Petition to improve road safety

[JohnInStockie]

I do contend that that the other petition (liability on motorist) is ridiculous, and totally unnecessary;we have enough law on the subject which workes perfectly well,if an injured cyclist does not use the law thats his problem.Chris

Chris, I think you have completely missed the point of this petition altogether. The point is that as a cyclist in an accident with a car, its quite difficult to ask for witnesses phone numbers and addresses when you are lying unconscious on the road. Most of your witnesses wil have moved off, and it ends up your word against theirs (when you eventually come out of hospital, if you do that is), otherwise the driver goes off scott free!! IS THAT FAIR?

Have you never had a close call that wasnt a car driver fault?

John

 

[JohnInStockie]

Petition to: create cycle lanes in all built up areas/busy roads, alongside and at the same height as pavements.

Spending money on separating cyclists from road motor traffic would be much more effective than spending it on propaganda to wear useless helmets.

Rooel, whilst I agree we need many more and better facilities for cyclists, I for one do not wish to cycle on the pavement. Just about all of the pavement lanes I have seen are generally impractial and only used by leisure cyclists, which is fine is thats all they are for. But most commuters just want to get from A-2-B as quickly as possible, and most pavement based lanes have these problems that I can think of:-
1) They stop at every single road junction.
2) They are often poorly maintained.
3) Pedestrians walk in them.

As a commuter who has given up driving for cycling (for environmental reasons mainly), if others are going to do the same, then they will need to get to work, safely and quickly. And although this offers relative safety, the time it would take would be more than double for me on my 10.5 miles each way route.

John

 

[Chris]

Chris, I think you have completely missed the point of this petition altogether. The point is that as a cyclist in an accident with a car, its quite difficult to ask for witnesses phone numbers and addresses when you are lying unconscious on the road. Most of your witnesses wil have moved off, and it ends up your word against theirs (when you eventually come out of hospital, if you do that is), otherwise the driver goes off scott free!! IS THAT FAIR?

Have you never had a close call that wasnt a car driver fault?

John

No John it is not fair-but it is life.
Is it fair to assume the motorist is guilty?-I see cyclists most days of the week who risk injury through their own stupidity.
As for witnesses a police friend tells me that there is usually no problem with them comming forewards in the event of a serious accident.
Chris

 

[JohnInStockie]

No John it is not fair-but it is life.
Is it fair to assume the motorist is guilty?-I see cyclists most days of the week who risk injury through their own stupidity.
As for witnesses a police friend tells me that there is usually no problem with them comming forewards in the event of a serious accident.
Chris

Sorry Chris but it is not life, it is the current legislation. It is life for those in the car, and too often death for those not. I do not disagree that we have some absolute loons riding about on bikes. But the way I see it, is that if we want society generally to view cycles as an equally valid mode of transport as cars, and to be enouraged, then this legisation would indeed certainly encourage car drivers (myself included) to give them room, and not try to squeeze through gaps (as a 4 x 4 did and almost killed me the other day).

That way it would be almost immediate that we would also deal with the loons too.

Regarding witnesses, I am not so sure that that is the case given the things I have read (I think some on this forum) of where it is very difficult to prove that the driver was at fault for an accident, even if they were.

 

[JohnInStockie]

Petition fro cycle lanes on all roads*

Heres a link to a petition for cycles lanes to be added as a mater of course to all new roads.

Petition to: ensure all new roads have a purpose built cycle lane along side them.

John

 

[rooel]

"Rooel, whilst I agree we need many more and better facilities for cyclists, I for one do not wish to cycle on the pavement."

JohninStockie, as I understand the petition, it is not for cyclists to cycle on pavements but to be provided with a strip additional to the pavement at the same height as the pavement - in other words protected by a kerb.

Personally I would prefer to have the strip at the same level as the motor road, and constructed to the same standard as the road, with a raised kerb between the cycle traffic and the motor traffic. That works well in Groningen.

I also think that the opposition to the provision of cycle lanes which is prevalent among "experienced" cyclists, who state they prefer to exercise their "right to ride the road", plays into the hands of highway authorities who want neither to bother or to pay for separate cycleways. That opposition, soundly based on criticism of the generally abysmal standard to which UK cycle facilities are designed and maintained, should instead be directed not at the the provision of cycleways but at the poor design and maintenance.

It is not really very sensible to demand a right to share a route with motorised vehicles 100 times or more heavier and three or four times as fast as the bicycle. It would be just as non-sensical for motorists to demand a right to share the railways with trains!

 

[JohnInStockie]

Rooel, I would welcome a barrier between myself and the cars on every road in the UK (or where possible) that was regularly maintained and cleaned by local authorities. That would be wonderful.

As I said, I would not like to ride on the pavement, and I think that that is how this petition would be interpreted. For me, commuting like that, it would simply take too long to get anywhere stopping at every road junction.

I dont see how you can say it is non-sensical to use the same route as motorised transport. Most roads in the UK were designed for all traffic, when cars were generally less than 6' wide. Additional to this, many roads have very wide pavements next to them, or where I live grass verges, and then a pavement, without any pedestrians in sight mostly.