Shaldon Road Advanced Suicide Lane

This is Shaldon Road. Behind the camera is a path leading to the Farm Pub Path -Shaldon Road is the main route from that path to Lockleaze and hence UWE. As and when the "new" North Fringe route gets rolled out there will be one less steep, but it will still suffer from the problem of getting over Muller Road, of which this is one of the junctions.

What is that bus in? That's right, an Advanced Stop Lane.

Now, some people, and Crap Cycling & Walking in Waltham Forest spring to mind, would fault this bus for endangering cyclists. We do not. Not just because we view cyclists as tax-dodging troublemakers, but we don't think bicycles should be using this ASL on safety grounds. Remember, the primary route on this road for a bike is straight on, towards Ashley Down, Horfield, St Andrews and St Werburghs. No cyclist planning of surviving their commute back from UWE should use the bike stop lane. They should hang back.

Here is a video showing why, taken from the other direction.

Note how buses turning left swing round to completely scrape clear the ASL of bicycles? And while someone could try sticking to the far right of it, vehicles turning from Muller Road into Shaldon Road will get them there.

Once upon a time, this ASL was actually wider, yet its right hand side was removed to eliminate the illusion that this was a safe place to loiter. It would seem to us that painting out the rest of the ASL would benefit everyone.