Advance Cycle Boxes

[jack]

Just before traffic lights, there is a cycle-lane like box the width of the main lane, in which cyclists can stop at lights without being rear-ended by cars.

0. Is there an official name for them? "Advance cycle box" is in my head, is is equally likely to be something else entirely, or made up.

1. What is the intended use if the cyclist approaches the traffic lights behind three cars? I feel it should be obvious what they're supposed to do, but admit I can't tell. Obviously if you can accelerate briskly to 20mph, there's no problem, but if you can't, or don't want to?

Undertake if there is a clear cycle lane, else wait in the queue? Always undertake if you can? (But it's not clear when the highway code permits undertaking.) Overtake if you can? (But this is unlikely to be possible.) Always wait? (But that leaves a frustrated driver behind you.) Dismount and cross the intersection from the pavement? (But that's annoying and takes several times as long.)

2. If it were safe to do either, which would delay the drivers least: moving ahead to the cycle box, or waiting in turn. One way, the drivers ahead go past, but the one behind probably misses the lights. The other, all the drivers are delayed until the road is wide enough to overtake safely again.

3. What do you do?

I feel silly for not knowing, but most of the time, it doesn't come up, either because there's not enough of a queue, or the road is wide enough to permit cars overtaking cycles safely. And then when it does, I don't actually know.

Comments

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

ah. take two little clicker things that timestamp clicks (do such things exist?), and stand by the lights - hm, three little clicker things - and click one of them when the lights change, one of them when a car goes through the lights, and one of them when a bicycle does. Spend about six hours collecting data, each day for a week, then feed it all to a computer and generate a model of accelerations and thingies.

three clickers would be inconvenient as most people only have two hands. perhaps there is a better way. maybe a laptop (with lots of battery) and a little recording program and three designated keys.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

LOL. I seriously considered doing that for a few hours, and just getting some informal estimates of how many cars normally go through the lights, and what normally happens if there's a bike.

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

fun for all the family. do it with livredor when she is visiting.