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@skydancer
While there is lots to be done to get more people riding there is a real issue with the current climate of irrational fear of conditions for cycling. London streets have vastly improved to a greater or lesser degree. Cycle commuting has about trebled over the past 5 years. Drivers are getting used to cyclists and the safety in numbers seems born out statistically as ksi per mile traveled have dropped.
While this is happening the voices shouting how dangerous it is have been getting louder, more strident, and calls for separation and the introduction of Dutch infrastructure all paint (pun intended) quite a negative picture.
Apart from these scares putting off some new riders there is also an effect of not acknowledging progress and successes that have been achieved without Dutch style infrastructure. Some people are questioning the value of training people to ride while the roads are so dangerous (forgetting the fact that training gives people skills to ride in a variety of conditions and helps them make riding much less dangerous as any trained rider will attest)
While I know that the Go Dutch campaign began with good intentions and that most LCC' people genuinely wish to work to get people riding it is time perhaps for them to begin some more positive campaigning, to remind people about the fun of cycling and to proffer some tips and to actively promote cycle training as a way into getting riding using our current infrastructure .
We could end up in a situation where this fear and hysteria snowballs, we don't get the Utopian infrastructure they are calling for, riders could get put off riding and this could take us back to the dark days when riding was a strange activity not a normal one as it has become recently.
I sat outside the Yorkshire Grey pub yesterday evening with a mate and we counted the number of riders in the asl heading east. Every minute there were on average 30 riders waiting that's almost 2000! riders in an hour at one junction, un-treated, non segregated, no aggro.
What can we do to reverse this trend?