CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

  1. bakky
    Member

    Yes fair enough. And on occasion companies actually do what they should and progress internally.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  2. the canuck
    Member

    Especially with footage.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  3. pringlis
    Member

    Had cause to cycle through Holyrood Park for the first time in years as kids are at the Dynamic Earth Summer Club. Shocking amount of dangerous overtaking going on downhill on Queen's Drive. I was going down at ~22mph, cars in front of me going faster probably around 30mph, and I was overtaken twice by cars which passed not just me but the car in front! It's a 20mph limit... I'll maybe use the separate cycleway next time, skipped as it was full of large groups of European teens wandering around.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  4. ejstubbs
    Member

    Normal for that stretch of road, I'm afraid. I always get overtaken when I'm on the bike, even when I'm doing 30-odd mph on the steepest bits (and even then not catching the motor vehicles ahead of me). On the rare occasions when I'm driving I stick to 20mph (actually not difficult with cruise control) despite intimidation from drivers (often of commercial vehicles, which shouldn't be there) who tailgate aggressively until the merest hint of a whisper of a gap appears in the oncoming traffic, at which point they have to pass at ~twice the limit to get their overtake completed in time.

    (Actually, though, the experience I've had on that road which was closest to resulting in collision/injury was at the Dynamic Earth roundabout, when a driver approaching from DE failed to see a 6ft tall bloke on a bright green bike wearing a hi-viz yellow jacket and helmet ditto coming until the very last second. We both braked hard to a stop, and he did have the good grace to apologise before we each went on our respective ways.)

    I don't think enforcement is the solution on that stretch of road, given the polis' apparent reluctance/lack of resources for meaningful enforcement of any road traffic laws. Occasional clampdowns don't seem to prevent it being essentially a jungle out there. Just ban motor vehicles (with the possible exception of emergency vehicles on a shout) from roads through parks.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  5. Frenchy
    Member

    I was pleasantly surprised to find a driver doing <30mph the last time I went that way, even though they certainly weren't doing 20. Then I realised that the reason they were going "slowly" was that they'd been taking photos of the Crags out their window.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  6. EdinburghCycleCam
    Member

    RE: Queen's Drive - that's on my daily commute to work, and I also always get passed by drivers well in excess of the 20 mph limit during rush hour.

    I tried contacted HES, who shrugged and said there's absolutely nothing they can do (Apparently closing the road to motor vehicles isn't an option because Edinburgh City Council are concerned about traffic being displaced onto side streets (which are also 20 mph...)), and I should contact Police Scotland.

    Police Scotland say they can't do anything about speeding with video evidence because there's no proof what speed they were going at (which is nonsense), and they don't have the resources to just sit there all day, and told me to report speeding to 101 every time it happens, so they can get an idea of how bad the speeding is. When I said that'd mean making 3-4 reports every day, they said that's fine. I tried twice and both times the call handler arranged a diary appointment for 2 officers to come to my house, look at the footage, and then tell me that they can't do anything about speeding based on video footage. A complete waste of everyone's time.

    I now make do with shouting certain 4-letter words and showing them the number 2 with my index and middle finger, and then the number 0 by slowly shaking my mostly-closed fist.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  7. chdot
    Admin

    Why can’t large and frequent speed bumps be introduced?

    (With a metre or so gap from the kerb.)

    Posted 1 week ago #
  8. pringlis
    Member

    The whole of Holyrood is a scheduled monument so any changes such as speed bumps have to go through onerous approval, including the road apparently. (Source: Car Free Holyrood ). Plus HES would have to fund it, and they're a bit cash strapped. Though why they're happy to maintain a road through the park at no gain to them that I can see is beyond me.

    Closing to through traffic really is the best thing to do, using the existing infrastructure.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  9. chdot
    Admin

    Thanks

    Obviously I agree with this!

    “Closing to through traffic really is the best thing to do, using the existing infrastructure.“

    Posted 1 week ago #
  10. pringlis
    Member

    Not to derail the thread but I was incorrect on the scheduling - https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/apex/f?p=1505:300:::::VIEWTYPE,VIEWREF:designation,SM13032

    The top 50cm of all roads, pavements and car parks are excluded from the scheduling to allow for their maintenance. The scheduling excludes all structures, fences, fittings and street furniture built after 1950, all flights of steps built after 1950 and the top 30cm of the ground beneath such steps.

    So it doesn't seem like that would be a barrier to adding speed bumps.

    Posted 1 week ago #
  11. chdot
    Admin

    Good find

    Posted 1 week ago #
  12. Frenchy
    Member

    There's currently what appears to be a mobile speed camera in Holyrood Park. Near the Meadowbank car park end, which isn't where I'd put one if I wanted to catch as many speeding drivers as possible, but still good to see.

    Posted 1 week ago #

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