Listened to radio derby this morning. On Shane’s breakfast show one of the hot topics was congestion. Apparently a survey revealed that the A6, A38 and A52 suffered most congestion in Derby (no sh*t, Sherlock – you could ask almost anyone who commutes near Derby that?). Shane’s question to listeners was “How do we fix it?”.
The answer in my view is so blindingly obvious I didn’t initially do anything about it – which is exactly what just about everyone-else is doing.
Here’s the most pressing problems we’re facing at the moment:-
- Pollution/Greenhouse Gases/Global Warming – fair to say I think.
- Growing levels of obesity in both children and adults – think people can agree on that.
- Congestion on Britain Roads
What would happen if more people were encouraged to walk or cycle for their commute?
1). Pollution greatly reduced.
2). Fitness levels would increase, weight would drop, obesity levels would drop.
3). In most cases each extra cyclist on the road means one less car.
Isn’t that ever so slightly, blindingly obvious??
Why isn’t it happening then? Because no-one is taking cyclist safety seriously. In 2000 there were 127 cyclists killed on the roads, that comes as no surprise and the number may be better or worse in the following years, that’s all I could find out. Certainly you wouldn’t want to tell your kids to cycle to school with the general poor attitude toward cyclists that exists.
Also as I’ve recently found out quality of road surfaces can make roads extremely dangerous for cyclists – potholes, poorly maintained manhole covers etc are potential deathtraps.
Therefore – first thing that needs to happen is for government funding to create safe cycle routes into City Centres this could begin with the most congested roads – wouldn’t it make people think if they’re sat in their cars idling along at 2mph and a cyclist pounds past. Secondly, there needs to be tax breaks for cyclists – nothing like a financial carrot for people to follow – in actual fact there is a massive tax break it’s £1+ a litre of juice saved for every few miles you do on a bike – no-brainer one thinks. There’s also a cycle-to-work scheme http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/ that let’s you save tax on bikes and cycling equipment if your employer takes up the scheme which means you can effectively halve the cost of cycling gear – worth considering.
To me it’s a no-brainer but things need to change about people’s attitudes toward cycling – both at the level of government and the level of motorists. Cyclist need to work too – cycling two/three abreast does not endear us to motorists – especially as we don’t pay road tax!!!
Interestingly York seems to take a different view to Derby and apparently 19% of people there cycle to work – that’s a significant amount of cars not hitting the roads and a lot of people healthier and wealthier through a simple method of transport that makes a lot of sense. York has a dedicated Walking and Cycling officer on the council, it has cycling lanes and a bridge that is exclusively for cyclists and walkers. It has teams of workers whose responsibility is to keep cycling lanes free of glass and debris. Is that enlightened or what??
http://www.york.gov.uk/cycling/
Derby on the other hand has CycleDerby for the kids which has it’s goal as “Our overall target is to quadruple the number of cycling journeys to school by 2009 from the 2005 baseline of 1%.” – not exactly reaching for the sky in terms of numbers there and Connecting Derby which is a government funded scheme to encourage cycling by various measures. It’s all laudable stuff but it doesn’t feel like there’s as much impetus as in York.
Anyway, now I can’t do any real cycling I’m making it my mission to influence local policy making towards advocating cycling, walking and public transport much, much more.
Interesting quote: H.G. Wells said: 'When I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race.' , am with you all the way fella!!!
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