The e-petition Promote cycling by implementing the recommendations in the 'Get Britain Cycling report.' has reached 57,759 signatures
The key aims of the report:
- for 10% of trips by bike by 2025 and 25% by 2050
- to spend £10 per person, per year in funding for cycling
We now need as many cyclists as possible - at least 100,000 to sign the joint petition on the Number 10 website, calling for the Government to implement the recommendations.
Walking & Cycling in Birmingham
BCC Scrutiny Conmmittee Report
The report can be downloaded here
Hopefully you will find it interesting and of relevance to other towns and cities in the West Midlands. It is certainly a big step forward in the recognition of cycling's potential for Birmingham. It also shows that the concerns of current cyclists and campaigners have been listened to.
What's happened to cycle commuting in Birmingham?
The CTC's Chris Peck has published figures from the 2011 Census showing that - since 2001 - cycle commuting barely increased its share of all transport However, this overall figure conceals huge variations.
In the West Midlands, the BCC leads with a staggering increase in cycling of 0.17% over 10 years. Wow.
The change in modal share from 2001 to 2011 for Birmingham:
- Public transport: -0.57% to 22.2%
- Car driver or passenger: -1.93% to 56%
- Bicycle: +0.17% to 1.6%
- Walking: +1.29% to 10.1%
The changes in cycling in the adjacent disctricts are even worse:
- Wolverhampton -0.55% to 2.1%
- Walsall: -0.46% to 1.6%
- Dudley: -0.11% to 1.2%
- Sandwell: -0.16% to 1.6%
- Bromsgrove: -0.17% to 1.0%
- Solihull: -0.16% to 1.4%
- Coventry: -0.18% to 2.7%
There are a few areas with significant increases: London by around 3% in the central suburbs, Bristol by 3.1% and Brighton and Hove by 2.1%. One common link is funding by the Boris initiatives and cycling towns and cities programme. Looks like it can be done if the council has the money and spends it on real facilities?
Gentle Cycling 
- FREE group cycle rides with experienced guides
- explore local paths & parks - Traffic Free!
- no bike? - borrow one of ours
- dodgy bike? - get a free check up
- worried about hills or fitness? - we'll walk/ wait
- nervous about bike skills? - get friendly advice
- length to suit you, enjoy a stop for drink & chat
John Bennett, Bournville resident & PushBikes member explains:
We will go at the pace of the slowest, will walk when necessary, stop for refreshments and a chat. Everyone welcome - young or old.
We will probably go out twice a week for a couple of hours. It will all depend on what YOU want to do, so please join in when you can.
Gentle Rides
Saturday June 15th: ride from Harborne along the resurfaced Harborne Walkway, Summerfield Park, Edgbaston Reservoir, by canal towpath to Brindley Place and back through the University to Harborne or Bournville.
Meet at 10am in the public car park (£1.20 for 3 hours) on York Street, behind the Clock Tower on the High Street. A group will cycle from Rowheath starting at 9.30 for anyone who fancies an extra mile or so!
Any queries? Ring John on 0121 459 9319 or email him
Download the leaflet here
Supported by Bournville Village Trust
Birmingham Cycling Campaign
Boris unveils fully-segregated cycle lanes in billion-pound plan to revolutionise cycling in London
Independent: The mayor of London has announced a billion-pound plan to revolutionise cycling in the capital in what could be seen as a model for urban transport across Britain.
The plans will include:
- 15-mile continuous 'Crossrail for bikes' spanning London with considerable segregation using Westway and Embankment.
- More Dutch-style fully-segregated lanes.
- Greater 'semi-segregation' on other streets.
- A new network of 'Quietways' - direct, continuous, fully-signposted routes on peaceful side streets.
- Big improvements to both existing and proposed Superhighways.
- A new 'Central London Grid' of bike routes in the City and West End.
- Substantial improvements to the worst junctions, with measures such as segregation and cycle-only paths or phases.
- Trials of 'Dutch-style' roundabouts and eye-level traffic lights for cyclists.
- "Mini-Hollands" in the suburbs, with between one and three outer boroughs chosen for very high spending concentrated in those relatively small areas for the greatest possible impact.
Comment: perhaps Birmingham could one day do more than spend peanuts on a few feet of white paint and a "Cyclists Dismount" sign here & there? It would be interesting to know the relative funding of London councils versus the BCC in general and for infrastructure.
Police admit to not enforcing 20mph speed limits
Bikeradar
A senior police officer admitted yesterday that 20mph speed limits - in place in residential areas in many of the UK's biggest cities - are not being enforced.
A 20-year study of 20mph limits found that an extra 10mph off the current UK urban road limit reduced casualties by 42 percent.
And!
ACPO press release
"In most cases, 20 mph limits will follow Department of Transport guidance and include features such as speed bumps or traffic islands designed to slow traffic. ACPO guidelines include thresholds for enforcement across all speed limits to underpin a consistent policing approach. However it is for local police forces to apply a proportionate approach to enforcement of 20mph limits based on risk to individuals, property and the seriousness of any breach. Where drivers are exceeding the speed limit through wilful offending, we would expect that officers will enforce the limit and prosecute offenders."
Weasel words? DfT guidelines as a cop out and only "wilful" offending, not just exceeding the speed limit?
An idea for a new epidode of Yes Prime Minister?
The future of Cambridge's central 20mph limit should be questioned because speeding is the "norm rather than the exception", a police chief said.
But residents said the force was overseeing a "shambolic farce" because only drivers going faster than 32mph have been fined.
But a farce with a human cost: effective 20mph zones are a very good and simple way of reducing pedestrian and cyclists deaths and injuries- see above. The requirement for "speed reducing infrastructure" is presumably Sir Humphrey's ploy to ensure taht there are few 20mph zones to slow down his chauffeur?
Cycling in Britain:
government to get serious with all-party inquiry (?)
Excellent article in the Guardian:
And yet cycling advocates hope things could be about to change. This week is the start of a pioneering parliamentary inquiry into how best to get Britons on their bikes....
To get cycling mainstream, experts agree, you need wholesale investment in infrastructure, most obviously well-designed and continuous cycle lanes, separated from faster traffic by a kerb or other barrier and with cyclists offered protection at junctions. The philosophy was summed up by Enrique Penalosa, who as mayor of Bogota revolutionised transport in the Colombian capital: "A bicycle way that is not safe for an eight-year old is not a bicycle way".
Read the full Guardian article here
Scrutiny Inquiry: Alternative Transport
Cycling in the city; the city's canals
The BCC Scrutiny Committee is looking at how the city can improve the role both canals and cycling play in meeting Birmingham's transport needs.
PushBikes has prepared a detailed response and will be contributing to the consultation meeting. Our response can be viewed here
We would welcome any comments & sugestions.
Councillor's Bike Ride: 28/9/12
The end of the "Summer of Cycling" was marked by an inaugural "Birmingham Councillors Bike Ride" organised by City cycling activists to educate councillors.
Afterwards, David Cox, Chair of CTC the National Cycling Organisation, and one of the instigators said "It was brilliant, much better than I could have hoped." His report can be viewed here
THINK CYCLIST
Think Cyclist, the new government advertising campaign focused on safety for cyclists offers advice to drivers and cyclists on how to stay safe on the road.
See our our comments here and those of
The Times
the CTC
BikeBiz
Basically, it looks like the driver* is to appear to do something at little cost rather than doing something effective. Perhaps understandable given the £40-100 million wasted on the West Coast Mainline cockup? And the cash going to friends in advertising?
*pun intended
British Cycling's campaign for a justice review
Write to your MP
British Cycling and Cycling Weekly have called on the Lord Chancellor to launch a comprehensive review of the justice system and how it operates when people are hurt or killed on the road.
We believe that all too often the justice system fails cyclists and their families and this urgently needs addressing so that we have a system that is fair to everyone and creates the right incentives for people to behave responsibly on the roads. Read our recent letter to Lord Chancellor Kenneth Clarke.
Write to your MPs calling on them to show their support for the issue and add their signature to the motion.
The more signatures the motion receives the more pressure there will be on the government to do respond to our call for a justice review.
You can download the letter template to send to your MP here and check who your MP is and their address here.
British Cycling and Cycling Weekly have called on the Lord Chancellor to launch a comprehensive review of the justice system and how it operates when people are hurt or killed on the road.
We believe that all too often the justice system fails cyclists and their families and this urgently needs addressing so that we have a system that is fair to everyone and creates the right incentives for people to behave responsibly on the roads. Read our recent letter to Lord Chancellor Kenneth Clarke.
Write to your MPs calling on them to show their support for the issue and add their signature to the motion.
The more signatures the motion receives the more pressure there will be on the government to do respond to our call for a justice review.
You can download the letter template to send to your MP here and check who your MP is and their address here.
The need for a review was highlighted by the recent IAM report on lenient sentences for dangerous drivers which shows that the penalties for dangerous drivers have been much reduced between 2001 & 2012.
Fifty-three per cent of those convicted of causing death or bodily harm through driving offences were sentenced to immediate custody (260 people) in 2011. This has dropped from the 83 per cent sentenced to immediate custody in 2001.
Fines for drink driving are also lower in real terms than they were ten years ago. In 2001 the average fine for drink driving was £203 - the average £240 fine in 2011 was equivalent to just £178 in 2001 prices - a 12.3 per cent decrease.
The average fine for careless driving is £138, 27 per cent less in real terms than it was in 2001. Dangerous driving is the only area with tougher fines. The average fine is £518 - 30 per cent more in real terms than in 2001.
Making Pinch Points safe for cyclists
PushBikes' next campaign?
We have all been there: cycling towards a central refuge with a vehicle rapidly approaching from behind.
- Will they wait or will they try to get past?
- Is there room?
- How should I react?
It can be very frightening.
On several occasions I've seen the driver divert round the opposite side of the refuge, and on one occasion go straight over the refuge shattering his engine sump!
How can this danger to cyclists be avoided?
John Bennett
Government criticised as deaths on UK roads go up
The government has been criticised for a lack of leadership after the first increase in road deaths for nearly a decade.
The report by the Transport Select Committee also highlights the fact that road accidents are the main killer among 16-to-24-year-olds.
Launching the report, the committee's chairman Louise Ellman MP said: "It is shocking that road accidents are the main cause of death among young adults aged 16-24 and that so many cyclists continue to be killed or injured."
Our correspondent says the coalition ditched national targets when it came to power and instead told councils to take more responsibility for road safety, but the MPs found councils have a patchy record because of budget cuts and the loss of skilled staff.
The last paragraph says it all: cut public funding & and shift the blame to councils = more deaths, but only walkers & cyclists.
Sentences for dangerous, drunk, and careless driving getting lighter
Research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) found that the average penalty for death by dangerous driving is currently four years in prison. This is 62 per cent shorter than being convicted for manslaughter.
Since 2001, the average charge for drink driving is down by 12.3 per cent in real terms to £240. The average fine for careless driving - £138 - is 27 per cent less in real terms than it was in 2001. By contrast, the average fine for dangerous driving is currently £518, a 30 per cent increase in real terms since 2001.
The IAM has also noted that the number of prosecutions for motoring offences have fallen! Doesn't sound like the much publicised "war on the motorist"?
The CTC, London Cycling Campaign, Sustrans and British Cycling have called on the Government to conduct an urgent review of sentencing in cases where drivers kill or injure cyclists.
The Cycling Lawyer blog has lots of interesting material about cycling safety & the law.
Push Bikes Manifesto, 2012.
Jeremy Clarkson, in The Sunday Times, 8th April, 2012.
[Copenhagen] is fantastic. And best of all: there are no bloody cars cluttering the place up. Almost everyone goes almost everywhere on a bicycle.... City fathers have to choose. Cars or bicycles. And in Copenhagen they've gone for the bike.... The upshot is a city that works. It's pleasing to look at. It's astonishingly quiet. It's safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. I'd live there in a heartbeat.
PushBikes has produced a manifesto to support Jeremy's aspirations for cycling in Birmingham We have distributed it to candidates and 10 have responded - see here
We hope that this will become a yearly fixture, and will help voters choose who to vote for.
Events
This new page is designed to highlight local Birmingham cycling events organised by community based voluntary groups often in support of charities such as the British Heart Foundation.
Cycle training and presentations etc run by PushBikes members will be included.
PushBikes' rides are listed here and links to other West Midlands cycling groups here
Cities Fit for Cycling
The Times is running a campaign to improve cycling following a serious injury to journalist Mary Bowers as she was arriving at work on her bike and was hit by a lorry. Mary, 27, is still not conscious and is making a slow recovery in hospital.
More details here and on the Times website
Helping PushBikes Campaign in 2012
The evidence on the ground provided by the Selly Oak bypass, Longbridge juction & Lordwood Rd/Hagley road junctions shows that the highwaymen put a low value the safety & convenience of cyclists & pedestrains suggests we'll need all our members help to promote people friendly travel in Birmingham 2012.
But it's not all bad, as detailed below we've had some recent sucesses.
Icknield Port Loop regeneration
The project covers 65 acres a mile from the city centre. The proposals include between 3,000 and 4,000 homes and a million square feet of commercial space.
PushBikes has submitted comments on the planning application - click to view - and contacted the Ladywood councillors
John Pitcock: Silly signs on Route 5
John Pitcock - a founding member of PushBikes - has been campaigning about the confusing "no cycling" signs on the road section of NCR 5 along Kitchener and Cecil Roads south of Cannon Hill Park. The Birmingham Mail did an article on the campaign - read it here.
The "no cycling sign" on Ripple Road Stirchley was finally taken down a few weeks ago. Councillor Timothy Huxtable has responded: "I would like to work together with Push Bikes to help resolve this issue."
Battery Way/Weston Lane junction signage
After three years of campaigning and a near KSI a "cyclists crossing" sign has been erected!
