“@Tatxtal

You're so far off the mark it's almost laughable. Statistically (source http://tinyurl.com/7thghuo , government figures) a pedestrian is under far greater threat of death or serious injury from a car than from a cycle. You are 236 times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle than by a cycle. In the past ten years, 7,600 pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles, only 29 by cyclists. (source http://tinyurl.com/7thghuo)

Furthermore, in the year to Sept 2010 17,430 cyclists were injured on the roads. As I said earlier, 80% of those can be expected to be the fault of a driver. Building cycle lanes off the roads makes perfect sense if you wish to lower casualties.

Motor vehicles are responsible for around 3000 deaths annually. Cyclists approximately 3 annually. If you're concerned for the safety of pedestrians your campaign should be directed at removing motor vehicles from the roads. Deaths and injuries caused by cyclists are almost negligible when compared to the carnage wrought by cars on a daily basis.”

“Yet another Dumb idea by a Dumb Council!
And at what cost?
Mixing Cyclists with holidaying pedestrians is a recipe for trouble .
Torbay Council should be prepared for claims for injury's or even deaths.
And yes the council will be responsible a risk assessment was not carried out as required by the Dept for Transport, nor it appears have the proper procedure been carried out for such a bylaw or at least no record of it is in Hansard that I can find.
Once again the council still thinks it can make its own Laws and to hell with Westminster.
Trev”

“Unfortunately the levels of ignorance are far too great for any legislation.”

“@ MrPPreston

I hope pedestrians stick to their paths and don't wander all over the road and bike lane.”

“There will be carnage here in the summer, as people amble across the cycle path eating ice cream and cyclists assume a lick of paint on the road makes them indestructible.”

“I hope that the contraflow cycle lanes will respected by other users. The day after they were painted/installed a SW Water vehicle was parked in it blocking the lane. It will take time for cyclists to work out the contraflow system and for others to respect the system but surely it is a positive small step forward.”

“We can only hope that the cyclists respect this route and use THEIR LANES ONLY and do not creep onto the footpaths and pavements etc used by those on foot.
The worst culprits in my view are those family groups (Mum, Dad and two children) where the parents ride all over the place causing danger and risk of injury to those on foot. Not a good example to their children.
The final issue is that now there is one section where cyclists can ride they will assume they, the cyclists, can ride along any section of the Esplanade and not just the length between Paignton Club and the Redcliffe Hotel.”

“@Sparro.

No, speed kills. Again, any traffic cop - and traffic cops have to deal with accidents and their causes every day - will tell you that speed is the single most common cause of serious accidents in this country. Reducing speed reduces both the frequency of accidents and the seriousness of the injury when one does happen. It also allows you to stop in time to prevent an accident more easily. The European road Safety Observartory (http://tinyurl.com/6sy84n6) shows that a 1km/h increase in speed results in a 3% increase in accident risk.

Police drivers are very much the exception, they're highly trained, as you say. They're also highly visible and have very loud sirens. Even if speed weren't a factor, you can't use police driving as an example that it's not.

I have a number of advanced qualifications for both driving and motorcycle riding. One of my motorcycle training sessions was given by an ex armed response cop. The message was always very, very clear; speed kills, stick with the speed limit.”

“"Milesnagop", think you are wrong when you say speed kills, it`s the car that kills, with a drivers help. Just look at the police driver`s, they speed at 150mph sometimes, but are trained drivers, the same as some of the public.
I think it is lack of concentration , that cause`s accidents, & not speed. I was trained by a ex police instructor, who told me, " any fool can drive at speed, but I will teach you how to drive at speed safely". Those words have stuck with me for the last 50 safe years.”

“Duh .. Fleet street, not fleet walk.”