metDec2012

NOTES OF HFCYCLISTS MEETING
Tuesday 4 December, 7.30pm
At the home of John Griffiths
122c Edith Road, West Kensington W14 9AP

PRESENT:
John Griffiths, Ken McCosh, Ayse Kardes, Alex Ingram, David Marsh, Paul Saunderson, Alan Rowden, Susie Gretz, Janusz Carmello, Shirin Kahn.

APOLOGIES:
Natasha Herriott, Petrina Beaufoy Helm, Sima John

1] HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE

The Council intends putting lines and cycle logos on the bridge next week, or at least before Christmas. This was suggested by the leader of the Council Cllr Nick Botterill on our ride with him on 28 June 2012.

John had a meeting with Chris Bainbridge, Graham Burrell, and Slobodan Vuckovic of LBHF on 25 October 2012 to discuss how this should be done. We decided to put a logo before each pillar as you go across, ie 4 logos as go in one direction. John had to insist that the logo should be near the centre of the lane, and not next to the kerb. The drawings now show only 2 logos going across, before the first and third pillar. This means that there is to be no logo for the second and fourth pillars as you go across. This is where less confident cyclists sheltering outside the traffic stream will be trying to rejoin it.

Chris has said this drawing has been approved by Cllr Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler, so that is what is going to happen. John has sent Chris an email saying that he considers this to be a failure of the consultation process.

[The London Cycling Design Standards at 6.4.4 advises logos to be spaced every 10m to 30m when used in a main road without cycle lanes. For high stress cycle lanes the recommendation is every 10m to 20m. The pillars that are close to each other are about 50m apart.]

Graham Burrell has kindly sent John a copy of the radar speed data for the bridge. It shows traffic are going quite fast. For example on weekdays going southbound between 10am and 3pm, and northbound between 11am and 4pm, 15% of the vehicles are going at more than 25mph. There really is a case for having a 20mph limit on the bridge, especially if cyclists are expected to take prominent riding position and hold the lane.

2] CYCLE SUPER HIGHWAY 9

See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/CSH9.htm for background.
LBHF are going to be designing this for TfL. The engineer will be Slobodan Vuckovic. TfL are expecting to have consultations in April of next year.

David pointed out that east of Fulham Palace rd the shared use route goes through a very, very small gap between railings and a structure built around a support pillar for the flyover.

3] BORIS BIKES
Alex has been following up on the consultation on these. The map of the planned sites is here
http://democracy.lbhf.gov.uk/documents/s21701/Borisbikes%20App%202%202012_06_27%20A1.pdf

Mostly the southern part of the borough, east of Shepherds Bush rd and south of King st. Brackenbury village is missing from the general shape.

TfL are restricted in only really being able to use Highways or TfL land. In one case they are taking out a couple of car parking bays. Alex is following the planning applications.

4] SHEPHERDS BUSH GREEN

All the paths on the Common are shared use paths. The outer path on the south and west side has a bevelled edge leading down to the kerb. The angle of this bevel is 12 degrees or greater in some places. This has been a cause for concern. See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/camber.htm

Simon Still has just sent in his comments on SBG
See http://www.hfcyclists.org.uk/SBGSimonStill.pdf

John understands that Marlene Pope [the project manager] and Chris Bainbridge and others were going to look at the problem the day after our meeting.

The Council have identified the drops down to drains as a hazard and intend putting railings around these drops.

John considers the slope leading down to the road will be most dangerous when the ground is frozen and there is a light covering of snow. The edge of the slope may be hard to distinguish then. Also because the coefficient of friction of rubber on ice is less than 0.15, under these circumstances any person or wheel venturing upon it, is likely to slip away into the road.

[ If the tangent of the slope is greater than the coefficient of friction, then a mass will slide on that slope. The tangent of 12 degrees is 0.21.
Coefficient of Friction for rubber on dry concrete/asphalt=1.0
Of rubber on wet concrete =0.3
Of rubber on ice sources give in range 0.05 to 0.15 ]

5] HOW PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN OUR GROUP

Alex is looking into incorporating a blog into the website.
Ken and Alex are looking into a source of cardboard holders for leaflets.
Janusz will help deliver any leaflets we have by bike.

6] 20MPH default speed limit.

Susie and Paul noted that 4 boroughs in North London were closer to introducing a 20mph blanket speed limit. The F&H Chronicle reported on 5 December 2012 that LBHF have recently rejected a 20mph default limit, in a motion brought by the Green Party. See http://tinyurl.com/c2hoewo

6]

V B-F
When John gave the PowerPoint presentation before the Scrutiny panel on 10 September 2012 Cllr Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler said she would like to keep up a dialogue with us. The group thought this would be a good time to renew our acquaintance, and John will contact her to try and arrange a meeting.

5] RIDES, EVENTS, ETC?

SUNDAY 9 December. 10.30am.
Annual ride to White Cross in Richmond to meet other groups for lunch.
Meet on the platform overlooking the Thames at the end of Queen Caroline st, almost under Hammersmith Bridge. Ride to White Cross in Richmond for our traditional Xmas Lunch. Travelling along the north side of the river, via Syon Park. [Not so muddy] When we get to the White Cross pub in Richmond we will meet up with riders from a number of other boroughs in S W London. Please bring lights and hi-vis wear for journey back as it may be dark. Some people may come by other means and join us at noon at the White Cross, upstairs
Please let Janusz know if you expect to be coming.
Contact: Janusz Email: januszcarmello [at] hotmail.com
Telephone: 020 7386 5940 / 07809 611 077

Natasha would like to lead a ride on 27 December. And also possibly on one day on the weekend of 19/20 January. More later.

6] EXPENSES
Refreshments John had expenses of £26.38 + £2.69 = £29.07

7] DATE / PLACE NEXT MEETING
Tuesdauy 8 January at 7.30pm
At the home of Ken McCosh.
12 Stanwick rd W14
07979 703 570
Mccosh[at]postmaster,co.uk

John Griffiths [chair / co-ordinator] 020 7371 1290 / 07789 095 748
john@truefeelings.com
OUR WEBSITE www.hfcyclists.org.uk