One-way Streets.

Tue 2 Dec 2008, 16:15

The churchyard: as I'm fairly often to be found popping in and out of the church door I can see both the advantages and disadvantages of any scheme.

Clearly giving unfettered access to this stretch of path alone, when sharing the path isn't the norm elsewhere in Charlbury, could be troublesome. However, what could work would be a narrow strip on the far (non-church) side of the path, painted a different colour (red or green is standard), and with clear markings to indicate that cycles are to be found there.

This is a rough example of the sort of thing, though as I say, it would only be needed on one side of the path.

This could then be enhanced with judiciously-placed "Dead slow" signage at each end, perhaps a little post on the approach to the bend, and perhaps also a prohibition on cycling before 12.30 on Sundays.

I don't follow the "respect" argument, I'm afraid: cars regularly use the path to pick up and drop off. My reading of Christianity includes respect for God's creation, and enabling more Charlbury people to use a form of transport with a much smaller effect on the environment is part of that. In America they have a movement "What would Jesus drive?". It's not a big thing over here, but the Church of England, led of course by a sometime Charlbury resident, has very public concern on climate change.

The decision is, of course, that of the vicar and the PCC and there have not been any formal discussions as yet.

Brown's Lane: well, the reason people ride up the pavement is because they're not allowed to ride on the road! Flippancy aside, there is plenty of room for a car and a bike to fit side by side in the existing road space - there's a photo in the Bull showing two-way car traffic before the one-way system was put in. Only the buses use the whole road, and I think we can trust people riding a little bike not to try their luck with 15 tons of Stagecoach bus.

And if sharing the road encourages people to drive and cycle a bit more slowly, that in itself is a good thing.