Bike Week: 13-21 June
PushBikes was able to participate in most of the Bike Week events.
Here are the team at Cannon Hill Park in their PushBikes t-shirts. It a great pleasure
to meet so many interested cyclists and discuss lots of issues with
them.
Interestingly, quite a few were looking for reasonable rides both at the week end and during the week.
Perhaps we should set up some 'introductory rides' on one Sunday a month of 10 miles or so suitable for families & recreational cyclists? The families who joined in the park for the 5 & 10km rides certainly enjoyed them as did the group who rode the 9.7 miles from the Hippodrome to Sutton Park along the mainly off-road route 535.
We also had a stall in the city centre during Bike Week until
the wind demolished the gazebo on Friday :(
The photo shows Graham talking to a cyclist outside M&S. He
recruited an amazing number of new members.
World's safest roads?
The recent Department for Transport report Making Britain's Roads the Safest in the World, has a graph showing that the UK, the Netherlands & Norway have the lowest road fatality rate per 100,000 of the population in 2007.
Presumably the rate rate per 100,000 of the population was chosen as it's hard to get figures for the rate per km travelled.
Given that long journeys are mainly made by car, a better comparison of different modes of transport would be for journeys up to, say, 5km. Indeed most car accidents are said to occur within 2 miles of home - anyone know a reference for this?
David Hembrow has some very sensible comments on this and the values behind the design of roads in the UK
While Britain's overall safety record is comparable with that of the Netherlands, British cyclists experience about four times the level of danger.
Britain has achieved its safety in large part by removing the vulnerable and increasing the safety of crashing motorists. This has happened by several different means. Road designs are such that they discourage cycling, resulting in the UK having amongst the lowest cycling rate in the world.
Children are increasingly transported by their parents cars and are comparatively rarely seen on the streets alone. Pedestrians are inconvenienced by waiting for light controlled crossings or take detours behind metal barriers. Many more roads in the UK have physical barriers along them to prevent cars from crashing, and trees near roads are removed to make crashes safer.
The real tragedy in the figures is:
- Children and those over 70 are most at risk when walking. The very people society wants to protect.
- 40% of journeys are less than 2 miles. The vast majority of these are made by car. Thus there is a huge potential to increase cycling & walking with a huge benefit to individuals, society and the environment.
- Over the last decade the average distance people walk & cycle each year has changed little. Whereas obesity has inceased.
- Concern about safety is the main reason given for people not taking up cycling: unless road design addresses this by making people feel safer the number people walk and cycle will never increase from the current low levels.
- More regular walking & cycling has proven health
benefits. The health benefits are not just related to fitness and a
reduction in heart disease etc: the rates for cancer are lower and
the cancer survival rates are better.
The evidence is that, even with the risk on the roads, cyclists are significantly more likely to have a longer healthier old age than the sedentary. - Pedestrians struck at 30 mph have about a 1 in 5 chance of
being killed. At 20 mph the chance of a pedestrian dying is 1 in
40.
As a society, how many additional deaths - remembering the increased vulnerability of children - are we willing to accept to avoid 20mph zones? - The NAO report highlights evidence that actively policing speed
limits and drink drive etc significantly reduce accident
rates.
While the majority of drivers could be trusted to drive at a safe speed, depending on conditions, the law is there to deal with the minority of poor drivers who can't. It is accepted that pedestrians & cyclists have a similar range of competence, limits need to be set to balance all these factors.
CTC Safety in numbers
This excellent report recommends:
- 20mph zones
- Tackling bad driving. Evidence from France and Australia shows
that increased investment in traffic policing can substantially
increase compliance with traffic law and achieve significant road
safety benefits.
(*Bad cyclists and pedestrians are as common as bad drivers, but their errors usually harm themselves, whereas being struck by a ton of metal travelling at 30mph is 8 times more likely to kill than at 20mph.) - Hostile roads and junctions: The Department for Transport published new guidance on Cycle Infrastructure Design last autumn, but CTC says little has been done to ensure local authorities follow its advice.
- Lorries: HGVs typically account for 20-25 percent of cycling deaths each year, and over 50 percent in London. CTC says driver awareness of cycling issues and the design of lorries (in particular the fitting of mirrors) needs attention.
A thoughtful video on cycle policy
MPs and Lords from the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group visited the Netherlands in April 2009 with officials from British cycling organisations.
This 12-minute video is a record of that study trip.
Let's hope it helps towards making a change.
Rea River Heritage Trail & the development of the Longbridge site
The Tessal Lane section on the RRHT goes up a steep hill and there are often cars parked on the south side between Hanging Lane and Frankley Beeches Rd. Cyclists are slow and at risk from passing cars.
The Longbridge Area Action Plan - LAAP* - includes a pedestrianised walkway along the course of the Rea River and offers the opportunity of rerouting the RRHT to avoid the dangerous Tessal Lane section.
See Why can't Brum be like a European City? and the excellent David Hembrow blog for an idea of what we could be doing. He also has an interesting discussion on subjective safety.
The SUPER Mill Lane upgrade to the Rea River Trail at Northfield shows that we can do quality facilities when we want to, more of this PLEASE.
Latest
Graham Lennard, BCC Cycling & Walking Officer helpfully
replied to explain that:
From the outset there has been the inclusion of the Rea Valley route approximately along the line of the Rea, linking Daffodil Park to Birmingham Great Park, avoiding Tessal Lane. There will be additional proposals and funds available ot provide for cycling.
The case for cycle provision on key alignments and to key destinations has been made by the relevant cycling officers.
The details are yet to be set out. There will be various planning applications and we will involve Pushbikes/CAG in the consultation process.
Which is very encouraging.
What a relief that it's not another Northfield Bypass in the making.
Ask PushBikes
Members can contact PushBikes in a variety of ways. The following queries were emailed recently.
Cars parked on cycle lane on Chester Road
Alex emailed to ask: is it possible to get something done about the cars parked all over the cycle lane on Chester Road .....
Blocking Barford Passage Tunnel
Keith drew our attention to the proposal to block the Barford Tunnel and seriously degrade the Harborne walkway .....
Access to canal towpaths, cycle ramps
Ann-Marie emailed to ask if anything could be done about the difficulty of carrying bikes up or down steep steps onto canal tow paths (e.g. by university station) .....
