Life in the Bike Lane

Apologies for not having updated this in a while, but I've been fairly busy. I thought I was overdue for me to give a bit of information about where I am. I'm living in York, which is an interesting little city. So far, the English weather has proven to be as fickle as a four year old's temper, and the Crowded House song "Four Seasons in One Day" isn't even close. Four seasons in one hour would probably be closer to the mark.

But the thing I'm posting about today is how York is so amazingly accommodating to cyclists. Coming from Canberra, which is supposedly a cyclist friendly city (although sometimes some car drivers seem to forget that), York wins unequivocally in providing for cyclists.

Not only do cyclists get bike paths on the side of the road, but cars actually give way to them instead of treating them as a mobile speed hump that gives them points in some kind of real-life Grand Theft Auto game.

However, the really unique thing is that cyclists get their own traffic lights. Yes, there's bicycle lights that go green when cyclists get their turn to go while all the cars are stopped for them to go through.

In some intersections, there's even little "bike-only" areas right at the front of the intersection, so the cyclists get to ride past all the stationary cars at the red traffic lights to their little buffer zone. Then, before all the cars get to go, the cyclists get a few seconds to get moving and through the intersection and get back in their bike line before the red lights disappear completely and allow the cars to move as well.

Of course, there has to be some drawback to all this cyclist generosity. And there is, but it's a fairly simply one. If you ride on the pedestrian footpath, you're liable to be hit with a 30 pound fine.