Cycle paths adjacent to main roads

[matticus]

The new Mayor of Paris rode a hire bike to his celebration:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPTUxMvM0bY

He didn't need to do that. He'd already won. When will we see similar around here?

I guess we could elect Boris again maybe?

<runs>

 

[mjr]

I guess we could elect Boris again maybe?

<runs>

I can only find pictures of Boris walking to London mayoral declarations. Did he ever cycle to one?

He was fine (not great - fine) as a city mayor for cycling. He took some of that with him to national level (both the current design manual and the start of Active Travel England came during his administration, and his London Commissioner Andrew Gilligan became an adviser to the UK government) but overall I think it's a shame Boris didn't finish at city level, with starting really cleaning up London being his main legacy.

 

[blackrat]

Do you ever ask them why?

But it's hardly surprising when current politicians are telling them cars are essential so government makes so many services difficult to access without using a car, plus doesn't prevent commercial developments being put in places with no sustainable transport links. Too many politicians drive almost everywhere, with some aspiring to be driven in the back of the council limos one day. Does any mayor or council leader here travel by cycle for official business, other than the Mayor of Cambridge once a year?

The new Mayor of Paris rode a hire bike to his celebration:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPTUxMvM0bY

He didn't need to do that. He'd already won. When will we see similar around here?

Here's a British Conservative politician who was always to be seen cycling on his brompton between his chambers and parliament: I saw him often on his bike in Westminster weaving in an out of traffic. This was when politicians were quite nice blokes. He was always ready with a laugh and a quip with Taxi drivers who also thought he was an okay Tory. It was a much nicer time than now.

Quintin Hogg (Baron Hailsham of Saint Marylebone) (1907–2001)

 

[matticus]

Government Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell has apologised for disrespectful remarks to police who made him get off his bicycle as he left Downing Street.

And:
Andrew Mitchell was repeatedly denied entry on his bicycle to Downing Street by armed police officers more than a year before the so-called Plebgate incident in September 2012, prompting a formal complaint by No 10 to the Met.

A "restricted" letter from the head of security in the prime minister's office to the Met's diplomatic protection group in June 2011, released by No 10, warned that there was "no just reason" why Mitchell should have been prevented from entering Downing Street on his bike.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/03/letter-andrew-mitchell-police-plebgate

 

[katiewlx]

The "too many cooks" problem of British Cycling (primarily a sports body) and Sustrans (primarily route makers) and their supporters arguing with Cycling UK and the various local cycling campaigns has been a problem, but even if all current cyclists agreed perfectly, that would still only be 15% of the population, according to the last Active Lives Survey. I think it's important to remember that the Dutch revolution kicked off when the shouting spread far beyond just those then cycling.

How do we do that here and now? I don't know. We're living in a country where loads of politicians wibble about "cars are essential" and "a car is a lifeline", where killing someone on a bike in broad daylight only gets a one year driving ban and community service and where babies are run over and killed on cycleways resembling pavements and a grieving parent told that the road doesn't deserve safety improvements and most of those cases only make the local news, not national, because it's so widespread. This awful situation seems to be tolerated, with attempts to improve it banging into the Great British "won't do" attitude.

So we keep on, lobbying politicians and contacting designers. I spoke at a council hearing a few weeks ago. One of my friends is asking questions of a different council meeting this evening. We keep on sending messages to MPs and councillors. I bumped into a councillor at an exhibition yesterday and tried to explain the problems with a recent project (she asked - I went for the exhibition, not in hope of lobbying!). Later today, I'll be formally objecting to a proposed car-brained industrial estate where the developer cheekily claims that it's something like "only 7 minutes cycling" from suburbs, without mentioning that most of that is on a straight National Speed Limit A road along a former airfield perimeter with thousands of motor vehicles a day, which only the brave, foolish or desperate cycle on. Using the nearest cycle route adds 20 minutes to the journey, making it 3½ sides of a square. Anyone know how we could get developers to propose nice things instead of this car-brained junk? Then the politicians wouldn't matter so much. Should cycling campaigns start to call out the likes of PDG Architects and Hudson Architects that are linked to this rubbish? Or restrict our fire to Elm Hall Investments, UBS and Hopkins Homes that own the developments?

without British cycling would Chris Boardman have ended up as such an effective cycling infra campaigner ? the pity is they never got anyone in to replace him when he left, but then my opinion of CyclingUK and Sustrans efforts, Id rather have a know little sporting body as the main mover, at least they recognise where they are lacking, whilst the other bodies think they know best.

now that were allowed elections again in our part of the region, its been interesting getting the candidates/councillors election material, none of them are pro active travel, many of them focus on building new roads, new bypasses instead, a friend was telling me on one of their local councillors leaflets, they took credit for blocking a new cycle lane & a bus lane, because of the amount of disruption to "traffic" it would cause.

how do you reason with attitudes like that ?

Ive seen people cycle on the A140 to get to the logistics places at Eye, Im surprised theres never been a cyclist fatality there.(the road itself has had plenty of fatalities over the years)

 

[mjr]

without British cycling would Chris Boardman have ended up as such an effective cycling infra campaigner ?

As long as there'd still been the sports side of BC for him to compete for and work with, I think he could actually have been a better campaigner sooner without BC's conflicting sponsors and their minority of government-appointed directors.

but then my opinion of CyclingUK and Sustrans efforts, Id rather have a know little sporting body as the main mover, at least they recognise where they are lacking, whilst the other bodies think they know best.

Actually, I feel the other bodies also know they're lacking, but each thinks they can outcompete the others and recruit enough volunteers and donors to become good enough alone. That may depend on who you talk to at each one and Sustrans especially hasn't had many people in East Anglia for some years now.

now that were allowed elections again in our part of the region, its been interesting getting the candidates/councillors election material, none of them are pro active travel, many of them focus on building new roads, new bypasses instead, a friend was telling me on one of their local councillors leaflets, they took credit for blocking a new cycle lane & a bus lane, because of the amount of disruption to "traffic" it would cause.

how do you reason with attitudes like that ?

Well, the ones who just aren't pro active travel yet, I challenge them, ask why they're not taking the cheaper and better-value step of helping people to switch from driving to cycling first, freeing up space on existing roads instead of jumping straight to building very expensive new roads... and if they are still determined to build new roads, then at least push them to agree to a cycle/emergency-vehicle lane to reduce the amount of unwilling short-distance drivers on it and ensure that blue-light vehicles can get past the traffic jams (and of course as a side effect, doubling as emergency vehicle access means they can't make it too narrow or corners too tight). Oh and if it's a bypass, then make it a real bypass and disconnect the old road either physically or with camera-enforced resident/visitor-only restrictions. Otherwise it's not a bypass, but just an extra road that will induce more motor traffic.

The ones who take credit for blocking cycle and bus lanes, there's probably no reasoning, so I'd flame them in public, ridiculing how they blocked more efficient traffic lanes with capacities of up to 16'000 people per hour and doomed those using the 2'000-people-per-hour mixed lane to more and longer jams, plus the buses will all now sit in those jams.