Tuesday 8 January 2008

Beware!

Not all water-filled craters in the carriageway can be blamed on the Council. But I think this one can be. And there are literally hundreds of them all over the Borough. And this one, on Folkestone Road E17, is hazardous in two ways. Firstly, this is one of those narrow roads with parking on both sides. There is just room for an average sized car to safely pass a cyclist. Which means that if you swerve to avoid the pool of water there's the possibility that you'll be hit from behind by an overtaking car. Most drivers on roads like this show no consideration for cyclists and tend to pass at speed. They certainly show no awareness that a cyclist might not always cycle in a straight line.

Secondly, of course, is what happens if temperatures drop below zero...

So while on the one hand the Council claims to want to promote cycling, on the other it discourages it by failing to safely maintain cycle lanes and road surfaces.