The Lewes Road bus lane/traffic congestion

[Albumen]

No it's not but running a red light is dangerous for everyone. A car stopping in the cycle stop area isn't dangerous - just annoying.

is the correct answer which I couldn't be bother to write - so thanks.

But it is. It's breaking the highway code, as is going through a light. You're not giving the cyclists room to move off first, it's no wonder they head off early.

Maybe if the cars respected the cyclists rules the cyclists wouldn't have to break them.

One rule for one . . .

 

[Garage_Doors]

I was challenged as to why I think people in the UK are petty a few weeks ago. This post is a perfect example.

Back on topic, car drivers can be a very very strange (not to mention aggressive and impatient) breed.

You think it petty that road user are ignoring safety procedures put in place to protect injury & death?

Shame on you.

 

[The Large One]

Why is it "oh dear" ? - so, so, so many pro-cycle lane / cyclists keep claiming it is a small majority of cyclists that break the law and then challenge people to prove most cyclists do so. I see cyclists go through red lights, ride on the pavement, ride without lights when it's dark and ride the wrong way down one way streets everyday and I don't mean single incidents I mean constantly EVERY DAY. Add to that in the last couple of months I seen cyclists actually purposely scrape their pedals down the side of a workmans van parked in the cycle lane unloading on the OSR when there was plenty of space to pass and I conclude that some cyclists are arrogant w@nkers.

I'd be more concerned that you concentrate on your own driving, rather than actively looking for trouble while driving to justify your faux-fury.

 

[surrey jim]

I look forward to when rush hour traffic meets football traffic ahead of an evening game. Good luck getting to the Mithras House P&R

You mean like the Sheffield Wednesday game last week. Didn't affect me but there is a thread on here about missed kick off

 

[pauli cee]

Personally,
I think the remaining lane on Lewes Road should be for van drivers only.
Surely everyone else can take the bus, happy days!

 

[ofco8]

I'm quite surprised that it took until post 98 for someone to mention this often-trotted out irrelevance.

Motorists pay nothing for the road, except via the same taxes everyone else pays.

And not all bus users work for a local authority or public body.

No, cyclists do NOT pay road fund licence however you try to say otherwise. If I did not HAVE to own a car I would save on my road tax. A cyclist never would.

 

[blue2]

It's a disaster it needs variable lanes and variable speed limits dependant on time

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

For me, it's not the cyclists that are the problem

This thread clearly shows the problem is car drivers and their arrogant beliefs.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

No, cyclists do NOT pay road fund licence however you try to say otherwise. If I did not HAVE to own a car I would save on my road tax. A cyclist never would.

But we all pay for the roads, every single UK tax payer pays. Citing Road Fund License is a red-herring...or a face saving move because you do not know what you're talking about.

 

[£1.99]

No, cyclists do NOT pay road fund licence however you try to say otherwise. If I did not HAVE to own a car I would save on my road tax. A cyclist never would.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

This thread clearly shows the problem is car drivers and their arrogant beliefs.

You really mustn't generalise - there are 35m of them in this country alone.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

You really mustn't generalise - there are 35m of them in this country alone.

I'm not generalising. I only started driving late in life and was quite shocked by how impatient and agressive pretty much every driver on the road is. Maybe if you have been weened on driving from the age of 17 this behaviour is normal to you?

And why be so impatient? If this is an issue for you leave earlier, it's not difficult.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Back on topic, car drivers can be a very very strange (not to mention aggressive and impatient) breed.

They certainly can. I know that I can get pissed off sitting in a traffic jam on the M25. There are some really bad drivers these days, and certainly the majority of drivers simply drive too fast.

I also do a fair bit of cycling, and I can tell you there are some extremely arrogant, and dangerous cyclists. Ignoring red lights, pavements, no lights. I'm afraid that there are some absolute wa@@@r cyclists.

 

[Seasidesage]

They certainly can. I know that I can get pissed off sitting in a traffic jam on the M25. There are some really bad drivers these days, and certainly the majority of drivers simply drive too fast.

I also do a fair bit of cycling, and I can tell you there are some extremely arrogant, and dangerous cyclists. Ignoring red lights, pavements, no lights. I'm afraid that there are some absolute wa@@@r cyclists.

Blimey common sense post!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

They certainly can. I know that I can get pissed off sitting in a traffic jam on the M25. There are some really bad drivers these days, and certainly the majority of drivers simply drive too fast.

I also do a fair bit of cycling, and I can tell you there are some extremely arrogant, and dangerous cyclists. Ignoring red lights, pavements, no lights. I'm afraid that there are some absolute wa@@@r cyclists.

And therein lies the issue - there are w@nker cyclists and w@nker drivers - both break the law and both should be punished.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

I'd be more concerned that you concentrate on your own driving, rather than actively looking for trouble while driving to justify your faux-fury.

Polite question, are you personally affected by the Lewes Road congestion cos you seem to have a Large opinion on it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

You think it petty that road user are ignoring safety procedures put in place to protect injury & death?

Shame on you.

I actually think the slavish festishism which car drivers hold for cyclists and their heinous misdeamors more weird than petty. But I'm in a benevolent mood tonight so I'll brand you all as petty as opposed to perverted. I really do find the UK obsession with roads utterly bizarre. Your economy is ****ed...why not concentrate on this instead? No one gives a flying **** over here about such minor issues. Come walk the pavements with me and you will see cyclists riding freely on them and no one batting an eye lid. I will take you around Mitte where there are no road markings and car drivers act with courtesy and without the carnage you would have in the UK given a similar city centre situation. Please, for your own sake put things in perspective and context.

 

[The Large One]

No, cyclists do NOT pay road fund licence however you try to say otherwise. If I did not HAVE to own a car I would save on my road tax. A cyclist never would.

I never said cyclists paid for a road fund licence, nor a road tax, purely because it doesn't exist.

Which means that you don't pay it either.

However, we all pay for the roads via general taxation, motorists and non-motorists; cyclists and non-cyclists.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

My main gripe, I just wish they'd put in place a really good park and ride out by the stadium somewhere. I know that you can't use it on match days but all that space at Bennett's Field and Bridge Road going empty vast amounts of time. We could have a top class route into the city on the bus from there. I think at £3.50 a day, plus the reduced travel times it would be brilliant and people coming off the A27 from Lewes and down from Coldean all turning away from the city rather than into it. The infrastructure is all there now. As I said, would need to work out something on match days during the week but that's not impossible is it.

As an outsider, I won't comment on the merits (or otherwise) of the scheme itself, but you have hit the nail on the head for me. I cannot understand the opposition (especially from the Greens as I understand it) to a proper park and ride scheme. Other cities, most notably Norwich, Oxford and York, have well thought out schemes, and therefore are far less traffic plagued in their centres. I was in Oxford the other week, and though the High Street is still a bit of a pain, the lack of traffic, along with the beautiful architecture, makes the place a joy to be in. There are four park and rides, one for each major entry point into the city - I regularly used to use the Peartree one (junction of A34/A44) when coming in to shop for books as a student at Buckingham. I know that might not be practical in Brighton, but extra P&Rs say at Shoreham and next to the Amex could make a major difference.

From my own point of view, if I want to go to Brighton when I am in Sussex, I have two options: train from Three Bridges (expensive) or from Haywards Heath (now a complete pain to park, as the previous 4-hour parking spaces are now down to 2 hours), or driving to the Withdean P&R and taking the dreadful Number 27, which winds its way round Westdene before going down Dyke Road or the 5 buses (I know about them from our Withdean days, but others may not). These are both very poor value for money in my view if just on a journey in and out of town - yes I know they're fine if you're making several journeys. For me, it would be far more convenient to drive to the Amex and get a bus into town from there. Therefore, if I need shopping which is unavailable in East Grinstead, I usually go to Tunbridge Wells, which has plentiful and reasonably priced parking.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I actually think the slavish festishism which car drivers hold for cyclists and their heinous misdeamors more weird than petty. But I'm in a benevolent mood tonight so I'll brand you all as petty as opposed to perverted. I really do find the UK obsession with roads utterly bizarre. Your economy is ****ed...why not concentrate on this instead? No one gives a flying **** over here about such minor issues. Come walk the pavements with me and you will see cyclists riding freely on them and no one batting an eye lid. I will take you around Mitte where there are no road markings and car drivers act with courtesy and without the carnage you would have in the UK given a similar city centre situation. Please, for your own sake put things in perspective and context.

Maybe I should not have had this 10% beer, but hopefully you get my drift?