It's a (Death) trap!!!!

More ranting about the new cycle lane on Alfred St. It was launched, TV crew in attendance, a couple of weeks ago, since then it has proved useful and frustrating in equal measure, when it works, it works brilliantly, when it doesn't, it's frustrating at best and an utter death trap at worst. Firstly the "wands" meant to keep vehicles out, don't. There's a 6m gap between them, quite big enough to get anything smaller than a 7.5 tonner in between, in fact, since the wands are flexible, some bloody minded agency driver will probably drive over them with nothing more than a scratch to the bumper. The original #binlane is still a car park at night. Seemingly the powers that be chose the 6m gap as an experiment. Ok, it has failed, get some more wands in.

The absolute worst part of the whole scheme is the junction of Alfred Street and May Street, it is, in short, a death trap, sooner or later someone is going to be killed or seriously injured by a car turning left into May Street, this is despite the traffic light having a green arrow, a sign on the actual traffic signals and AHEAD ONLY painted on the ground in six foot letters.

Here's a few examples lifted from social media.

I blame the ambiguous signage, not the hard-pressed motorists (PLEASE TURN IN YOUR LICENCES) https://t.co/3dzz4Li9vG

— NI Greenways (@nigreenways) 1 April 2016

Alfred St cycle track update: guy in a Range Rover nearly hit two guys on @Belfastbikes, then near ploughed into me going the opposite way!

— Ellen Murray (@ellenfromnowon) 5 April 2016

#

Your driver (SFZ 7199) almost knocked me down making an illegal left turn Alfred St > May St in #Belfast @CannonHygieneUK #space4cycling

— Siobhán (@daisybella17) 5 April 2016

Clearly this is a problem that needs sorting out, as it is, it's an accident waiting to happen. Tweets to the PSNI Traffic account have went unanswered, it seems that rather than having a separate signal phase for cyclists top clear the junction, they lumped them in with the cars, hoping against hope that motorists would actually pay attention to the new rules. As it is, it's not if an collision occurs but when.

#AlfredStreetDeathTrap