Monday, April 02, 2007

Euston Road Cycle Joy

Wobbling along the Euston Road on my folding bike to my new workplace is never a pleasant experience. Especially as the taxi drivers appear to trying out for the David Carradine part in Deathrace 2000 (except an elephant seal gut and bottletop glasses doesn’t make for a very charismatic sci-fi villain). However, my cycle to Charlotte Street did at least raise a smile this morning. Why? Because I passed the most laughably pointless cycle lane in London.

It runs apologetically for about 25 metres from opposite the British Library to the next junction along and consists of a poorly painted band about 1 foot wide. It’s of no use to a cyclist, the layout of the road hasn’t been changed to accommodate it and I doubt motorists even notice it. All of which begs one question. Why the hell is it there?

OK, this is my theory…

Camden Council was either given a target by government to create a certain mileage of cycle lanes or made a commitment to the local electorate to do so. Knowing the bureaucratic mentality, rather than an expensive co-ordinated network of proper cycle lanes that might actually improve the life expectancy of riders, there are probably hundreds of cheap silly 25m long painted lanes dotted throughout the borough.

4 comments:

Steve said...

Is that a bicycle? Or some kind of weird steamroller as lovingly restored by Fred Dibnah?

Maybe Jeremy Clarkson works for Camden Council...

Mike said...

That cycle lane in the photograph has nothing to do with Camden.

I know, I took the photograph!!

It is in Whitehorse Road in Croydon. Take a look at http://www.asyf99.dsl.pipex.com/croydon/cycle_lanes.html where the original is posted.

Tristan said...

Hi Mike - I lifted it from Google to represent a generic useless cycle lane, but it's very nice to hear from the photographer himself!

Mike said...

...but I want to see what the Camden lane looks like.