A Cycling & bikes forum. CycleBanter.com

Go Back   Home » CycleBanter.com forum » Regional Cycling » UK
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Boardman volunteers to help make London safer for cyclists.



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old January 6th 09, 03:01 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
spindrift
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,885
Default Boardman volunteers to help make London safer for cyclists.

Olympic great Boardman: We must rethink roads so that riders feel safe
Mark Prigg
06.01.09

THE mastermind of Britain's cycling gold medal haul today called for a
complete overhaul of London's roads.

Chris Boardman told the Evening Standard he wants to see roads
transformed to make them safe for cyclists.

And the Olympic star said he would be happy to advise Mayor Boris
Johnson.

Boardman, 40, said: "In order to make cycling in London viable Boris
Johnson really needs to make some ballsy decisions, and now is the
time to do it.

"At the moment cars have priority and that has to change." Boardman
has proposed re-painting road markings to give cyclists more room and
giving them two-way access on one-way roads.

Kensington and Chelsea council is already testing a scheme for
cyclists to be exempt from one-way road restrictions after hundreds of
cyclists were found to be flouting the rules. Boardman wants to see an
expansion of this kind of scheme across London.

He said: "People just do not feel safe on the roads. We need to
completely rethink the allocation of road space, and it is more than
making cycle lanes wider.

"I would absolutely love to speak to Boris Johnson about this. I think
he has to make his move now." A spokesperson for Mr Johnson said: "The
Mayor shares Chris Boardman's passion for cycling [and] has committed
£55million to be spent on cycling commitments."

Campaigners backed Boardman's plan. "There is an awful lot more the
Mayor could to do improve cycling," said Tom Bogdanowicz, of the
London Cycling Campaign.

The calls come after the launch last year of the Standard's Safer
Cycling campaign.

Boardman is considered one of Britain's greatest cyclists, having won
a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics and broken the world hour record
three times. He has since retired from competition and is a technical
adviser to the British Olympics cycling team, which won 14 medals,
including eight gold, in Beijing.


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...afe/article.do

I like The Standard making a sly dig in the article about "hundreds of
cyclists flouting rules"!

Number of cycle commuters in the UK= 1m

Number of uninsured drivers on UK roads= 1.2m.

Ads
  #2  
Old January 6th 09, 10:53 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Paul Weaver
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 138
Default Boardman volunteers to help make London safer for cyclists.

On 6 Jan, 14:01, spindrift wrote:
Olympic great Boardman: We must rethink roads so that riders feel safe
Mark Prigg
06.01.09

THE mastermind of Britain's cycling gold medal haul today called for a
complete overhaul of London's roads.


Pothole removal? Excellent!

Chris Boardman told the Evening Standard he wants to see roads
transformed to make them safe for cyclists.


They are, as safe as roads (or any hard surface)

Boardman, 40, said: "In order to make cycling in London viable Boris


It is viable

Johnson really needs to make some ballsy decisions, and now is the
time to do it.

"At the moment cars have priority and that has to change." Boardman
has proposed re-painting road markings to give cyclists more room and
giving them two-way access on one-way roads.



Paint? That does nothing -- see ASLs or the gutter-bound death lanes
with pictures of bikes on, perhaps enforcing the current laws (for
cars and cyclists alike) would be a good start.

Kensington and Chelsea council is already testing a scheme for
cyclists to be exempt from one-way road restrictions after hundreds of
cyclists were found to be flouting the rules. Boardman wants to see an
expansion of this kind of scheme across London.


Contraflow cycles lanes are quite easy to put in, just remember to
change the no-entry signs to no-motor vehicle

He said: "People just do not feel safe on the roads.


Only when you get criminals attempting to intimidate. IME that's bus
drivers and van drivers

I like The Standard making a sly dig in the article about "hundreds of
cyclists flouting rules"!

Number of cycle commuters in the UK= 1m

Number of uninsured drivers on UK roads= 1.2m.


Interesting statistics, any links to back that up?
  #3  
Old January 7th 09, 12:15 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Paul Luton[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 123
Default Boardman volunteers to help make London safer for cyclists.

spindrift wrote:


Boardman, 40, said: "In order to make cycling in London viable Boris
Johnson really needs to make some ballsy decisions, and now is the
time to do it.



Vision of Sir Humphrey's - "that would be a very brave decision
minister" inducing a panic in the wretched Jim Hacker. (Yes Minister)


--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames
  #4  
Old January 7th 09, 12:36 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Daniel Barlow
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 883
Default Boardman volunteers to help make London safer for cyclists.

Paul Weaver writes:

[Boardman] said: "People just do not feel safe on the roads.


Only when you get criminals attempting to intimidate. IME that's bus
drivers and van drivers


Bus drivers, van drivers, BMW drivers, taxi drivers, private hire
vehicle drivers ...

I don't know that they're necessarily criminals (you could argue that
intimidation of this kind is common assault, but I doubt you'd make it
stick) but I have been the target of attempted intimidation by all the
above in recent months. Taxi drivers in particular - I'm sorry if
anyone reading this is a cabbie and feels slighted by my
generalisation, but an unrepresentative minority of your colleagues
really are making you all look like tits, and the PCO are toothless.

spindrift wrote:
Number of cycle commuters in the UK= 1m

Number of uninsured drivers on UK roads= 1.2m.


Interesting statistics, any links to back that up?


Brake claims 1.2 million uninsured drivers based on a DfT consultation
from 2004, though I believe this figure is heading downwards as more
effort is being made to catch them

http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=709#_ftn1

Five minutes work with Google failed to find a source for the former,
though. Perhaps soeone else can help.



-dan
  #5  
Old January 7th 09, 12:57 AM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Martin[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 551
Default Boardman volunteers to help make London safer for cyclists.

Daniel Barlow wrote:
Paul Weaver writes:

[Boardman] said: "People just do not feel safe on the roads.

Only when you get criminals attempting to intimidate. IME that's bus
drivers and van drivers


Bus drivers, van drivers, BMW drivers, taxi drivers, private hire
vehicle drivers ...

I don't know that they're necessarily criminals (you could argue that
intimidation of this kind is common assault, but I doubt you'd make it
stick) but I have been the target of attempted intimidation by all the
above in recent months. Taxi drivers in particular - I'm sorry if
anyone reading this is a cabbie and feels slighted by my
generalisation, but an unrepresentative minority of your colleagues
really are making you all look like tits, and the PCO are toothless.

spindrift wrote:
Number of cycle commuters in the UK= 1m

Number of uninsured drivers on UK roads= 1.2m.

Interesting statistics, any links to back that up?


Brake claims 1.2 million uninsured drivers based on a DfT consultation
from 2004, though I believe this figure is heading downwards as more
effort is being made to catch them

http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=709#_ftn1

Five minutes work with Google failed to find a source for the former,
though. Perhaps someone else can help.


From:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/miud...ntheukb?page=1
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/miud...ngintheuka.pdf

WHAT IS THE SCALE OF UNINSURED DRIVING IN THE UK?
3.5 The honest answer to this question is that we do not know for
certain, for a
very obvious reason: those who drive whilst intentionally avoiding taking
out insurance cover are hardly likely to self-refer. There is, however, a
range of evidence from survey sources, conviction records and industry
estimates from which we can build a picture. Specifically:
• DVLA’s most recent survey estimates that almost 6% of registered vehicles
do not have valid vehicle excise duty. It is likely that the overwhelming
majority of these vehicles are being driven by drivers who do not have third
party cover.
• The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), using information based on the MIB levy,
the number of cases they deal with and (limited) information on the number
of cases which insurance companies settle themselves, estimate that up to
6% of vehicles on UK roads are being driven uninsured.
• The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimates that 5% of drivers are
uninsured.
• In its 2004 annual report on motoring, the RAC estimated that 5% of
motorists were driving uninsured and that the number was on a rising
trend.
From this data, a defensible (but probably conservative) estimate of 5% is
reasonable. Moreover, it would appear that the phenomenon is on the

increase and at current levels adds up to a significant social problem with,
as we shall see, significant associated costs.

continued
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
More cyclists equals safer roads- Official. spindrift UK 31 August 9th 08 02:13 PM
West London commute - any suggestions for a safer route? [email protected] UK 23 November 28th 06 06:18 PM
A Little Something You Can Do To Make Bikes Safer Jeff Napier Techniques 4 May 21st 06 01:04 PM
Maybe this would make the roads safer! PiledHigher Australia 7 November 26th 05 05:26 AM
bright colors make us safer? Frank Knox General 33 November 27th 04 06:34 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:22 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CycleBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.