Janice Turner is braver than I; she has tried cycling the mean streets of the capital:
I’ve just got back on my bike after a four-year hiatus. On day three of a Tube strike that was keeping me from the new autumn fashions in Selfridges, I walked into Edwardes of Camberwell and left riding a silver Dahon collapsible bike. On its maiden journey, I remembered why I’d given up: cycling in London is an extreme sport, little safer than base jumping. Every time a bus skims past or I wobble on a drain cover or I have to trust that a FedEx driver has seen me, I imagine my skull being squished like a watermelon. A journey begins with trepidation and ends with me slightly high that I’m still alive.
Um, that’s why, despite having a bicycle in my garage, I don’t venture out onto the roads with it. The cycle-way that runs past our house is nicely separated from the city streets and that suits me just fine.
The city hates the cyclist. It is evident from every spiteful sign saying “Bikes attached to these railings will be removed” (how are they possibly hurting anyone?), the warnings around Covent Garden that police will punish those who don’t dismount (why not draw bike lanes through pedestrian precincts?), the scarcity of cycle racks, the mapped routes that suggest we take looping detours while cars hog the crow-flight main roads . . . See, after just three weeks in the saddle I’m already brimming with cycling self-righteousness.
The city may offer the use of bus lanes – and as a motorcyclist, I can use these in Bristol – but dicing with buses isn’t much better than taking one’s chances with the rest of the traffic, quite frankly. Yesterday, I watched as a cyclist was hassled by a truck. The truck eventually went past the rider with inches to spare and was treated to a well deserved salute for his efforts.
I wouldn’t ride my motorcycle in London – having worked there I am aware of the standards of driving – let alone take my chances on a push bike. Janice Turner deserves a medal – that or a trip to the asylum.
I agree. Sadly the West Midlands is no better and Brighton only a little better. To improve things for cyclists probably means making it more difficult for drivers (and we know who wins that battle don’t we). Drivers have more financial and political clout and use it to the full. It doesn’t matter that it makes economic, environmental and healthcare sense. The political inertia is with cars and people will not want to threaten the status quo and rock the boat, end of story!
There is no reason to make life more difficult for drivers. It simply requires a little imagination and ingenuity to create separated cycleways so that everyone’s needs are met.
I disagree. Yes more cycleways can help both car drivers and cyclists – but we also have to make the roads safer for cyclists and that can only be done by reducing the number of car journeys, giving priority to cyclists instead of car drivers. This is the politically difficult bit.
Silly me! Fancy using words like imagination and ingenuity. There is no reason why making life better for cyclists means a trade-off with other road users. It will involve some lateral thinking on the part of road planners. Something, unfortunately, they don’t appear to be capable of.