We have a cycle lane adjacent to a main road in my town, there's also a bus lane.

I elect to cycle in the bus lane, because the cycle lane has to give way at numerous side roads. I've never met a bus in the bus lane!

There may be a reason that a non-cyclist isn't aware of.

I cycle every day to work, one end in Cambridgeshire and the other in London.

The Cambs end I use the bike lanes, even when the genius council narrow it down to barely wide enough for one in a particular 100 yard stretch.

In London I ignore the bike lane in one place as I can't get onto it (!) from my right turn. That stretch also has the most ridiculous light arrangement that leaves the cyclist waiting ages for about 3 seconds of green.

However - there is no minimum speed limit on normal roads, so if I want to cycle in the middle of the lane at 10 MPH then I am perfectly entitled to do so. As with a milk float or dustbin truck - if you can't overtake then wait your turn...

Trying not to get drawn in to this debate....but... in response to the original poster...

90% of bike lanes are there to get bikes "out of the way".

If you as a *driver* were aware of roads that had been made deliberately slow and awkward with potentially dangerous junctions (a description that describes most cycle lanes well) to get you out of the way of so-called more important traffice, would you use that road/lane or the alternative?

Simples.

Roundabouts with cycle lanes are the worst. Such lanes are fine for novices/incompetents/kids, but for adults that are fit and use proper road awareness (with hand signals etc) they're more dangerous as well as slower than mixing with traffic. Instead of having a priority with the other traffic you're with (as a car or motorbike would), you have to give way at every exit, trying to look right over your shoulder as well as across the lane where traffic emerges to see if you can go or not... Not to mention keeping an eye out for pedestrians coming from random directions trying to cross the island too...

The question you have to ask yourself is: who designs the cycle lanes? Highway engineers who primarly think in terms of drivers and pedestrians or is it cyclists who are bullied into to using them? There's your answer...

Hello All,

Just a thought after my cycle home today, does anybody else get wound up with 'hardcore' motorists insisting on using the road and creating traffic even though the local authorities have put a cycle lane just feet away, and public transport alternatives exist for most journeys?! Why do they do this, anybody got any ideas? Even when the cycleway and any footpaths they might run alongside are empty, the buses and trains are running under capacity and car sharing’s a real possibility for many! Worst examples are everywhere, roundabouts and arterial routes and entire communities choked with stinking, blarting single occupant cars ratcheting up the external costs – in terms of health, congestion and pollution borne by the wider community - with idiotic personal transport choices, even with an entire subway network built beneath them specifically to counter the lazy man’s mantra that cycling is too dangerous, designed to encourage timorous motorists out of their cars. Yet every day there they are, creating the nightmare that is rush hour traffic, - WHY??? Does anybody else think it ought to be a 'booking' for using a single occupant vehicle when alternatives are available? I am not anti-car, they can be a necessity for the halt and the lame, I just find this bizarre and stupid!

1. I speak as a keen motorist and keen cyclist

2. Bikes will solve many of the developed worlds pending problems if we just stop to think.. fossil fuels, chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease etc., vehicle congestion, obesity, carbon footprint....

3. Cycle lanes are plain hazardous in many situations as they are littered with broken glass - the weight of traffic sweeps this detritus off the roads in general.

4. I cycle commute sometimes, partly to keep fit - I cycle as fast as I can to keep my speed relative to the traffic fairly slow i,e, about 25mph on a good road bike. The cycle lanes have breaks for kerbs and turnings every 100 yds or so making them barely usable over proper distances.

5. It is possible to drive large distances fairly fast and enjoy it , yet give cyclists the space and respect they deserve. Honest - just try it!

6. Most cyclists also pay VED and leave their cars on the drive from time to time.

Many good points have been made. When I lived in Slough I used the A4, not the cycle paths on the pavements. The cycle paths were useless because you'd often have to go at walking pace, to avoid injuring pedestrians who ignored the bikes only signs. And then when you get to a junction you have to give way to cars turning. You also have cars pulling off the main road, into drives etc and I had to stop for them. When I cycled on the road, I could go at a decent pace, and cycle across junctions (on a green light of course) without stopping.I did get off the road and use the subway at the big (famous) roundabout for reasons of safety.

I recall one time when a driver in an expensive sports car shouted at me "Get off the [snip] road and onto the pavement you [snip]". Just prior to that he'd driven alongside me, dangerously close, scaring me witless.

I routinely saw cyclists using the on road cycle lanes on the residential roads, but going in the wrong direction. Or cycling at night without lights, in dark clothing.

Unfortunately there are some cyclists who are aggressive and/or dangerous and the same goes for car drivers.