Why 'Shared Use' Paths Are Not Acceptable Cycle Infrastructure

Shared-use paths create conflict between pedestrians and cyclists, with insufficient space where the two meet and it being all too easy for pedestrians to drift into the path of a cycle.

Here, a pedestrian appears to be moving to the 'walking side' of the path, only to suddenly and quickly change direction, drifting back to the 'cycle side'. Only my low speed, vocal warning and quick braking and swerving cause a collision to be avoided.

Shortly after, the route is strewn with glass and debris, crossing a side road is dealt with by toucan crossing resulting in sharp turns, and a pedestrian crossing causes an obstruction in the cycle lane - fortunately no passing pedestrians makes this easy to deal with on this occasion.

This road is a busy but small 'ring road' in Nuneaton. It's under 1.5 miles long in total, yet it is bidirectional and in many places, has more than one lane per direction available to motor traffic. Ideally, this would be a one-way road for motor vehicles with a dedicated bidirectional on-carriageway segregated cycleway, leaving the current 'shared use' path available entirely for pedestrians.

#cycling #sharedpath