Keynsham councillors say 'optical illusion' cycle lane still a risk

The "optical illusion" cycle lane was installed in March 2022

Not enough has been done to change an "optical illusion" cycle lane which has caused dozens of people to trip, campaigners say.

Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council installed a new cycle lane on Keynsham High Street in March 2022.

Since then, an estimated 100 people are thought to have tripped on it.

Councillor Paul Roper said the authority takes reports of all falls "extremely seriously" and that it was working on improving the cycle lane.

The Liberal Democrat councillor added that the cycle lane was built to the government's current LTN120 standards and four safety audits have been carried out.

The Lib Dem run council reviewed the design and painted the segregated lane red in a bid to make it more visible, in response to many people falling and tripping - some of them seriously.

Mr Roper said the measures resulted in a reduction of reported incidents, which are at an average of two to three per month.

"In the coming weeks, we will be removing the solid white line at the edge of the cycle lane, and replacing it with a broken white line and adding double yellow lines on the carriageway to create additional visual signals that there is a kerb," he said.

"This is subject to the completion of the road safety audit and to the weather conditions being adequate to allow for the installation to take place," he added.

Councillor Alan Hale said the lack of action from BANES council is "so frustrating"

But Alan Hale, a Conservative councillor for Keynsham South, said the local authority needed to do more.

"It's an utter pantomime," he said.

"You'd think with the best part of 100 casualties over two years, [BANES Council] would actually be doing something positive and firm.

"People will not stop falling and will not stop injuring themselves," he added.

Councillor Hal MacFie said: "We have to keep going"

Hal MacFie, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Keynsham East, said he was working to speak to every person who has fallen on the lane.

Like Mr Hale, he said the council needed to take more action.

"What we believe is happening is that people who live in Keynsham are very wary coming up here," he said.

"They know that if they just forget for a minute on one of those kerbs, it's going to go and they're going to go down with it.

"Those people either aren't coming [to town] or they're very cautious, but people from outside of town don't know about it and they're the ones who will start to go down."