ring road. However, I never use the cycle path because I consider it to be one
of the more dangerous cycle paths in Oxford. It is not wide enough for two
cyclists to pass alongside each other, yet cyclists often travel along it in
the wrong direction. Most days you will find pedestrians walking in it, and at
the start and end of the school day you will usually find young schoolchildren
in the path. Cars reverse out of driveways across the path with little to no
warning, and there are also bus stops in the cycle path, which encourages those
waiting for buses to wait in the pathway. The cycle path is also in poor
condition in several places (with trees in the middle of the path!), and there
are a number of roads that cross the path (including the entrance to the health
centre), which brings cyclists into unexpected conflict with cars. On top of
all this, I tend to cycle at a speed which isn’t far off the speed of the
traffic on the road, so I consider it safer for all concerned if I cycle on the
road.
Tonight a car driver took it upon himself to pass me dangerously closely, wind
down his window and strongly encourage me to move onto the cycle path. Although
this sort of verbal abuse is relatively rare, I have been beeped several times
and suffered close passes for the same reason, and it feels like this is
happening increasingly frequently (I should add that I have multiple lights,
front and back, and fluorescent clothing, so I am very visible). It is
obviously perfectly legal for me to be cycling in the road and I am reluctant
to switch to the more dangerous cycle path unless this is significantly
improved.
I guess my question is this: am I alone in thinking that this path is
dangerous? If there are others who have a similar view on this, it is probably
worthwhile for them/me/us to make our feelings known to the council. I have yet
to report any of this on fixmystreet as it seemed like too big an issue – it
would likely be ignored as it can’t be easily fixed. If any other cyclists
could share their thoughts on this path it would be appreciated.