Unless we receive legal assurances to the contrary, cycle safety could be seriously compromised not only during the construction of the massive rail project HS2, but also from the infrastructure itself.
This is a very real fear given that Cycling UK believes that HS2 Ltd has breached the spirit and, arguably, the letter of legally binding commitments we won for Phase 1 (London to West Midlands).
Poor design, penny-pinching – especially over tunnels and bridges – and splitting communities are causing us particular concern.
We don’t want Phase 2 to go the same way, so we’ve just presented another petition, this time to MPs sitting on the High Speed Rail (West Midlands to Crewe) Bill Select Committee.
We explained why we need official assurances on the safety of construction lorries and best practice design standards applied to all highway works associated with the project.
Cycling UK has supported the launch of a new nationwide platform that allows footage of dangerous driving to be uploaded directly to police forces across the UK.
The National Dash Cam Safety Portal, set up by dash camera manufacturer Nextbase, provides a single point for cyclists and drivers to report serious road incidents captured on dash, bike or helmet cams.
A one-stop shop portal is a major advance on the array of different systems operated by individual forces. It saves the police time and resources, and makes it more likely that reports of irresponsible driving receive the attention they deserve.
Jesse Norman MP, the Minister responsible for cycling, has announced two welcome initiatives to improve the way drivers interact with cyclists. These are:
Further details of these schemes are yet to be announced.
Cycling UK has long argued that training and testing processes should prime drivers better on cyclists’ safety.
Also, thanks to our Too Close for Comfort campaign, many police forces now have ground mats to help them explain to drivers what safe passing distances are - an idea originally inspired by West Midlands Police.
The Minister’s announcement coincided with a new partnership between Halfords and the Bikeability Trust to give 25,000 more primary school children access to safe cycling programmes.
The Scottish Government aims to cut physical inactivity in adults and teenagers by 15% by 2030, a target aligning with the World Health Organisation’s global action plan on physical activity for 2018-2030.
To do this, it says it will fund active travel (including extra investment in cycle and walking paths), support both formal sports and informal physical activity, and boost partnership working across the transport, education, health and planning sectors.
An alliance of major organisations, all dedicated to promoting active travel, has published a vision of a future where everybody in the UK can live, work and play in places that are ‘healthy, vibrant and that make walking and cycling the natural choice for short journeys’.
The alliance, made up of the Bicycle Association, Cycling UK, the Ramblers, British Cycling, Living Streets and Sustrans, has outlined five first steps it would like to see the Government take:
The funding needed turn these measures into reality has yet to be clarified.
Cycling UK has been campaigning for some time for vulnerable road users to be excluded from the Government’s plan to raise the small claims limit from £1,000 to £5,000.
This is because we estimate that around 70% of cyclists’ personal injury claims are serious enough to fall within this bracket, and small claims don’t allow for the recovery of legal costs.
We made the point to the Justice Select Committee earlier this year and they, in turn, recommended it to the Government.
In its recent response to the Committee, the Government has said it’s "sympathetic" to the argument – good news, although it hasn’t finished considering the matter quite yet. It says it: “… needs to ensure that any exemptions are justified, particularly with regard to those claimants to whom the increase will still apply.”
The Bill will come before the Commons first thing in September, so look out for more from us.
A 384-page review of road safety delivery practices in Great Britain concludes that to make a success of adopting a ‘Safe Systems’ approach and to “… prevent the substantial avoidable tragedies experienced daily on UK roads”, we need:
Cycling UK said much the same in our response to the Government’s recent review of cycle safety.
The DfT's latest 'Public Attitudes towards Transport' (GB) suggest that there's still nothing much to persuade almost two thirds of the British population that road conditions are safe enough for cycling:
The results of the survey also found that:
Statistics released for 2017 show that pedal cycle traffic in Great Britain crept up by around 3% over a revised estimate for 2016.
Over the last five years, we’ve seen a 4.4% increase – not much, but at least it’s something:
Car traffic in 2017, on the other hand, rose by only just over 1% compared to 2016, and by 6% since 2013.
The latest Travel Survey for Northern Ireland shows no change in the proportion of all journeys where the main mode of travel is cycling.
At 1%, it’s been the same each year for the last ten years, except for 2013 when it came in at even less.
Chris Boardman, Greater Manchester’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner, has unveiled bold plans for a city-region-wide cycling and walking ‘Beelines’ network. It’ll be made up of 1,000+ miles of routes, including 75 miles of Dutch-style segregated bike lanes.
All ten Greater Manchester local authorities are involved in what will be the largest joined-up system of walking and cycling routes in the UK, connecting communities, benefiting 2.7 million people and making active travel a real alternative to the car.
The Mayor of London, Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police Service have published the capital's first 'Vision Zero' action plan.
Its main target is a 65% reduction in the number of fatal and serious road casualties by 2022, with no-one being killed on or by a bus by 2030.
Lower speed limits are a crucial component of the vision, with 20 mph planned as the new general speed limit on all TfL roads within the Congestion Charging Zone by 2020, a move intended to improve conditions for vulnerable road users.
Suffolk County councillors have unanimously voted to develop a strategic, costed five-year cycling plan to support a network of safe, accessible and direct routes.
Other councils, such as Warwickshire, Cheshire East and Portsmouth, have passed similar motions in recent months.
The downside is that Suffolk’s ruling Conservative administration rejected a second motion to allocate 5% of the council’s Integrated Transport Block funding towards it.
A protest against the closure of a vital and popular crossing over the A27 in West Sussex attracted 250 people on bikes, on foot and even on horseback.
The Sussex Pad junction in Shoreham-by-Sea provides the best, flat, high capacity crossing from the coastal strip to the South Downs National Park. If proposals for New Monks Farm are approved, however, the route would be closed and replaced with a substandard off-road path or a lengthy diversion via several signalised crossings.
Adur Planning Committee recently deferred their decision on the issue, while local campaigners, led by the Brighton and Hove Cycling Campaign Bricycles, are asking for such a controversial application to be “called in” i.e. reviewed at national level.
They continue to press for high quality provision for cyclists and other non-motorised users in all road schemes.
Cycling UK has played an instrumental role in creating five new off-road routes in the spectacular Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The 80km of cycling trails were funded by a £19,000 grant from the London Marathon Charitable Trust, and launched by Surrey MP The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt in June.
Cycling UK can hardly believe that the Government's recently published strategy on low emission vehicles, ‘Road to Zero’, ignores electric bicycles and says nothing new about cycling more generally.
This is despite the fact that e-bikes are a good solution for people who want to make sustainable journeys by bike, but can’t face hills or longer distances.
Not only this, they help tackle congestion, road danger and physical inactivity as well as reducing emissions – and are a fun way of doing it (as your editor has just discovered for herself – highly enthusiastic blog on the way).
Transport for London's (TfL) Santander Cycles hire scheme has enjoyed two record-breaking months in a row, with sunny June witnessing nearly 1.2 million hires – the best month to date.
The scheme now covers 100 square kilometres of the capital, making it the second largest in Europe. More than 70 million journeys have been made since it was launched in July 2010.
Headlines: HS2 must deliver on cycle safety, says Cycling UK; Portal opens for dangerous driving footage; Cycle awareness training on way for driving instructors.
Other stories: Scotland acts on inactivity; Alliance publishes ‘Moving the Nation’ vision; Excluding cyclists from small claims limit hike - Government "sympathetic" to idea; Tome published on road safety delivery practices in GB; Dim views persist; GB cycle traffic up by 3% in a year; Northern Ireland sees no shift in cycling; Bold plans unveiled for Greater Manchester; Lower speeds for London; Flurry of reports on transforming cities for active travel; Suffolk votes to plan a strategic cycle network; #SaveA27Crossing, say West Sussex campaigners; Five new off-road routes for Surrey Hills AONB; E-bikes ignored in low emission vehicle strategy; Even higher hires.
