Back in 2010, Nottinghamshire County Council spent a whopping £350,000 on an accessibility scheme for Ruddington, which included installing cycle paths and proper footpaths on Wilford Road and Clifton Road. So you can understand villagers’ frustrations when they see cyclists using the roads or the new pedestrian-only footpaths in these areas of the village.
Driving on our village roads can be tricky at the best of times, but with the addition of (often wobbly!) cyclists in the middle of the road, it can be downright dangerous. The cycle paths were installed to help make things safer and keep traffic moving on these two busy roads, so why are they being under-used? The issue of cyclists using the pedestrian footpaths is a matter of courtesy as well as safety. These are much narrower than the cycle paths and mums pushing buggies or older people struggling with shopping trolleys don’t appreciate bikes whizzing past them at 20mph!
So what can we do to make sure our village cycle paths are used properly in the future? They’re certainly well-signposted, but it has been pointed out that the lack of bicycle/pedestrian demarcation lines after you’ve entered the village on Wilford Road could be causing confusion. We’d be interested to hear if the County Council has any suggestions for how we could improve cycle path usage, and therefore safety, on our village roads.
(By Faye Stenson)
Come back here in June to see cyclists’ response to this article.