Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
cyclists misusing the widened pavement on Endymion Road
Hello
At the start of the pandemic, the council realised that some pavements were too narrow to allow proper social distancing, so it asked for suggestions for temporary widening. The stretch of Endymion Road leading up to the vehicle entrance of Finsbury Park was one such area identified (and the council has now applied for this temporary measure to be made permanent: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/travel/transpo...). Shortly afterwards, temporary barriers appeared, meaning that it was possible to encounter families going in the opposite direction while maintaining a 2m gap. All good, then...
Except in recent weeks, renegade cyclists have begun to move the first barrier so they can cycle up the widened pavement. I keep closing the gap (as does at least one other pedestrian), but it keeps mysteriously opening up again.
So two things: if you're the cyclist who keeps removing the barriers, please don't. That space is designated for pedestrians, and as cases of coronavirus spiral out of control again, then it is important we are allowed to maintain our distance without having to walk into the road, especially as many of us are walking along that section of road on the way to the park with our children.
Second, does anybody have a contact at the council so I can take this up with them, please? Something more difficult to move might make the desired difference.
Thanks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by michaelw on
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There was a delay before the temporary entrance was opened - I wonder whether that period was when the widening was done?
I cycled passed the widened pavement this morning & it definitely means that you are in the centre of the traffic lane & anyone who wants to overtake you must go into the opposite lane, with a blind corner ahead. Not exactly a safe arrangement, unless drivers have the patience to wait behind cyclists (and the cyclists have the confidence to make them do it).
My main traffic incident this morning was a white van coming up endymion ignoring the fact that they have to give way to traffic on the mini roundabout junction...
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Permalink Reply by Muriel Zaccuri on
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Not bike friendly either the new gate across the baseball field. If you have a road bike you have to cross a not paved area and then do a slalom across a narrow exit
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Yes they took what was a cycle lane and gave it to pedestrians. When traffic is very busy there are often no pedestrians so I and other cyclists prefer not to have car drivers overtaking unsafely as we ride up the hill. My proposal would be to have many gaps in the barrier so that cyclists could move in and out of the barriers according to whether there are lots of pedestrians or lots of drivers.
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Hackney on
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I think Phil M is wrong on almost every point.
I see no evidence that the council wants to make this permanent the link Phil has given is for retrospectively funding going back to May in order to put the temporary barriers in place.
The barriers that are in place to present a real problem for cyclists where the road is made narrower. Any incident involving a cyclist is likely to result in injuries to the cyclist.
Where as the risk as you fleetingly pass other pedestrians of being infected by covid-19 is less than negligible.
Nice use of spin though to associate cyclists and Renegades in the same sentence.
The two people at the council most likely to do something about this Seema Chandwani and Kirsten Hearn. Seema used to respond on Twitter @cllrseema.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Almost 7,000 Covid deaths in London alone is hardly negligible Adrian.
The footpath is there and is there to cater for pedestrians. If that’s wrong have it changed, until then don’t ride on it. I think having a few hundred vehicles going up my road is wrong but I don’t express my displeasure by walking up the middle of the street
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Adrian said the risk of contracting covid-19 when briefly walking past someone is negligible, which is quite correct.
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Thank you.
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Like most people, I'm much, much more worried about the cars and the vans speeding in this area.
Pretending that 'those bloody cyclists' are posing a danger to you by nipping up a stretch of pavement is just silly.
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Permalink Reply by Phil M on
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Did I say "those bloody cyclists"? I'm not sure I did.
Did I say cyclists on the pavement were the worst problem in the world? No. I actually think that cars are a far bigger problem, if you're interested.
But I do believe that a minority of people cycling aggressively on pavements are a danger to pedestrians - that is why there are laws against it. Especially when that stretch of pavement is used by families going to the park.
I'm sure you don't like cars driving down designated cycle lanes, even ones travelling at 5mph and posing no existential threat to cyclists. So why should pedestrians have to accept cyclists on the pavement?
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I think the issue will come to a head when a car overtakes a cyclist in that section of road & has a head-on collision with a vehicle coming around the blind bend - or maybe swerves to avoid the head on collision and hits the cyclist(s).
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Permalink Reply by Mavic Starfish on
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A highly likely scenario given the way some drivers choose to use the roads round here, I see these kinds of highly dangerous manouveres everyday.
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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Cars drive in cycle lanes all the time. Despite objections from infrastructure experts most of the cycle lanes in Haringey are actually designed so cars can do that.
On the question "why should pedestrians have to accept cyclists on the pavement?" - I think we should be a bit tolerant of cyclists there because using a bicycle instead of a car for a trip is helping make the world a better place. It helps prevent people dying from pollution and all the other negative aspects of the automotives, it makes more space on public transport for those that need that and it causes less congestion on the roads for those that really need to use a car for a trip, and it helps prevent things like the end of the world from global warming.
And the people who cycle giving us all those benefits are literally risking their lives every time they cycle in a city where the infrastructure is largely not designed for cycling and the other traffic on the roads that cyclists are expected to use are often hostile to cyclists and quite often breaking the law with impunity by speeding or txt'ing etc putting cyclists at even greater risk.
Instead of putting all cyclists at greater risk because of an odd rare person who can cycle aggressively up this hill on the footpath lets fix the much more commonplace problem of excessive and dangerous car use by that footpath which causes cyclists to not want to be on the road there. A much better fix would be closing Endymion to through traffic.
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