The members of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain believe that high quality cycling infrastructure that is separated from motorised traffic by a curb or verge is the way to fix the dangers of our road network for vulnerable road users.

The reasons for this are many fold, but the most obvious is that if a 120 lbs of human on a bicycle is put in a place where 4800 lbs truck can’t get to them without jumping a curb or a red light, then the likelihood of the cyclist being crushed to death under the wheels of said truck are minimised. This not only leads to safer roads, but to a perceived level of safety that actively encourages people to leave their cars at home and to get on their bike instead.

As part of the Cycle Embassy policy bash from last month, a group of wannabe road designers (myself included) grabbed some pens and stood around a flipchart and Google Streetview to look at what changes the Embassy would advocate to be made to street junctions in general and to one specific roundabout in particular, the one on the A81 north of Glasgow where experienced cyclist David “Magnatom” Brennan was almost crushed by an articulated truck whose driver hadn’t seen him.

The outcome of this exercise was a set of drawings depicting different ways to improve things at this 5 fingered roundabout situated on a major single carriageway trunk road.

I’ve recently finished drawing up these diagrams into an illustration that demonstrates the improvements based upon best practice from Holland that the CEoGB would advocate for in the UK.

Now it’s hard to see all the detail and impossible to read the yellow callout descriptions (click to see it full size), but here’s the key points that make this layout different from the what you usually find in the UK.

• Cycle lanes become uni-directional cycleways as they approach the junction, leading cyclists around the roundabout without having to compete with turning motor traffic.
• Vehicle speeds have been decreased by tightening the radii of the arms of the roundabout. A central tactile surface run-over area has been added to provide space for turning trucks and buses.
• The two minor arms of the roundabout have been de-prioritised to give priority to cycles and pedestrians and vehicle speed has been decreased by bringing motor vehicles up steeply to the pavement level and by continuing the pavement paving across the junction.
• Where pedestrians and cycles cross the main carriageway, clear vision is provided for vehicle drivers so they can see and react to crossing traffic in advance of the crossing.
• Space between the roundabout and the crossings at the arms is large enough for a vehicle to wait without blocking the crossing or the roundabout.
• Pelican and cycle crossing lights are provided across the main A81 road controlled by both a push button and a detection loop in the cycleway.
• To avoid conflict with the buses, the cycleway runs behind the bus stop before re-merging with the main carriageway.

One criticism that the CEoGB receives from existing experienced cyclists (the 1% modal share, aka, the “vehicular cyclist”) is that we’ll be advocating for more crap UK infrastructure that cyclists won’t and shouldn’t want to use, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We want cycleways and traffic calmed routes that cyclists of all calibers would be crazy not to use, even hugely experienced cyclists like David.

This weekend, a selection of ambassadors from the CEoGB will be in Glasgow dodging the rain, crewing the fat, and looking at the state of cycling in Scotland as part of our ongoing mission to make our towns and cities better for people. David “Magnatom” Brennan will be with them.