In the 1980's and early 1990's I used my bicycle for nearly every journey within Southampton, only using my car for journey's outside the city and for a monthly large shopping trip. Then one frosty morning I got knocked off my bike and injured by a van driver. It took 8 months to recover from the injury, but I had lost my confidence in cycling on roads so started driving everywhere. As concern about climate change grew I started to use buses to get around the city and I have to say that the bus network is excellent. After a visit to friends in Cardiff who persuaded me to hire a bike and cycle around there excellent cycle path network which is mainly off road with the odd quiet street I decided that I would give cycling another go. However I am finding that the off road cycle network is very limited, and I can only get as far as Bitterne Triangle as the road over Cobden Bridge is very busy, and although it has a 'cycle path' this is only a white line on the road - there is nothing to prevent a car from crossing the line and hitting a cyclist so I do not feel confident using it. Further up the road there are bollards protecting cyclists from the traffic - it would be wonderful if these could be extended for the full length of the cycle track, or even better if we could have off road cycle tracks in the way that they have been implemented in Cardiff.
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