The ongoing debate about pavement cycling came to the House of Lords last night, when a long list of peers complained about the cycling yobs who use pavements. Darlington Cycling Campaign has members who advocate both sides of the argument (see “How Not to Get Hit by Cars” below). What do you think? You can hear the debate at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3081534.stm. You will need to find the Thursday 26th January edition of Today in Parliament.
Monthly Archives: January 2006
One mom, two kids, four bags of groceries, no car
An excellent blog post with photos showing One mom, two kids, four bags of groceries, no car using the great-looking XtraCycle SUB with the optional Clever Chimp Stoke Monkey. There’s a video too, but I’ve not had chance to watch it yet.
January Meeting of Cycling Campaign
As I missed our November meeting due to a family bereavement, and Mike, our secretary, was welcoming his new offspring into the world (congrats, Mike!!), things have been a bit quiet these past weeks (not to mention the xmas break). I shall be working out of the country again soon, and would therefore suggest that we have an informal get together for those that can make it in the Red Lion this coming Tuesday evening (24th January) at 7.30pm. Anthony has given me notes of the last meeting, and has one or two items to discuss. I also have a reply from Alan Milburn MP to our Open Letter (see archive). Hope to see you then.
How to Not Get Hit by Cars
An excellent article. Number nine pretty much states all the reasons why I personally am against riding on pavaments.
Darlington Cycling in The Guardian
There was a long piece about cycling in Darlington in the Guardian yesterday. It’s available in text-only form online: Making tracks . I’m getting a copy of the paper to see if there are any photos.
In some parts of Europe, a quarter of all journeys are made by bike. In Britain the figure is 2%. Can anything persuade us to leave our cars and get pedalling? Perhaps the unlikeliest of towns – Darlington – holds the key.
Darlington is no more than four miles wide on its longest axis (east-west) – you could cycle end to end in 15 minutes. From the outskirts to the inner pedestrian precinct could never be more than a couple of miles, but 80% of car trips are into the city centre. The transport unit’s research shows that 34% of car journeys could, theoretically, be done by bike (short trips with no passengers or loads).
They’ve got an uphill struggle: I’ve been cycling to work for the last 11 months and people think I’m mad for doing so; since September, I’ve been cycling to Hurworth for work one afternoon per week and that’s seen as insane – it’s only 4.5 miles!
The tragic deaths of four cyclists in Wales last weekend has made people percieve cycling as even more dangerous, despite the fact you’re statistically more likely to die playing bowls than while cycling.