Cycleways a failure NZTA should have seen coming
THE New Zealand Transport Authority is failing Dunedin. According to Simon Underwood, NZTA is completing ‘‘postconstruction audits’’ on the oneway system’s separated cycle lanes to identify any issues.
Usually, NZTA is good at seeing the black spots in its highway network and predicting what road users will do when they meet particular hazards.
With bike lanes, NZTA seems to have its own blind spot.
In September, NZTA said it was constantly reviewing this project to make sure it is as safe and efficient as possible. But it is obvious that not only are these cycle lanes generally not working but some of the issues are entirely predictable.
The issue of motorists coming out of McDonald’s and other like exits and nosing across the cycleway to establish when they can safely exit must have been predictable.
There is danger caused by the bottlenecks produced by the cycleways growing and shrinking as they wend their way along.
Where the lanes are wider, vehicles park in them and, in fact, sometimes drive along them to try to get out again.
The new red arrows controlling turning left while the green bike is lit are not being noticed, and in fact cyclists are riding straight across against the red cycle signal when the green light is lit for vehicles.
All of us take the most direct route to our destination, not always following road signs. Cyclists are even less likely to follow instructions than motorists since they can make sneaky little sorties and have no system of being identified.
Apparently, multiple issues have been raised by cyclists, including a decrease in safety, as more sections of the State Highway 1 cycle lanes are completed. Increased safety was the justification for the chaos. It has not been achieved.
Since bike riding is shown to increase only when people feel bikes are a safe method of transport, this has to be a fail.
And we have a regular cyclist who describes the journey along SH1 from Howe St to Stuart St as twice as long using the cycle lanes. In fact, all traffic is slowed in a forest of traffic lights. Manhattan isn’t as densely populated by traffic lights as North Dunedin is now.
We know all this. NZTA knows all this. The cycle user groups know all this.
But somehow NZTA has kept building these lanes despite the obvious issues.
Now we not only have faulty cycle lanes but we have the flowon effect of road rage incidents triggered by the frustration of both motorists and cyclists.
Critical Mass Dunedin (a group formed to reclaim public space and increase the visibility of cyclists) has joined the fray by riding as a group on the road where there are cycle lanes nearby. Their position appears to be that they have a right to be on the road and others should be respectful.
If it is the aim of NZTA to improve safety using cycle lanes, they could usefully remember that road users behave in predictable ways, not always lawful and prudent ways.
The cycle lanes need to be userfriendly, efficient, safer than other options and practical for commuting.
Cyclists should be encouraged to use the cycle lanes, not be encouraged to think all the world belongs to cyclists but only half the road belongs to cars.
We cannot demand that people respect others, especially when cyclists themselves are not necessarily following road rules.
We are more likely to respect each other as road users when we are safe and everyone uses the facilities provided.
This will only happen if and when the facilities are safe and efficient.
And when cyclists are also prepared to accept that other road users feel they have made considerable sacrifices in resources and vehicle use disruption in order to accommodate the offroad provision of cycleways.
Those who set NZTA up to attempt to create safe and usable cycleways without a thought of whether this was even possible need to take some of the responsibility.
As the SH1 cycleway building began, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull described the views of those valuing car parks over safety as ‘‘abhorrent’’. This refusal to listen to any alternative view has not served us well.
We now have a situation where cyclists aren’t happy, motorists aren’t happy, those wanting parks are not happy, and all for cycleways which amount to a prize not worth having.
Let’s hope we can salvage the current situation, and if not, have the courage and sense to remove the cycle lanes, preferably before we change them yet again with the hospital rebuild. — hcalvert@xtra.co.nz