Public Inquiry: Get Britain Cycling

I agree with both these points. Inter-city traffic free cycle lanes are absolutely necessary

But then no cycle traffic can use them--what's the point in that?

We can make an exception for non-motorised traffic

I regard money spent on so called cycle lanes up here in Nottm as money down the drain. Even the N6 is mostly unrideable. Just get out there and claim your space. BUT please lets prove ourselves better roadusers than the dickheads found everywhere. did anyone see the snowbound Audi tweeted from the M4?

/attachments/63029

1 Attachment

indeed^
post wednesday info from B.C:-
"British Cycling’s justice review campaign took a significant step forward after Transport Minister Stephen Hammond agreed to host the review meetings when he met with British Cycling, CTC and Sustrans this week.
This follows Helen Grant Justice Minister committing to supporting the review when we met her at the end of December. The first meeting of the stakeholders already on board (including the Crown Prosecution Service, Association of Chief Police Officers, Chief Coroner, Home Office and Magistrates Association) is due in February.
Over the next week as we raise the issue at the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group’s (APPCG) ‘Get Britain Cycling’ inquiry and meet with influential figures in the judicial system. On Wednesday 30 January, justice for people killed or injured on the roads will be a hot topic at the ‘Get Britain Cycling’ inquiry, as Policy and Legal Affairs Director Martin Gibbs gives evidence at the second session, focussed on ‘safety’.
Our justice review campaign has four key strands: a full analysis of the way that the police and coroners investigate these cases; a review of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charging standards; a full examination of the offences available to the CPS; and a review of the sentencing guidelines to reflect the very serious harm that bad driving can cause.
Ahead of the evidence session, Martin Gibbs said: “Cases such as Tom Ridgway, who was killed by taxi driver Icchapal Brahma, show that justice is failing people hurt on the road and why it badly needs reviewing.”
With justice for cyclists on the agenda at the Get Britain Cycling inquiry, we are also engaging with key stakeholders to get their support for our justice review. We will soon be meeting with the newly-appointed Victims Commissioner, Baroness Newlove. We will be addressing how victims and their families can be better supported through the criminal justice process and how the failings in the process let down victims, or allow them fall through the gaps between agencies.
We’ll also be meeting with the new Chief Coroner, His Honour Judge Peter Thornton, focussing on the subject of coroner reform. We will be seeking more transparency and accountability so that coroners’ processes are easier to understand and more data is readily available. We believe that families should be treated consistently and fairly in coroners’ courts and will request that the Chief Coroner considers a new verdict of ‘road collision death’; currently deaths on the roads are usually recorded as ‘accidental’ so there’s no way of knowing how many are as a result of a road collision.
The main objectives for the meetings are to gain the support of both the Chief Coroner and the Victims Commissioner for the justice review and to lend their influence in creating greater support across government and other key organisations."

As my buddy was knocked off his bike in Bristol last week and suffered a broken finger, mashed up face etc. and the local plod replied, "What do you want me to do, convict him for murder?" when they were given the "driver's" details, it will be interesting the CPS response to this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-21226126

The law is a BIG FUCKING ASS and the maximum of fifteen years inside for the twat who killed these innocent people will not be administered because of sit on the fence suits.

It should be fifteen years for each life taken (with no parole) but lets face it, we live in a country which fines you more for not having a TV licence than taking a life.

The criminal justice process is a massive fail.

/attachments/63029

The driver of that car should be shot, I mean how can you really drive around thinking that is fine!?

good to see Alistair Humphreys on the twitter feed for this
just by the by heres one of his films we used previously to promote virtual bike race
http://vimeo.com/3498139#at=0

this is gonna happen again from 28th february
http://bigpedal.org.uk/
we get thousands and thousands of kids and their folks kicking off the year
cycling on this event- have a look and see if youre kids school is doing it.
My area winners had Rollapaluza in school twice.

How did the presentation go today Skydancer?

Despite being a little nervous at speaking in such a formal session I think I communicated some key points around up-skilling people in bikes and in cars.

On the panel with me was Edmund King the AA boss, The IAM Boss and The Freight Transport Authority spokesperson. There was broad agreement between us all on the importance of education, and upping the cyclists awareness element in driver training and testing. My view that anyone who applies to drive should get cycle training wasn't shared however, nor was a call for strict liability.

Broad agreement was reached on lowering speeds so where people share the same space the speed differential shouldn't be huge. Also

I suppose a high point was when Martin Porter QC described the Roadsafe London Scheme 'utterly spineless' to Ian Vincent the Officer in charge.

It will be fascinating to see the report at the end of the process and how sometimes disparate views are reflected (Segregation vs integration, and the tension between cycle promotion and danger reduction) and even more interesting to see whether there is any visionary leadership that will change anything substantial.

good analysis ta,
what Id like to know is after this, did all the mps quickly race to their waiting chauffer driven cars after?

No they left some before the end to show their faces at PMQs
Actually most of the panel are APPCG members and use trains and bikes...most of them.

why are the AA, IAM and the FTA at a meeting about get britain cycling ?

they are the ones who are stopping britain cycling !

If anyone is going to the 'Planning and Design' session on 6th February, I hope they take the statistics of drivers who have mounted the pavement and killed pedestrians in the past year. Raised kerbs and paint do nothing. I won't be out there until there until there is a complete Sentence Review.

I've sent my rantings via Amy Aeron-Thomas, hoping she can separate the wheat from the chaff. None of it's chaff in my opinion, apart from the norty words.

Had a puncture since June.... Pining.. I'll never make it up Westerham Hill ever again at this rate.

Carlton Reid wrote:

So, today, what will Get Britain Cycling?

Presumed liability won’t Get Britain Cycling. Cycle training won’t Get Britain Cycling. Separated cycle tracks won’t Get Britain Cycling. Subjective safety won’t Get Britain Cycling. Health messages won’t Get Britain Cycling. Better cycle security won’t Get Britain Cycling. Selling more bikes won't Get Britain Cycling. ‘Go Dutch’ campaigns won’t Get Britain Cycling. 20mph zones won’t Get Britain Cycling. Taming cars won’t Get Britain Cycling. High-level political support for cycling won’t Get Britain Cycling. Millions more cash for cycling won’t Get Britain Cycling.

That is, not on their own. It’s a mix of all of the above, and more. Much more.

He is right.

Endless, regular EMP pulses designed to disable car ignitions would get Britain cycling. #untested

of course! it's obvious!
You could have mentioned that BEFORE I gave evidence to the inquiry

Sorry, I was busy working on my Tesla coils..

why are the AA, IAM and the FTA at a meeting about get britain cycling ?

they are the ones who are stopping britain cycling !

The APPCG is. by it's nature, a political entity and to an extent, so are the AA, IAM and FTA. If you don't involve motoring groups in matters pertaining to the road then you can expect that very little will ever happen. This is not an issue of ownership or hypothecation but of necessarily sharing space. Where we need to share space with the largest other road user groups, there is a need to involve them in how that space will be shared. This is even more true as the aim of this enquiry is to increase the numbers that are sharing on our side of the equation.

To be fair to those representatives; Edmund King describes himself and has demonstrated himself to be a keen cyclist, the IAM does have policy on promoting cycling and even runs courses that it claims adhere to the same standards as Bikeability (I'm not going to deny that they do, I just haven't seen any comparative analysis) and the FTA have actively been involved in national cycling safety initiatives and issued their own Cycling Safety Policy in conjunction with the LCC.

Seems to me that APPCG have picked organisations that are effectively on our side already and will be able to provide valuable input on how cycling levels can be increased.

http://road.cc/content/news/75881-dft-statistics-number-cyclists-killed-or-seriously-injured-britain-8-cent-year

So all those cyclists whom think that the more of us on the road then the better it will be are purely stupid?

There's a good blog post somewhere exposing the flaws in the paper that people tend to quote about safety in numbers. Might be true at a single set of traffic lights when we outnumber cars five to one, but overall it's a myth.

any good news from today.??

Bad news from today:

CPS representative states that derisory sentences for drivers who kill cyclists are a matter for the courts, not police or CPS

ACPO representative confirms that it's policy is to advise police forces NOT to enforce 20mph limits

We knew the latter, surely. That's why they have to be self-enforcing by means of speed bumps, chicanes, and other dangerous road litter.

We did now this though it was surprising that ACPOs rep admitted this in such a public forum

Bad news from today:

CPS representative states that derisory sentences for drivers who kill cyclists are a matter for the courts, not police or CPS

Its not bad news that the power to sentence is held by the criminal courts. It just means that we need to influence the sentencing guidelines and how the court interprets them.

The police still need to be targetted to make sure cases get to the court in the first place and that driving which causes injury is not punished with a quick driver awareness course.