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@vinylvillain
Ok i am going to be contreversial here and say that calling for a ban on HGV's of any sort is bull, and is probably going to result in any sort of campaign looking as though it is coming from pipe dreamers rather than realists. HGV's are the life blood of retail London.
Lorries dont kill people, badly trained driivers do, same as in a car, on a motorbike or on a bicycle, whats needed is better road education
As a former goods driver, i can tell you that any sort of spoke cadr saying Lorries Kill is going to do a lot more worse than good, it will antagonise the drivers more than anything else.
Half the problem with road safety campaigns is they always appear to come from the lunatic fringe of cyclists to the general public, and as such get dismissed as irelevant or to far fetched, and calling for a ban on HGV's is the same shit.
I still maintain that we should take steps to educate our community to better understand the risks of the road, rather than point the blame at others - too many cyclists put them selves in these positions without being aware of what kind of danger they are in - you should never ever move up the inside of a moving HGV or similar, you are playing with fire, getting that message across is a step in itself
We live in a city that is hopelessly outdated for all forms of transport, from pedestrians, to cyclists, to cars to HGV,s to public transport, everything is far from adequate, but this is because we live in a city that has grown and evolved over 2000 years, and was never designed to be traveled in as it is today.
All forms of transport need to work together, too often one policy is implemented to the benefit of one group of users that disadvantages another, for example the use of Motorbikes in Bus Lanes that has become a farce.
I think the spoke card idea is great, a great deal of good will exists on this forum to make things happen, and i feel like a dampner is being put on that now.
Bill, i know we have had words before, and i have the utmost respect for all you have done and your wealth of knowledge, and whilst i agree with the majority of what you have said, i have to disagree with your sentiments on the spoke card - as some of you know i build custom motorbikes in my spare time, and within that community we are very active at producing leaflets, flyers etc and distributing them round at events, meets, drinks etc - and guess what when you are talking to a fellow biker rather than a cop or public servant the message tends to get across, and is listened to and taken on board - the motorcycle community is very good at looking after itself, making sure that people who ride like twats know it, and helping those who need a hint or two.
I think a spreading of the word at ground level could do a world of good, and the spoke card initiative seems a great way of doing this.