No10 Petition thread

Folks, this is a thread whereby I would like to ask for the whole of CC membership to support a petition on No. 10 Downing Street. The petition will be to ask that the government act to reduce the number of cycling fatalities on our roads.

It has become too often an occurance that a cyclist is killed and a motorist hides behind the excuse, "I didn't see him/her". Also, too often in these cases a driver flees the scene and fails to stop; an abhorent action which surely makes the incident aggravated?

This is then made worse by the media allowing people to enter into degenerative dialogues on newspaper comment pages, where instead of constructively discussing the incidents, it spirals into a farcical tirade about road tax and red light jumping.

I am led to believe that a petition with 100,000 signatures will be deemed worthy to be debated in the commons.

So there it is.

I would like you all to gather behind this issue, lend your support to a petition that must surely resonate with you all, and then gather further support through friends, family, work colleagues and other cycling forums, twitter, facebook etc.

I will pledge that if this is a successful petition, then I will gladly ride with a CC delegation carrying the petition to No. 10 Downing Street.

I need a little help to structure the petition, so it is succinct, yet covers the vital points of safety, justice, driver and cyclist responsibility and future casualty reduction. So if anyone can help and is willing to hop on board then feel free to post here.

As well as seasoned vets of the forum, I especially welcome any newcomers to chip in; your voice is just as important.

I need people to gather road traffic casualty data, cycling use data, and any available information to help create an impactive and action-inducing petition that will hopefully ensure the sad (and needless) loss of peoples' lives need not be in vain.

Kind regards

ComedyPilot

KSI 2002 to 2009 page by page

http://www.dft.gov.u...s/casualtiesmr/

Well done CP for not just sitting on your backside but doing something.

I won't offer to help with the succinctness of the document ... there are many on here that can do that far better than I, but I will try to help get signatures for it.

Thanks Sheddy

Thanks SD, I am sure given your recent 'incident' that you are more than willing to be on board? Maybe gather support at SD Jnr's school etc?

Needs to be precise - too general and it will end up being hijacked - why should cyclists be on the road et.al

and not too ambitious - better/more severe guidance for judges -automatic driving bans - direction from Min of Justicer to CPS prosecute etc

Removal of the mitigating circumstances - momentary loss of concentration - better (more strict) definition of careless

Definitely (not that I would need to have had my incident to support it)... now you just need to come up with the good petition... that's probably the hard bit. You can have good intentions but word it badly such that some people are put off what they perceive it says. For example steer clear of the those highly emotive words that I'm not even going to mention but I'm sure you know the ones I mean.

To that point I am asking for all of the CC membership to help.

It is not MY petition but OUR petition as fellow cyclists.

United we stand, divided we ....don't get much done.....Wolfie Smith and all that, 'Power to the Pedal'

I'd also like to offer my appreciation of your efforts here - well done!
It's very easy to moan about these things, but quite different to be motivated enough to do it.

I don't have a lot of experience in these matters, but I'd be more than happy to review a draft of your petition.
Once ready for signing, I'll also circulate it around work and on Facebook.

Once again - well done - and best of luck!

MG

Count me on board CP. I welcome the opportunity to speak and hopefully be heard. There is guidance here on the preparation and presentation etc. I will gladly help with wording.

Good for you CP. I'll help get as many signatures as possible.

I'm a little busy at the moment, and will be out of the country for a couple of weeks from Thursday onwards (although I will still have internet!). However, I fully pledge my support and if you think I can help in any way, please feel free to contact me via PM or e-mail.

Happy to write it up on the Cyclorama Blog and spread it around our several friends on Faecbook etc when it's fully formed.

I've been thinking of making a cycling-related FOI request lately; if I manage to get round to it, I'll let you know what happens.

I'm not really one for input on wording but I wotk for a large company with an active bicycle users group so when it's ready and online I'll start promoting it at work and the club I train with too.

Well after seeing the Fish Fight one .... I would say that you could use a Facebook page as one of the means of spreading the word.

I don't know if you have already searched the petitions so far? http://tinyurl.com/4olncok is the link to the No10 petitions site, (hopefully) filtered to include all 'cycling' references.

I hadn't really looked before, there are some properly mental ones on there. Including one demanding free public transport for all mice

I think a call for strict liability for drivers of motor vehicles answers all these points. Effective, specific, symbolically important, and in line with most other European countries,