Magdalen Road at night

Magdalen Road at night
December 2010

Thursday 2 February 2012

Cycling and Cycle Safety in St Leonard's

The Times Cities fit for cycling As a cyclist in St Leonard's, I want to express my support for the campaign in this blog. I don't always endorse the views of the Times newspaper but the paper has put its weight behind a campaign. What are the problems for cyclists in St Leonard's? (1) Heavitree Road (outbound) where the traffic speeds because there are no residential properties and it "Looks clear". Turning right from Heavitree Road into College Road can be risky. (2) Bus drivers, taxi drivers and other motorists persistently ignore the rules about where to stop when there is an advance stopping lane (College Road, Matford Lane/Topsham Road, Wonford Road) (3) The owner of the small car which parks in the space for the cycle racks opposite the shops. (and the owners of motorcycles and motor-scooters ditto) (4) Holloway Street hill But, having said all that, St Leonard's is a great place to live if you are a cyclist. There are cycle racks in the Magdalen Road village. There are racks at the Pyramids pool. There are racks at St Leonard's church as well. There are reasonable cycle routes into the city centre. It is a flat ride to the hospital. The cycle route along the river and canal is easy to get to, and so one can cycle to Countess Wear, Topsham, Marsh Barton, Alphington, St Thomas, Exwick easily. The two major places of work in St Leonard's, Devon County Council and Exeter University are cycle-friendly employers with reasonable provision of racks.