S
Simon Brooke
Guest
in message <[email protected]>, Tom Crispin
('[email protected]') wrote:
> So what would be your method to increase the numbers of utility
> cyclists?
* Incentives and training for public sector staff to use cycles both in
travelling to work and in travelling for work
* Secure cycle parking in every public carpark, as many spaces for bikes as
for cars, as a condition of planning consent
* Secure cycle parking at every newly developed workplace, with spaces for
at least 50% of projected employees, as a condition of planning consent
* Training and 'buddy' schemes
* Liability: motorist should be by default liable in all motor
vehicle/cycle collisions unless (s)he can prove otherwise
* Speed limits: Normally 20mph in all urban areas except arterial roads and
through routes
* Regular 'car free' days
People start cycling when they see other people cycling. Probably the best
thing you could do with the money is the incentives and training to get
public sector workers onto bikes. People are deterred from cycling at
least partly because there's nowhere safe to store their bike at their
destination. Secure parking is the second biggest priority.
Farcilities come a very, very long way down the list.
> At first glance Cycling England seem to be putting forward
> a very decent proposal:
>
> Of a £70m pa proposed budget -
> 17% on child cyclist training
good
> 14% on school champions
excellent
> 14% on school cycle links
plausible
> 7% on recreation and sport programmes
good
> 14% on a major showcase city (Birmingham?)
total waste or money unless there is already a strong local cycling
culture - I don't know Birmingham but I've never heard that of it.
> 14% on 16 showcase towns
as above.
Empty farcilities make motorists more hostile to cyclists on the road, as I
know to my cost. But I know of few segregated facilities which are
suitable for conventional road bikes (those in Dumfries mostly are, to be
fair) and none on which it is usually possible to cycle safely at
reasonable speed. So putting in new farcilities without a strong existing
population of cyclists will make cycling less pleasant and safe, not more,
and is likely to lower cyclist numbers. And, of course, unless building a
new town on a green field site, it usually won't be possible to avoid
regular junctions between the 'segregated' network and the roads, which
are widely recognised as significantly more dangerous than conventional
road junctions.
Also I note there's no funding in there for training adult cyclists, which
I would see as a very high priority.
There are various schemes where motorists can choose to go on some sort of
advanced training or safety awareness course instead of paying a fine. It
would be really good if, when the police hand out fixed penalty fines for
cyclists jumping red lights or cycling on the pavement, there was an
attached voucher so that (after paying the fine - the whole point of fixed
penalty notices is they're cheap to administer) the cyclist could go on a
free approved course and on completion of it reclaim the amount of the
fine. That would be one good way to turn POBs into competent cyclists.
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck
;; in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle.
;; Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Dem, OR)
('[email protected]') wrote:
> So what would be your method to increase the numbers of utility
> cyclists?
* Incentives and training for public sector staff to use cycles both in
travelling to work and in travelling for work
* Secure cycle parking in every public carpark, as many spaces for bikes as
for cars, as a condition of planning consent
* Secure cycle parking at every newly developed workplace, with spaces for
at least 50% of projected employees, as a condition of planning consent
* Training and 'buddy' schemes
* Liability: motorist should be by default liable in all motor
vehicle/cycle collisions unless (s)he can prove otherwise
* Speed limits: Normally 20mph in all urban areas except arterial roads and
through routes
* Regular 'car free' days
People start cycling when they see other people cycling. Probably the best
thing you could do with the money is the incentives and training to get
public sector workers onto bikes. People are deterred from cycling at
least partly because there's nowhere safe to store their bike at their
destination. Secure parking is the second biggest priority.
Farcilities come a very, very long way down the list.
> At first glance Cycling England seem to be putting forward
> a very decent proposal:
>
> Of a £70m pa proposed budget -
> 17% on child cyclist training
good
> 14% on school champions
excellent
> 14% on school cycle links
plausible
> 7% on recreation and sport programmes
good
> 14% on a major showcase city (Birmingham?)
total waste or money unless there is already a strong local cycling
culture - I don't know Birmingham but I've never heard that of it.
> 14% on 16 showcase towns
as above.
Empty farcilities make motorists more hostile to cyclists on the road, as I
know to my cost. But I know of few segregated facilities which are
suitable for conventional road bikes (those in Dumfries mostly are, to be
fair) and none on which it is usually possible to cycle safely at
reasonable speed. So putting in new farcilities without a strong existing
population of cyclists will make cycling less pleasant and safe, not more,
and is likely to lower cyclist numbers. And, of course, unless building a
new town on a green field site, it usually won't be possible to avoid
regular junctions between the 'segregated' network and the roads, which
are widely recognised as significantly more dangerous than conventional
road junctions.
Also I note there's no funding in there for training adult cyclists, which
I would see as a very high priority.
There are various schemes where motorists can choose to go on some sort of
advanced training or safety awareness course instead of paying a fine. It
would be really good if, when the police hand out fixed penalty fines for
cyclists jumping red lights or cycling on the pavement, there was an
attached voucher so that (after paying the fine - the whole point of fixed
penalty notices is they're cheap to administer) the cyclist could go on a
free approved course and on completion of it reclaim the amount of the
fine. That would be one good way to turn POBs into competent cyclists.
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck
;; in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle.
;; Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Dem, OR)