Just zis Guy said:OK, so lots of us got stirred up by Martlew. This could be
one of two things: a colossal waste of time, or the start
of some quality grass-roots campaigning.
No prizes which I'm shooting for. I would like the
Government:
* To make available in handy point of sale presentations,
with a distribution mechanism suited to the bike trade,
the two main Stationery Office publications of value to
cyclists, namely the Highway Code and Cyclecraft. I
would like to see these on the counter in every bike
shop in Britain,
and Halfords.
Do I detect a 'trace of irony' here?
Quoted message said:
* To commission genuine research into what increases
cyclist safety, for example an in-depth study of the
Hull home zones project.
Agreed. I wrote to the BBC's Horizon programme once
suggesting that they could do something similar, but I got a
"sorry not enough leading edge high tech posh sounding
science in it for us" reply. The plan was that tv coverage
would reach _all_ road users, not just those of us who are
already committed to the cause. Yer average bus-driving Mr.
Blobby tends not to read uk.rec.cycling. (My apologies to
any bus driving Mr. Blobbys who are actually reading this)
Quoted message said:
* To make available revenue funding for training, e.g. for
cycle instructors and active travel advisors.
And can we put some of that training on the curriculum in
Secondary Schools please. It seems to be a widely
accepted view among the teaching fraternity that cycle
training has been dealt with by the time children get
into Secondary Schools. In my opinion an 11 year old
child is still developing the skills necessary to
_become_ a road user and cannot possibly have been taught
enough to actually _be_ one.
Quoted message said:
* To change the Highway Code to include a minimum
recommended distance for overtaking a cyclist, backed by
a public information campaign making the point.
'They' are going to have to get a bigger book methinks.
Quoted message said:
* To withdraw all future funding for BeHIT.
Only the last one is in the least bit negative ;-)
One of the things that bothers me as a commuting cyclist is
that in order to keep me safe from harm, I may not only be
forced to wear a plastic hat, ('They' needn't bother, my
wife is working on their behalf already.) but I may also be
forced to ride in the cycle lanes/routes which have been
provided for me at great expense and which don't go from my
house to my workplace or worse still, The Pub!
Terry Duckmanton (a.k.a. The Bicycling Banana)
