came within a few feet of ploughing straight
into me- she was no doubt looking to her right, but only looking for
large vehicles with 4 or more wheels.
No wonder the Lake District wants to clamp down on this mayhem.
https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files/styles/teasers/public/congestion-buttermere-friends-lake-district.jpg
Totally unsustainable.
I love my bike replied to chrisonatrike | 362 posts | 4 hours ago
5 likes
I don't think separated cycle infrastructure should be the answer to
illegal driving - there will never be 100% coverage, so it can only
reduce the danger where it does exist (& likely increases it elsewhere,
as motorists increasingly believe cyclists don't belong on 'their' roads
(not just motorways)).
The common use of language (even on road.cc) hides that it's an issue of motor vehicles driven by licenced drivers, e.g.
'queues of (motor) traffic and badly parked (motor) vehicles on narrow roads'
QUOTE: “People are often driving over the speed limits on the country
roads in the Lake District or accelerating down straight sections of road
and then braking at corners. This type of driving increases noise and air pollution, as well as emptying your wallet, as it uses fuel much quicker,” he said. ENDS
Who cares about fresh air, speed limits, peace, quiet and nasty dust pollution in such National Parks? :-/
Avatar
I love my bike replied to Hirsute | 362 posts | 18 hours ago
1 like
It was in the quote from Jerry Rebbeck, from the Elterwater-based holiday cottages company Wheelwrights “People are often driving over the speed limits on the country roads . . .
In the same week that cyclists have criticised plans to completely close a road in the Lake District due to storm damage – which Cycling UK says would “block off a key part of the National Cycle Network” and force cyclists to use “a narrowsection of busy A-road, hemmed in by walls with fast traffic and HGVs” – a holiday firm in the area has urged visitors to ditch their car in favour of a bike if they want to take in the sights.
With the majority of the Lake District’s 16 million visitors a year travelling by car, the sight of queues of traffic and badly parked vehicles on narrow roads has become a ubiquitous one in the region during the holidays, prompting last year’s banon parking at some of the area’s major tourist spots.
Following that ban, the Friends of the Lake District group said that “we have reached a tipping point where we can either embrace a radical re-think on transport within the Lake District National Park or risk destroying the sense of tranquillity andescape that this landscape has delivered for generations”.
And this week, Jeffrey Rebbeck, from the Elterwater-based holiday cottages company Wheelwrights, has now called on visitors to take to two wheels when soaking in the picturesque views, and reducing congestion and keeping vulnerable road users safer inthe process.
“There are lots of ways to travel around the Lake District without a car,” Jerry told Lancashire Live (link is external). “Cycling and hiking from place to place is one of the best ways to see the park whilst reducing congestion. There are plentyof places to hire bikes if you don’t have your own.”
As part of his tips for properly enjoying the area, Rebbeck also criticised the standard of driving from some holiday makers.wallet, as it uses fuel much quicker,” he said.
“People are often driving over the speed limits on the country roads in the Lake District or accelerating down straight sections of road and then braking at corners. This type of driving increases noise and air pollution, as well as emptying your
“Driving smoothly and adhering to local speed limits will be better for the local environment and better for your bank account.”of the only safe road cycling routes leading towards Keswick”.
Not that the local authorities are making the switch from car to bike in the Lake District easy, of course.
Last week, we reported that Cycling UK has launched a campaign in response to Cumberland Council’s consultation to completely close a storm-damaged road, which forms part of the National Cycling Network and described by the cycling charity as “one
The quiet route alongside Thirlmere reservoir was badly damaged during Storm Arwen in 2021. Having been temporarily closed for two years, it now faces permanent closure.
Cycling UK has objected to the proposals that would see cyclists forced to use the A591 instead, “a narrow section of busy A-road, hemmed in by walls with fast traffic and HGVs”.
Furthermore, it was revealed that the council's diversion route “only stipulates suitability for vehicular traffic; therefore no diversion route is provided for pedestrians and cyclists at this time”, a plan Cycling UK has branded “ridiculous”.
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-12-september-2023-303801#live-blog-item-49585
QUOTE: Statistics published today by the U.K. Department for Transport (DfT) show that in 2022 85% of the car drivers in Great Britain broke the law by driving faster than the speed limit in 20mph zones. On roads with a 30mph maximum, 50% of cardrivers broke the law, reveals the annual DfT report on speed limit compliance. ENDS
Plus ça change, eh?.
On Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 1:23:44 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
QUOTE: Statistics published today by the U.K. Department for Transport
(DfT) show that in 2022 85% of the car drivers in Great Britain broke
the law by driving faster than the speed limit in 20mph zones. On roads
with a 30mph maximum, 50% of car drivers broke the law, reveals the
annual DfT report on speed limit compliance. ENDS
Plus ça change, eh?.
The UK’s first national lockdown in March 2020 brought with it a significant increase in the proportion of drivers breaking 30mph speed limits, according to official Government statistics.
Some 73 per cent of people driving cars on 30mph roads exceeded the speed limit on one day in April 2020, while April as a whole saw 68 per cent of people speed in 30mph zones. For comparison, 53 per cent of drivers broke 30mph limits in 2019 as a whole.
Urban roads, which typically have 30mph limits, take 37 per cent of all traffic, but are the roads on which 63 per cent of casualties occur.
Data from individual police forces had previously shown that the
frequency of certain motoring offences increased when lockdown was introduced, but these latest national statistics reveal just how
prevalent speeding became when roads were left free-flowing due to vastly reduced traffic volumes that fell to almost 20 per cent of normal levels
at some points in April 2020.
The Department for Transport’s figures reveal increases in the prevalence of speeding across all road types during the coronavirus pandemic.
Looking at 2020 as a whole, 56 per cent of people broke 30mph limits, compared with 53.5 per cent in 2019.
On roads with the 60mph national speed limit, 12.4 per cent of car
drivers sped in 2020, up from nine per cent in 2019. Speed compliance on motorways was largely steady from 2019 to 2020, rising just 0.5 per cent,
but that trend has changed this year, with 50 per cent of drivers
speeding on motorways in the first quarter of 2021, up from 46 per cent in 2020
Commenting on the figures, the RAC’s Simon Williams said: “While these figures show fewer drivers were tempted to speed during the third
national lockdown than in the first, they sadly indicate a clear
correlation between quieter roads and people breaking the speed limit.
Given compliance was at its worst on 30mph limit roads, this dangerous behaviour unnecessarily put lives at risk when more people were walking and cycling.”
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