Confessions of a Local Authority Cycling Officer

[John the Monkey]

Just what is it like to work as a 'Cycling Officer' in a local authority in the UK? Howard Peel laboured in such a role for The East Riding of Yorkshire Council between August 1999 and July 2001. His Confessions appear in full on his site, The Bike Zone. The story of his experiences "stands as a testament to just why the UK is failing to develop an integrated transport system in the European model and in particular it goes some way to explaining why the UK remains to be one of the most cycling unfriendly countries in the EU."

http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/peel/confessions.html

Worth a read if you've not seen it before.

 

[Origamist]

Good old Howard P used to post on C+ and the CTC forum - he was always worth reading...

 

[Bollo]

I see he shares one of my bugbears - talking about vehicles as if they have a will of their own to deflect criticism of the drivers. Nice link.

 

[fossyant]

Nice find mate !...

Good read..... SMIDSY..... no 1...... I say no more !!!!

 

[fossyant]

Anyway - I've just shot off another email to our local council about a road near me..... it's always been bad - main road, but has suffered subsidence (hilly) - but it's the worse I've ever seen it in 25 years of riding up and down it...the descent means primary, and a full on max speed run at it, as the f'ing drivers get hissed off...- i.e. you ride primary at up to 40 mph...... any less capable cyclists risk getting knocked off by the holes, or sitting in the way of a road that doesn't have safe passing space....

 

[Brains]

Just clip from the pages - sad, very sad, and these are the people running our towns and cities .....

Another senior officer in the Traffic Management section informed me he was opposed to the use of coloured surfacing for ASL's on the basis that it will "make them easier to remove when there are no cyclists left on the road in a few years time."

Will ASL's be installed at all the signal controlled junctions in the East Riding by 2006? Well, the Principal officer who is in charge of the street lighting team which must be closely involved in any such works is none other than our old friend who does not agree with providing cyclists with facilities on the basis that it "encourages them to be arrogant" and to "believe that they have a right to be on the road."