Good spot. I happen to think that people are unlikely to stick with cycling for long if it's for purely negative reasons, and yes, saving money counts as one. Who would want to save money if they could afford not to? Always hoping, of course, that some credit crunchers may find positive reasons in all the gloom and be transformed ...

Oliver.

Awful. It doesn't make it any worse, but it is a shocker when you hear the victim was only 16.

Every single one of these tragedies hammers home the fact that there are things the Government could do to reduce the number of these incidents (although, sadly, not completely eliminate them). Among them is the compulsory fitting of the latest safety mirrors to all pre-2000 lorries. Better driver training and cyclist training also play an important part. While no cyclist should ever go along the left side of a lorry, the driver bears the greater responsibility.

I think of the cyclist fatalities we have heard of this year, 9 out of 10 or so have been cyclist/HGV fatalities. This is unusually high.

Related threads:

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread531.html

Essential viewing: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread3072.html

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread10802.html

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread11181.html

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread11587.html

Not an exhaustive list, but between them they contain a lot of useful info.

i think the steady drip drip drip effect combined with them knowing that we are constantly watching them for action will bug them and then begin to work. they do not want to caught with blood on their hands.

The more people contact politicians, the better, as politicians don't actually get that many letters, and they do react. Write to your MP, ministers, even influential local councillors or your ward councillors. Individual letters are best--politicians get a lot of template letters that are just copied and pasted and they're not as effective, as they are often interpreted as showing less genuine concern. (Which is obviously often not true, but it's just how these letters are seen.) We at the LCC often have template letters on our web-site. These give some basic facts that can easily be adapted into a different letter style. See one on lorry mirrors here:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/documents/lettertomeps.rtf

when they ask what can be done. we refer them to ctc and lcc who both have a number of good proposals / strategies to improve road safety for cyclists.

See:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=846
http://www.lcc.org.uk//index.asp?PageID=1195
http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1196

(i believe ctc / lcc cannnot email the politicians in this way because they get govn funding which would be cut if they got up their nose).

we dont have govn funding issues. that is why we are in a good place to get up the politicians noses - by being direct and aggressive. we have nothing to lose.

We certainly wouldn't mail politicians with particularly inflammatory rhetoric or aggressive 'getting up their noses'--I think you'd find that that's not very effective. Being direct is good, as per above. It's more than enough to show genuine concern and certainly keep up the pressure if you feel that your concern is not getting through.

You may also be thinking of the fact that we are non-party political? That's not relevant here as obviously all parties are in agreement about the need to reduce road casualties. We do have a number of other constraints to do with our charitable status, but these do not extend to campaigning--we can e-mail anyone and we do it all the time.

Preventing these horrible and tragic deaths from HGVs is one of our absolute top campaigning priorities, and any support is hugely appreciated. Cycling in London has been getting safer for years, and there is no reason whatsoever for the Government to be dragging their feet over the compulsory introduction of advanced mirror systems on all lorries--currently only planned to be compulsory for post-2000 lorries. Naturally, awareness raising campaigns that send the right messages (unfortunately often they don't) are also extremely important.

Oliver
LCC

Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy

http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/

Just scary.

Has this shop really not been posted about here before?

He's been in business for some time (the web-site still has the old address) but has just moved to his new shop.

Kiwi Cycles (hours: Mon-Fri 8-7; Sat 10-4) at 156 Victoria Park Road (20 metres past Lauriston Road/Grove Road roundabout as you go west).

They'll be running "a fairly full menu of regular cycling stuff but sales of bikes will be mainly the fixed gear stuff and some commuter friendly steel".

http://www.kiwicycles.com/

but how do you teach an adult how to ride a bike?

Not really answering your question, but: *

http://www.londonschoolofcycling.co.uk/
*http://www.cycletraining.co.uk/
http://www.cyclinginstructor.com/

All National Standard accredited training providers. Between them, they deliver most of the training in London.

Munch Man:

Boulder Dash:

Jet Set Willy:

Faery Tale Adventure:

The Sentinel:

RailRoad Tycoon:

Back in July I tried to nominate this site for an LCC Best Cycling Facility
Award. Why not, eh?

Three months later I get an email (see below) asking for a more detailed nomination. I replied saying I was too busy and she should HTFU and and have a look at the site herself.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

David, it's a very good idea to nominate the site. If you still want to follow it up, you should do this under 'Best Community Cycling Initiative'--the 'Facility' category is for physical infrastructure.

The request for more info that you received from the office is because we get a lot of nominations and we simply don't have the volunteer time to follow them all up. The judges are provided with a pack containing the information that you give. I shouldn't think that it would be too difficult to compile this info, as detailed above, between a couple of willing and knowlegeable forum members, if you don't have time? Guidelines here: http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1164

=========================================================================
Criteria for Best Community Cycling Initiative

This category will recognise community groups or organisations who best implement a program or project to involve the community in cycling. The winner of this award will have developed the initiative in order to:

 improve and increase interest in cycling
 support and encourage people to try or take up cycling

Please include relevant photos and testimonials, along with a brief description (one side of A4) of the initiative and how it meets the criteria. You should include the numbers of cyclists involved and the dates and locations of any events relating to the project. Where appropriate, please provide evidence of an increase in cycling activity, preferably in the form of a before and after comparison.

In addition, please indicate the name and address of the organisation or individual to be credited for this award in your nomination.

The deadline for nominations is the 24th October--Friday week.

The sorts of community projects that usually get nominated tend to be based around religious groups, ethnic minority groups, disability groups, schools or local areas and often address social exclusion (and obviously achieving inclusion through cycling), widening participation, and so forth. However, I don't see why a web-site shouldn't be worth a nomination--it's still not such a widespread way of organising a community, but this site is clearly very successful at that--plenty of events, social rides, etc. It would be important in a nomination to demonstrate how this works, perhaps using a few examples.

For instance, how many new people are taking up cycling around London because they like FGSS bikes and the scene around them? I'm sure there are some. Even if this seems less worthy than, say, cycling for disability groups, the judges may well be impressed by it.

Happy nominating,
Oliver
LCC
(Please note that I'm not involved with the London Cycling Awards in any way.)

the dude who beat Jim(!) must be a roadie

shaved legs - check
lycra tan line - check

just an observation like...

Chris Moores, Norwood Paragon CC. He rode in the Catford Hill Climb today (http://www.catfordcc.co.uk/) and got a very impressive 11th place with a time of 2:07.8.

Great ride all, loved it. Sorry I had to go after the first hill climb but I had to attend to Cycle Show business in London. As a perk, I met Nicole Cooke at her signing session for her book! Yay! Clocked 180 miles this week-end, just a blast. Re: putting names to faces, this is me: http://tinyurl.com/4ceqol See you all on another ride!

Hi all,

I'm fairly new here so hello to everyone. I'm tentative as I've got a lot on but keen to come. I'll try to join you at Smithfield. I'll be on my geared bike, as my single speed is only on a 42/16 and doesn't feel that great over longer distances.

Best to all,
Oliver.

1. claus (Smithfield)
   
2. brett (Crystal Palace)
   
3. BringMeMyFix (Smithfield, and in more than 2 minds about competing)
   
4. jonny (smithfield, and in zero minds about competing - come on BMMF!)
   
5. dogsballs (smithfield)
   
6. illy (Crystal Palace)
   
7. dandy horse ( If my hip feels better, and its good weather )
   
8. cliveo (Smithfield)
   
9. twist305 (Smithfield)
   
10. texas (smithfield)
    
11. Gav (smithfield)
    
12. Pilky (Crystal Palace)
    
13. 50/14 (Crystal Palace)
    13.5. Ant (Palace scum)
    
14. furious tiles (Smithfield no chance of entering, probably ride geared though)
    
15. Oliver (tentative)
    

Hi all, I haven't posted here before, so just to say that the LCC is very much in support of greater campaigning on this issue. Our HGV group works on this all the time but all additional support is appreciated. Cycling is not dangerous but the high number of fatalities from left-turning lorries is therefore especially upsetting and much more preventable.

Awareness-raising among cyclists is extremely important; for the sake of prevention alone it's a minimal thing one can do. The bigger picture is that there is a lot that needs to be done about HGVs, but little political will to focus on this issue. Just to stress: We are way behind in the UK and the DfT are actively refusing to implement safety measures that have been taken on the Continent.

This is what the template letter to MPs that seemed to be inaccessible to at least one poster addresses. (Just in case anyone else can't access the template letter, I've attached it to this message in .txt format.) If you want to send it, make sure to change it into your own style until you like it, as different-looking letters on the same issue have a far greater impact than letters that seem to spring from concerted campaigns. (NB the template was created in 2007, so some of the time references are out of date.)

The LCC web-site page that Bill also links to is here:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=917

My local LCC group, Hackney, is calling for greater political leadership to bring people together.

See 14th July item on:
http://www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk/new.htm

Also in our latest newsletter.

Happy campaigning!
Oliver
LCC