Cyclists will take part in a protest ride to Parliament on Wednesday to push the Government to deal with road danger.
Cyclists plan to ride to Parliament on the eve of a cycle safety debate.
The 'flash ride' has been organised by London bike bloggers Danny Williams of Cyclists in the City, and Mark Ames of ibikelondon. The three-hour parliamentary debate was secured by Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge, and is based on the "Cities fit for Cycling" campaign launched by The Times newspaper.
The ride, which will pass through Parliament Square and circle the Houses of Parliament, aims to focus the minds of MPs on road danger.
Ames said: "This is a chance for Britain to really start taking safe cycling seriously. Not since 1996 and the launch of the National Cycling Strategy has the Government focussed on encouraging more people to cycle and keeping them safe. That strategy aimed to quadruple cycling rates to 10% of all journeys by 2012 - this year - and failed miserably.
"It is time for our politicians to stop hoping that helmets, hi-vis and cycle training will do enough, and to look instead across the North Sea to Holland and Denmark to see how to really encourage more cycling."
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Williams said: "We're expecting all kinds of people on bikes to join us on Wednesday. With ever increasing fuel and public transport costs people are desperate for a fit, fun and environmentally friendly form of transport. But they need the Government to lead in making our roads safer; with lower speed limits on residential roads and high quality cycling infrastructure on our big roads to keep us safe and to make cycling inviting for everyone.
"Our MPs must act, or more people will be hurt."
16 cyclists were killed cycling in London in 2011, and at a national level the number of cyclists seriously hurt has also increased.
Wednesday evening's ride around the Palaces of Westminster is supported by the London Cycling Campaign which has launched a "Love London, Go Dutch" mayoral election campaign. LCC has put forward a number of proposals for reclaiming public space for people, including Parliament Square, to make it a safe and inviting space in which people of all ages can feel comfortable walking and cycling.
Ames said: "The way in which poorly painted narrow cycle paths disapear beneath parked cars and evaporate at dangerous junctions demonstrates the paucity of imagination in the UK's approach to creating safe conditions for cycling. The London Cycling Campaign's proposals show just how much more pleasant our urban environment could be for all, and so much more safe for people on bikes. I hope our members of parliament can be bold and 'Go Dutch'."
The protest ride will gather on Wednesday 22nd February on the Duke of York steps on The Mall, departing at 6.30pm. It will travel through Parliament Square, over Lambeth Bridge, opposite Westminster along the south bank, across Westminster Bridge back to Parliament Square before returning to the Mall via Whitehall and Trafalgar Square. Several hundred cyclists are expected to participate.
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Let's hope all the current actvity and publicty gets some real change in the right direction - LCC, Cyclenation, CTC, Bicycle Association, Sustrans and British Cycling have been working together to inform the debate. But we need to strike a balance. Cycling is already safer than: walking per mile, tennis per participant and lots of other everyday activities. Cycling makes huge inroads into obesity, cardiovascular disease and more - health benefits outweigh risks 20 to 1. Cyclists live years longer on average and it takes thousands of years of cycling per fatality. It’s safer to cycle than not to. Even so it needs to be as safe here as it is elsewhere in Europe. Unfortunately unwarranted scaremongering deters people from cycling’s mostly enjoyable healthy convenience - ironically it’s more people cycling which is key to better safety. Our frightened, populist clamour for cycle lanes might actually make it worse by encouraging more UK style ‘facilities’. They are of such low quality they often make it neither safer or convenient. LCC’s Go Dutch campaign is a great start for high quality segregation which assists beginners and experienced cyclists alike. It will also need a Dutch style cultural shift in attitudes, priorities, 20 mph default urban speed limits, collision liabilities and political will to take space from carriageways not footways. Some advocates set this against integrationist/ vehicular cycling which they see as appeasing the status quo. Not so: they’re complementary approaches with national standards (cyclecraft) training enabling people to lift their skills and safety a notch or two in mixed traffic - even though some can take it a lot further than others. The skills are applicable even in 20 mph areas and on Dutch style cycleways. Let’s use a mix of whatever works. What won’t work is hi viz and helmet promotion – look at www.cyclehelmets.org to learn of an absence casualty benefit., of the bad science which abounds and of safety data like the tennis and walking comparisons. What needs pushing, especially in promotional pictures, is the Copenhagen style; no helmets, no hi viz and low casualties. Normal people on normal bikes making normal trips in normal clothes. Apologies to you sporty types who can’t throw off the fancy gear - ideal as it is for the serious stuff - to go shopping: as cycling ex-transport minister Steve Norris said: “I don’t want to dress up like a spaceman to ride my bike”. John orpen M www.cyclenation.org.uk
John Mallows Feb 21st 2012 at 10:12PM
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