Wednesday 4 November 2009

Autumn leaves

A little earlier on today I posted an item about oil slicks, or rather their lack of them if you cycle on cycle paths instead of roads.

The discussion in the comments on that post moved on to the problem of leaves on cycle paths and roads creating difficult and dangerous conditions for cyclists. Of course, cycle paths are swept regularly here in Assen.

Here's a photo of the end of a cycle path in the city, where cyclists turn onto a minor road. You can see from the continuation as a walking route on the other side of the road how it might look by now if not for the regular sweeping. The corridor of trees is the same on this side of the road. Actually it's probably thicker. You can make up your own mind by looking at a view in the opposite direction from the same point.

It's essential to have good maintenance of cycle paths if they are to encourage people to cycle.

2 comments:

Jason Tinkey said...

just last week, my bike slid out from under me when attempting to brake over wet leaves in the bike lane. luckily, i wasn't going very fast or it could have hurt much more than my pride. in chicago, bike lanes are generally not swept even if the rest of the street is, and in winter snow is plowed into them rendering many streets impassible until a thaw. something to look forward to in the coming months.

Unknown said...

Looks like a beautiful spot to walk mind you.

But you sure can see the difference that's for sure.