Residents oppose cycle lane plans that would make cyclists “sitting ducks” for motorists accessing driveways

Locals from Coventry don't seem very pleased with the thought of a new cycle path... because they are concerned that motorists reversing into their driveways wouldn't be able to see the cyclists coming at them at 30 mph, making them "sitting ducks" for a collision.

Plans for the the last phase of the wider 6km Binley cycleway have been ongoing since the last couple of months. If the Clifford Bridge Road stretch is approved, it will link the centre with University Hospital.

Coventry City Council unveiled plans for a new design for the cycle — the third one they've come up with — at a public meeting attended by around 50 people earlier this week, reports the BBC.

Residents were informed that the council no longer planned to narrow Clifford Bridge Road to accommodate the cycleway. The council also said that more parking spaces will be made available in comparison to the original plan, with a kerb now separating the cycle lane from the pavement for much of the route.

> “Our roads will be safer if we all look a bit more”: Cycle lane plans “a recipe for disaster,” say residents – because reversing motorists can’t see cyclists “aiming at you at 30”… due to parked cars on road

However, the residents still voiced safety concerns for the cyclists, who according to them will be under threat from the drivers reversing into the driveways.

One local Dawn McCann, who's launched a petition against the plans, said: "I think they keep tweaking it to try and fob us off and not tackle the actual issue of safety.

"No one who lives on Clifford Bridge wants to run cyclist over, nobody would intentionally injure anybody, but the way the cycleway is being designed at the moment, all of those cyclists are sitting ducks."

In fact, McCann has been at the forefront of the campaign against the cycle lane since November when she claimed that collisions between cyclists and motorists were more or less inevitable.

“At the moment cars reverse on the pavement,” McCann said at a council meeting. "When you build the cycle lane, they will have to reverse across a footpath and a cycleway onto Clifford Bridge Road. Even if you reverse on Clifford Bridge Road [into the drive], between parked cars you don’t know if a bike’s coming."

"The visibility thing has been the main thing that the Clifford Bridge Road residents are worried about, I don't know how you get round that," she added. "If you're reversing out across [the cycle lane] with a bike aiming at you at 30, it doesn’t matter how many times you look, there are going to be collisions."

She added that driveways on that stretch of the road are "tiny" and the cycleway would be "relatively close" to them. "It's not because it's a cycleway, it's the positioning, of no vision at all," she said.

> "Traffic on road? Just use a cycle lane": Motorist facing court after speeding through segregated bike lane

The Binley cycleway had also been in the news after a motorist was caught on camera speeding through it, presumably using it as a way to dodge the traffic and sparking wide outrage amongst concerned cyclists. West Midlands Police later confirmed that the suspect had been identified and was facing charges.

Meanwhile, Labour councillor Robert Thay raised concerns about how the scheme would work at rush hour.

“They’re going to increase the amount of cyclists, you’re going to be trying to get out when cyclists will all be piling to the hospital, and you won’t be able to see them,” he said.

“So you will have to reverse back blindly, hoping that there’s not all of these cyclists who are apparently going to be using the cycle path onto Clifford Bridge Road.

“It’s a recipe for disaster between half seven and half eight in the morning and half four and half five in the evening, because they are the busiest times on that road.”