22 little things and 1 big one

Brian Deegan

1.Right left, left right

• When route planning look for dog leg alignments where cyclists turn right from minor to major and left from major to minor.

• We ride on the left so this works!

2. Positioning shall be the whole of the law

1. I am on the route and the route goes that way2. Hey other people, expect to see cyclists3. This is the recommended position in the carriageway to take

3. Lanes mean nothing without parking restrictions

4. At signal junctions, the method of control is everything

• Highway engineers deal with space, traffic engineers deal with time

• Don’t just think about the space you are getting think about the time

5. If a scheme has a critical issue then the score means nothing

0

100

70

40

- Dutch- Danish- German

- UK

Cycling infrastructure performance scale

6. Collision risk is not the same as feeling safe

7. Start with the nodes and the links will take care of themselves

8. Parallel crossings have restricted movements. Toucans don’t.

9.Does the design address the objectives

• Collision reduction• Economic regeneration• Safe routes to school cycling• Speed reduction• Air quality

Or is it just a standard approach?

10. Vertical traffic calming is not the only fruit

11. Cycle tracks are bad

• Protected lanes are good

12. Know the laws of signals

• Thou shalt not have conflicting movements (unless it’s a right turn then that’s fine)

• Thou shalt not exceed capacity as this is the definition of gridlock

• Thou shalt minimise the number of stages• Thou shalt have as short a cycle time as

possible

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13. Policy should lead to practice

“pedestrians at the top, followed by cyclists then public transport, with unaccompanied private car-users last.” - DfT

14.Drainage bites

15. Two way tracks need special care

• At side roads, signal junctions, start and ends• +ve: maintenance, tidal flow overtaking• Roads for cycle traffic

16.Risk equals severity times likelihood

• So don’t be compromised by what ifs

17. Stay positive but know the risks

• Innovation and change needs a positive force behind it

18. Don’t get out of bed unless you can work out degree of saturation

1. Saturation flowa) Measure time between 4 and 10 cars passing stop line then divide by 6

=______(seconds)

b) Convert to number of vehicles per hour 3600/time

=_______(vehicles per hour)

2. Capacitya) (green time for arm measured divided by entire cycle time) times saturation flow

=___(vehicles per hour)

3. Degree of saturationa) Work out the actual flow for an hour period (15min x 4)

= __214_(vehicles per hour)

b) Divide actual flow by Capacity= Degree of Saturation

= _____

19. 99% of all problems can be solved with traffic management

20. Sound is the best indicator of a great urban cycling route

How Quiet is your Quietway?

Extract from LCDS – Cycling Level of Service

Basic Good Highest

Noise level from recommended riding range

0

>78DB, 65-78DB,<65DBSource: Calculation of road traffic noise

Sound calculation

•Let’s work out the sound from a flow (q) of 500

vehicles per two way peak hour flow

Basic noise

69db

Basic noise (18 hour)

Q is approximately 10 times q so Q = 5000 and basic noise across 18hours is 66db

Correction for HGV’s

Let’s say percentage of HGV’s is 5%

So correction is -1.5db

So 64.5db

Basic noise (18 hour)

Let’s say gradient = 3%

So correction is +1db

So 65.5db

Correction for distance from carriageway

Cyclists are right in the mix so +1db so 66.5db

Correction for ground absorbtion

No impact on cyclists if on carriageway but important if they are running behind a verge on a busy road

So 66.5db

So low flow, low HGV percentage, shallow

gradient = a quiet route

Therefore Quietness is a good indicator of

pleasant cycling conditions

Basic Good Highest

66.5db good 1point

21. Big things entice, little things protect

Conversion of food into propulsive force via the crank shaft

Design interventions

Heat loss to muscles and environment

Bicycle efficiency, ability to maintain speed

Bicycle speed range 0 – 83mph

Road surface & Rolling resistance

Acceleration

Gradient

Air resistance

Mass of rider and bicycle and effect of gravity

Manufacturer improvements

Smooth surfacing eg. SMA

Avoid stop/start

Provide less steep alternatives

Avoid exposureReduce area

22. Design to reduce effort

1. Protected junction progress