Author: MikeGinger

Free ‘safe pass’ vests available for local cyclists

Thanks to funding from Avon and Somerset Police Road Safety Fund, Taunton Area Cycling Campaign (TACC) has a new supply of their popular yellow hi-vis vests and backpack covers.
These can be obtained, free of charge, from My Carbon Coach, 18 Lower Middle St, Taunton TA1 1SF.  We are grateful to the owner, Tim Walker, for stocking these. We ask that people collecting vests and back pack covers leave their email address for us. This is so we can send you a short follow up survey on your experience of using them (for grant monitoring purposes). Your email will only be used for this purpose.

Example of hi-vis vest with the urgent request of keeping 1.5m distance when overtaking.

Ms Pip Sheard, TACC’S Chair says: “Many current vest users have commented that wearing them while cycling makes them feel safer with more drivers giving them space when overtaking.
Our supply of vests ran out but we had further requests. So, we applied to the Police Fund for a further grant to produce more so we can distribute them free. One cyclist told us that her hi-vis vest changed her life for the better.”

The Safe Pass advice is one of a series of safety messages in the recently updated Highway Code including  the Dutch reach. This is designed to get people to think twice about opening car doors into the path of cyclists.

TACC has also designed and printed Safe Pass road signs and hope that they will be used in new on-road locations this summer to alert motorists to the 1.5m safe pass advice. The Police have requested that Somerset Council install them on the A38 between Wellington and Taunton.

New cycle route through Coal Orchard

A cycle route via Coal Orchard is finally recognised on the ground, thanks to the former Somerset West and Taunton Council. The original planning application for Coal Orchard didn’t include a specific cycle link. TACC made a statement at the planning committee in 2017, which resulted in discussions with Council officers and their consultants and the plans were changed. Timely representation can work (sometimes)!
The new cycle link forms part of the railway station to Vivary Park proposed cycle route. Here are updates on other sections of this route:

Entry to Coal Orchard from St James Street

1. Upper High St crossing (High St to Vivary Park): will be re-aligned to better meet the pedestrian desire line, widened to 5.2m and will be a shared cycle and pedestrian and cycling crossing (Toucan). This looks like a real improvement. Now delayed from June 2023 until March 2024.

2. Market House roundabout: this junction is in second position on the 15 ‘hot spots’ of worst locations for cycling in the Taunton area. There are further delays on proposals that affect and potentially improve this much disliked junction. This is caused partly by renewal works planned by Wales and West.

3. St James Street to Goodland Gardens: the signalled crossing is to be replaced by a zebra and parallel marked cycle crossing. Now on hold.

4. Proposed River Tone cycle and pedestrian bridge to the east of the Morrison’s bridge: the idea is to link the town centre to the railway station via the Firepool Boulevard. There is also a planning application for the bridge, which you can see on the Somerset Council planning portal. The ref number is 38/22/0347. TACC has supported the proposal but considered that some design issues need to be addressed.

Trenchard Way works: no provisions for cyclists

Update (26 April 2023): The orginal shared cycle and pedestrian path on the south side has re-opened. The situation is much safer.

The new access into Firepool off Trenchard Way is being built. During the works, a long section of Trenchard Way is operating with shuttle traffic signals. A length of the shared footway on the south side of Trenchard Way is now rubble.
There is no provision for cycling and no information on how cyclists are supposed to get through the area.

Shared cyclepath/footway closed but no directions for cyclists.
Start of road works on western approach of Trenchard Way.
The footway during the works
Footway on Trenchard Way has sufficient space for temporary shared use.

Somerset County Council’s response

We sent a sketch proposal to Somerset County Council (SCC) asking that cyclists be allowed to use the footway on a temporary basis with priority to pedestrians, utilising the crossings at each end of the works. This was based on observing what most people seem to be doing, without problem. They replied as follows: ‘We have worked closely with the contractor to consider all temporary traffic management options, regrettably due to the lack of available width and the need to balance the needs of all users, it is not possible in this instance to safely accommodate cyclists through the temporary layout. Cyclists are therefore advised to dismount at either end of the works and follow the pedestrian route along the north side.’

It would take several minutes to walk along the footway, a significant time penalty and an unpleasant experience. Not surprisingly most cyclists are cycling on the footway. We’ve asked SCC to formalise this on a temporary basis, with priority for pedestrians. The combined flows are low but as ever, SCC say ‘no’.

Our personal experience

We’ve tried riding with the traffic. The first time, traffic was coming towards us in the narrow section before we were able to ride through (with traffic behind us). The signal timings didn’t allow sufficient time for a cyclist to clear the section affected.

The second time was even more farcical. Cycling westbound on Monday afternoon, we were the first to reach the signals. Another cyclist came up behind us. After waiting three cycles for oncoming traffic to come through, it was clear that cyclists aren’t even detected. We were forced to go back to a car waiting behind to ask the driver to come forward to be detected. It put us in a vulnerable position.

We then cycled through on the road as SCC won’t allow us to use the footway on a temporary basis, with a huge amount of impatient traffic behind. When we got to the end we were pretty desperate to rejoin the shared footway, but SCC had made no provision to do that, so we were stuck on the carriageway.

One of our group, an experienced rider, now avoids the route. Another reported that ‘I had to get to the station and used the footway on the northern side of Trenchard way approaching from the east and it was fine and very few, if any, pedestrians. I dismounted for one pedestrian in the narrow section near the lights at the eastern end of the workings as it was technically only a pedestrian walkway. But he understood why I was there and appreciated me dismounting for him. It shows that, consideration for others is key to success when people share the roadways.

Coming from the railway station, the situation for cycling is highly ambiguous. Cyclists seem to be invited to use the footway.
We also noticed that the push buttons for pedestrians aren’t working and we have reported this too.

Coming from the railway station with traffic lights
Coming from the railway station.
Cyclist on footway on Trenchard Way
We propose to allow temporary cycling on the footway.

Cycling on Trenchard Way – the user experience

To illustrate the issues we have with this scheme, we made the following video clips (all posted on YouTube).

1a. Cycling from west to east on the carriage way
Holding up traffic, cars trying to overtake as soon as they see a gap and passing too close.
View from front facing camera
View from back facing camera
1b. Proposed safe option using the footway
Coming from the station

2a. Cycling from east to west on the carriage way
Holding up traffic. When you reach the end of the roadworks, there is no dropped curb to rejoin the shared footway.
View from front facing camera
View from back facing camera
2b. Proposed safe option using the footway
From east to west

Market House cobbles: advisor offers Council low cost ideas

On 8 October 2022 TACC organised a protest to call upon Somerset West & Taunton Council (SWT) to make the road surface on the Market House roundabout safer. TACC thanks all who supported this.

Protest against the dangerous road surface of the Market House roundabout.The road surface of the Market House roundabout made of cobbles.

People have been hurt

The roundabout hasn’t been properly maintained since it was built in 1996. It is unfair that people are being hurt due to the Councils’ breach of duty of care at the junction. We know that crashes happen on this roundabout. Fiona Lewis referred to her injury in the Gazette (August 2022): “I had a nasty accident there on my way to work a few years ago – on a wet day, when a bus driver, having looked to check he was safe to pull out, decided an upcoming cyclist was something to ignore. As soon as I tried to swerve to get out of his way I was off – thrown in the air and landed on my helmeted head. I was wearing hi-vis, I was using sensible tyres. I was concussed for two days, which was a lucky escape.”

Independent advice

TACC has been contacted by Euan Clayton who is an independent safety consultant. He has been giving us advice on this issue. Given that SWT worry that their original scheme to improve the surface might need to be ‘ripped out’ in a couple of years, he has suggested a low cost interim scheme. Clayton has suggested a primer and powder which is applied to the required area, and this fills in all of the actual grooves, after which a high friction surface can be applied.
This would cost between £10,000 and £20,000 compared with the original budget of £1.4 million to improve the surface.

Duty of Care

In case the Council is sued for a breach of duty of care, compensating one slight injury could cost SWT money, valued at approximately £25,000 in 2020. The value of a serious crash with a lasting injury is estimated at £217,000. These amounts are substantially higher than the spending on improving the road surface.

We would very much welcome a face-to-face discussion with Councillor Mike Rigby to find a low cost interim solution. Possibly deferring the proposed replacement Goodlands Gardens crossing, given that a crossing already exists here.

Call to make Market House cobbles safer

Many people have told us that they find the Market House junction to be scary, and some people avoid the area with their bikes. This is due to a slippery and very uneven surface making it difficult to properly steer a cycle and hand signal. This is especially so when vehicles are in conflict with cyclists’ movements. We know that people have sustained injuries, either due to other vehicles hitting them or by slipping and sustaining a broken limb. By ignoring this danger for vulnerable road users for so many years, Somerset West & Taunton Council and Somerset County Council are both in breach of their ‘duty of care’.

On behalf on many cyclists, TACC is asking the local authorities to re-instate the funded scheme to improve safety for two-wheelers at this junction. This could be with an outer smooth surface in a colour matching the existing cobbles, retaining the central cobbles. Please support our petition. (We also have paper copies.)

The Market House roundabout with cobbles

Why is this important?

Yet it is the heart of town routes that people wish to use. It is one of the 15 hotspots from our 2016 user survey. It is part of the SWT proposed Vivary Park-Station route. Without greater safety here, this route will not be effective.
Here are just a few of over 60 comments  that we have received or seen:

‘Death trap as it’s so wobbly. Never risked going round in the rain.’

‘The cobbles are so bumpy and dangerously slippery in wet weather and makes it impossible to signal to other motorists where you are exiting. Both hands need to be on the handlebars to be able to maintain control of the bike.’

‘The cobbles and ridges between mean that the bike wheel gets stuck in the ruts and therefore difficult to steer. Need to hold very tight to handle-bars – therefore impossible to make signals to other road users. Also very prone to wobbling across the traffic because to the ruts.’

‘The cobbles are dangerous as I feel that my tyres will slip, especially in wet weather. Also, the jolting on my bike is uncomfortable and painful. I try to avoid cycling on this part whenever possible.’

‘Vibration through seat handle bars for no suspension bike. Also bad for walkers on carnival night.’

‘You have my full support on this issue-I was nearly thrown off on the cobbles adjacent to the bus lay-by last Thursday-light rain had made them quite slippery’

‘MotorBike tires slide during wet weather.’

View the complete list of comments » (as PDF) made in several media.

Somerset West & Taunton Council is pulling the scheme

We supported SWT’s High St Fund bid which included funding to provide a safer surface for cycling at the junction. We’ve been in discussion with SWT on how this would be designed, for several of years. Now SWT say they are pulling this project.

This is a major let down. They are pulling the scheme because bus priority measures are being considered for East Reach and this might affect the Market Street roundabout (although buses currently use the junction in all directions without issues).

Our feeling is that they have the funding and improvements have been planned for several years. SWT should keep to this. The funding is there to do it. SWT and SCC are in breach of a clear ‘duty of care’ to address safety problems that affect so many people and should address this.

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