Olympic Lanes................

Off-topic
1

Ignoring the legality of crossing into them and filtering on the white lane marker …
Please please be aware that we got a warning at work today that the paint used is slippier that normal road paint and that the powers that be have decided that there is a minimal risk to two wheeled road users but they sent the warning anyway.

Please be careful if you go over any of the new markings.

2

awesome, what a bunch of fuckwits they are.

3

Thanks for the heads up. Unbelievable that bikes aren’t allowed in the lanes anyway

4

The whole plan is a cluster fk of the highest order and this is no surprise.

Cheers Baz

5

Thanks Baz. FWIW, I was also warned about this today by a bike copper riding eastbound from Westminster. We got chatting because I asked him why he’s not in the lane - turns out that even the Police can’t use the lanes unless they’re on the blues and two’s. Then he mentioned that they’re telling folks not to cut onto the line, not because of the risk of fines (they apparently plan to use “common sense” with that, as long as you don’t affect olympic traffic), but because the line is likely to be worse than the “normal” stuff for slipping on.

6

and apart from that apparently they also have problems when they get wet, as in the colour comes off…

7

Thanks Baz

I did notice this a few days ago on the A4…

8

soooo…what happens when this f*cked up thing finally ends, are they going to be nice enough to remove the slippery lanes?

9

Can’t we lobby them to sort out the slippery lines before one of us gets killed?

10

That just seems completely stupid putting down slippery paint. I do hope no harm comes to anyone out there.

11

I think Colin may see an opportunity coming on ! :crazy:

12

I took a tumble just before the Sun in the Sands roundabout on Wednesday last week. I was in lane two, (not the Olympic lane) and a car suddenly moved out of the Olympic lane and braked hard. I had to brake and move into lane 1 to try and avoid hitting him. As I crossed the white line, the front washed out and I went down, it went down really fast. I didn’t feel that I was braking any near hard enough to provoke such a rapid loss of grip. I’ve been commuting in London for the past eight years so I think I can claim to have a rough idea of what I’m doing.

When I looked at the bike afterwards there was a watery, chalky mess on the side of the bike that touched down, so I think I can confirm that the lanes are very slippery when wet.

13

Surely if they’re painting the road with greasy paint and making it dangerous to ride on then they’re responsible when a biker takes a tumble after skidding on it?

14

The local authority has a duty to make the roads safe for all road users, but how it works with all the new Olympic road marking is anyone’s guess. They are not even recognisable road markings.

Bikers safety is so far down the list of concerns of the local authorities I can imagine you wouldn’t even get a response. The main attitude I have faced when I have contacted them about gravel on a part of my commute is ‘if you are stupid enough not to use a car or public transport then you deserve what you get’. OK I am paraphrasing but you get the gist.