![\"Cycle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cycle-lane.jpg\" "\\"Cycle")
Cycle lane.jpg (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n
Their results,\u00a0published in the Transportation Research journal<\/a>, found that street users were strongly in favour of physical separation between both cyclists and vehicle drivers, and cyclists and pedestrians. The opinion was\u00a0shared regardless of the attitude held by street users towards the purpose and planning\u00a0of\u00a0street\u00a0infrastructure.<\/p>\n For example, street users who wanted road design to prioritise the physical transportation of people as efficiently as possible were in favour of physical separation between the different modes of street users. So too were road users\u00a0who wanted streets to be ‘places’ to stop and visit, with adequate seating for pedestrians, and traffic-calming methods that you would expect to find in a low-traffic, liveable neighbourhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n Physical separation between the different types of road users was described as being particularly importance.\u00a0“When walking and rolling, some people feel intimidated in streets where space must be shared with cyclists or motor vehicles,” the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n “As well as consensus across the viewpoints, more than half of participants overall agree that if physical separation between cyclists and motorised traffic, and between pedestrians and cyclists were present, they would be able to choose to use that street or route.”<\/p>\n >\u00a0\u201cPolitically correct\u201d cycle lane plans would put \u201ceconomic vitality\u201d of town at \u201cserious risk\u201d, warns Labour MP \u2013 due to loss of six car parking spaces<\/a><\/p>\n The study also found that integrated pedestrian routes with cars and bicycles\u00a0caused visually impaired street users to feel “intimidated” sharing the space and often needed support\u00a0to safely walk down the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other initiatives broadly supported by the focus groups\u00a0included low traffic speeds, smoother surfaces and more direct walking and cycling routes that are at least as or more direct\u00a0than routes made in a car.<\/p>\n >\u00a0Reducing speed limits to 20mph protects cyclists and doesn\u2019t delay traffic, new research finds<\/a><\/p>\n Whether a street is considered as a journey tool or a destination itself impacts its perception among street users. But the support for greater separation between different road users does not match with the views of policy makers and professionals. The participants from this study included the\u00a0police, a local highways authority, the Department for Transport and an MP who is a member of both the Transport Select Committee and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling and Walking.<\/p>\n >\u00a0MPs demand lifetime driving bans and stricter phone laws to address justice system “failing” families of those killed in collisions<\/a><\/p>\n The researchers found that these professionals\u00a0“tended to focus narrowly on the area closest to their profession, particularly regulation and\/or design. The implication is that professionals are not thinking about the design, regulation and resulting behaviours within streets as holistically as they should be doing.”\u00a0<\/p>\n But despite the shortcomings in the overall design of road architecture, the paper also reported that, for those surveyed in the focus group,\u00a0“bad behaviour plays the most important role in creating streets that are hostile, except for people who use a mobility device, for whom inaccessible design is the biggest barrier.” There was also a lack of agreement among participants over the role regulation should play in determining the layout of roads and streets.<\/p>\n The study was conducted in and around Bristol, a city which earlier this year was rated among<\/a> the best cities in Europe for cycling with children\u00a0thanks to its early adoption of 20mph speed limits. However, the city has also been criticised for the “invisibility” of several bike lanes and the lack of segregation of its cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Bristol Council responded to criticism in May by announcing it would paint<\/a> several cycle lanes red.<\/p>\n![\"Pavement](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/dtgmt5xwaaaf9o.jpg\" "\\"Pavement")
Pavement parking (WMP\/Twitter) (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n