Author Topic: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report  (Read 2759 times)

Petition to the government:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49196

Currently on 2,574 signatures, and it needs 100,000. It's being pushed heavily by the Times, the CTC, Chris Hoy, etc.
Have you seen my blog? It has words. And pictures! http://ablogofallthingskathy.blogspot.com/

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #1 on: 24 April, 2013, 10:59:10 am »
It was at 3000 when I signed and over 4000 when I got the confirmation e-mail, so it is filling up quite quickly.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #2 on: 24 April, 2013, 11:46:47 am »
5,200 and counting ...
Allow me to explain through the medium of interpretive dance

Pedaldog.

  • Heedlessly impulsive, reckless, rash.
  • The Madcap!
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #3 on: 24 April, 2013, 07:32:40 pm »
I was going to post the link but you beat me to it!

Signed and forwarded.
You touch my Coffee and I'll slap you so hard, even Google won't be able to find you!

Speshact

  • Charlie
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #4 on: 25 April, 2013, 07:41:21 am »
20,000 signed it yesterday!

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #5 on: 25 April, 2013, 08:02:50 am »
Done. 21,187 now.

Flynn

  • Fred Killah
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #6 on: 25 April, 2013, 11:53:24 pm »
Get Britain cycling, make roads safer for cycling… but BBC news only concerned with something else… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22297750

 ::-)
ap·a·thy  (p-th)
n.
1. Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #7 on: 26 April, 2013, 09:52:57 am »
Get Britain cycling, make roads safer for cycling… but BBC news only concerned with something else… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22297750

 ::-)

I can't get the video to play from here at the moment (lovely office environment).   From the text under it though it looks ok and in line with what we'd want?    i.e. cycling is safe and we don't need to balance plastic hats on our heads to magically ward off collisions.

Quote
Transport minister Norman Baker said he does not wear a helmet while cycling, saying he does not feel the need for one, as it was a "safe activity".

He agreed with Olympic cycling gold medallist Chris Boardman - who made a Daily Politics film promoting cycling without wearing one - who claimed cycling was safer than walking.

They agreed that making helmets compulsory could mean fewer people took up cycling.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #8 on: 26 April, 2013, 10:52:50 am »
Get Britain cycling, make roads safer for cycling… but BBC news only concerned with something else… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22297750

There was a brief piece near the start of yesterday's 'You & Yours' on Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s0qmv
Followed by one on cyclists using 'Polite' hi-viz and one near the end on bike hire scheme in New York.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #9 on: 26 April, 2013, 11:20:06 am »
Get Britain cycling, make roads safer for cycling… but BBC news only concerned with something else… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22297750

There was a brief piece near the start of yesterday's 'You & Yours' on Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s0qmv
Followed by one on cyclists using 'Polite' hi-viz and one near the end on bike hire scheme in New York.

I was disappointed to hear Julian Huppert (joint chair of the Parliamentary Cycling Group) say segregated cycle lanes are the way forward.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Si

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #10 on: 26 April, 2013, 04:46:16 pm »
I was disappointed to hear Julian Huppert (joint chair of the Parliamentary Cycling Group) say segregated cycle lanes are the way forward.

They were, for better or worse, proving to be very popular at the Cycle City Expo yesterday.  The TfL(?) woman was fence sitting but the Times bloke was full-on behind them, as were various city planners and so on.  And in the session, at least the ones I went to, there was plenty of people putting up photo-shopped images of how they'd like this road to look, complete with segregated lane - some wide(ish), others pretty narrow.  At least they hadn't photo-shopped any lampposts into the middle of them.

Personally I used to be against segregated lanes and all for everyone riding on properly policed roads.  But since working on a project that introduces newcomers to cycling I can see the major benefits they bring in the form of actually encouraging those, who wouldn't otherwise do so, to get on their bikes.  Of course, there's still no excuse for crap/dangerous design.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #11 on: 26 April, 2013, 05:30:22 pm »
Personally I used to be against segregated lanes and all for everyone riding on properly policed roads.  But since working on a project that introduces newcomers to cycling I can see the major benefits they bring in the form of actually encouraging those, who wouldn't otherwise do so, to get on their bikes.  Of course, there's still no excuse for crap/dangerous design.

I have never been for or against segregation.  I am always pro- designs that are safe and that benefit cyclists, and unfortunately the drawbacks of segregated lanes often mean they get my thumbs down  :-\

There's a good example I saw the other day.   
Quiet residential road, albeit signed as the main route to the sea.
Centre line removed.
Wide cycle lanes painted.

Because the road is now too narrow for two way traffic, signs have been erected advising drivers to enter the cycle lane with care to pass.

Because it's a residential road, the advisory lanes are usually blocked with legally parked cars.

The net result is that priority and convenience of use of the road has been transferred from cyclist to driver.  Whereas prior to the painting of the segregation the car driver had to give way to the cyclist and not overtake if the cyclist was pulling out around a parked vehicle, now the cyclist has to give way to the overtaking vehicle as the cyclist is changing lanes (in much the same way on a dual carriageway a motorist cannot pull out into the path of faster traffic, but wait for a gap).

In my view, having seen so much segregation, the more of it that is implemented the more we are surrendering our rights to cycle and bowing to the future of unimpeded motor traffic flow.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #12 on: 26 April, 2013, 05:37:47 pm »
Nutty, I haven't read all this thread, so I'm unclear if what is meant by "segregated" is "separated by a thin piece of paint", which seems to be the case you are describing, or with kerbs and so on, which sounds (on a cursory think) as if it would be considered prohibitively expensive and engender opposition from emergency service providers, and so on.  Certainly the scenario you describe could not have been developed by anyone who cycled, I would have thought.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #13 on: 26 April, 2013, 06:21:36 pm »
Peter, this thread might be heading off topic, as it is on the back of one that was started about the get Britain Cycling Report - which I haven't read as I am too busy and have also decided to walk away from cycle campaigning as I've come to realise I'm banging my head against the brick wall of people who think that something is better than nothing and that creating substandard designs that do not even meet the documented specifications and requirements is the way forward.    I used to think I could change the world for a better place, now I've come to realise I need to enjoy it before it is ruined completely.




By segregated I mean quite simply "a place for them and a place for us".   This can be a painted lane such as I described in my last post, or a solidly constructed dedicated path built away from the vehicle carriageway at great expense and with all the issues of crossing each and every road.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #14 on: 27 April, 2013, 01:07:23 am »
OK, nutty, thanks!

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #15 on: 27 April, 2013, 08:55:51 am »
Why is there a need for 100,000 people to sign. After spending all that time and effort on the report its already being discussed in parliament, isnt it  ???  :-\


hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #16 on: 27 April, 2013, 09:24:08 am »
Action, not words, methinks.

Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #17 on: 27 April, 2013, 12:03:31 pm »
Wasn't there a National Cycling Strategy struck back in '93 or '95?
2001 my local authority formally adopted policy to promote active travel and discourage single occupant car journeys, especially for short trips. How does it do this? It doesn't.
In very recent years, in my area of work, car dependent management have overseen the spending of £4.6million of public money on re-fitting or re-building in their entirety 3 community hub buildings; significant generators of short-hop, local, repeat journeys by service users of all ages and employees alike; situated in the hearts of the communities they serve; without a single concession to access by bike either for service users or staff, despite planning pro-formas requiring that cycling access be given consideration at the design stage when they can be incorporated at negligible cost. In one case, restoration of cycling provision at a site was purposefully excluded from an insurance claim: "Shall we re-instate cycling provision on the insurance? No, let's not."
Not a single sheffield stand or wall anchor for short term visitor parking; no secure, covered cycle parking for staff; no changing facilities, lockers, shower at any of them. Not an oversight or error, local authority management hostility to a cultural change that might erode their perks as car users, probably.
So don't let's hold our breath.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #18 on: 27 April, 2013, 01:20:29 pm »
... I've come to realise I'm banging my head against the brick wall of people who think that something is better than nothing and that creating substandard designs that do not even meet the documented specifications and requirements is the way forward.
Exactly!

Every time this is discussed, folks point at places like Amsterdam and say:
"look! Segregation works! They have loads of cyclists, we need some of that!"

But then back in the real world it is pointed out that in the UK, what we actually get is shit.
I see no reason this will change. Get real, people - segregation in the UK is not helping.


"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein [allegedly]
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #19 on: 27 April, 2013, 01:59:17 pm »
Get Britain cycling, make roads safer for cycling… but BBC news only concerned with something else… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22297750

There was a brief piece near the start of yesterday's 'You & Yours' on Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s0qmv
Followed by one on cyclists using 'Polite' hi-viz and one near the end on bike hire scheme in New York.
Right, listened - thanks.

AA's Edmund King was not on good form. His argument had two strands:

- cylists will delibeartely crash into parked cars for compensation. And

--- King: <wibble about innocent until proven guilty>
--- Lawyer: You're confusing civil with criminal law, you simpleton
--- King: er ... no I'm not.

Idiot.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Flynn

  • Fred Killah
Re: Promote cycling by implementing the 'Get Britain Cycling' report
« Reply #20 on: 28 April, 2013, 06:25:35 pm »
Why is there a need for 100,000 people to sign. After spending all that time and effort on the report its already being discussed in parliament, isnt it  ???  :-\

yep.

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=70833.0
ap·a·thy  (p-th)
n.
1. Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.