Monthly Archives: March 2006

The next Darlington Cycling Campaign meeting will be on 4th April in the
Red Lion, at 7.30pm, in the upstairs room.

The council are going to discuss their cycle plans for the town at the next cycle forum on 11th April at 6.15pm in the Council offices in Hopetown House, on Brinkburn Road (map). It would be great if the campaign could have some representatives there. Could ‘members’ let me know if they’re going, and report back on proceedings?

The latest instructions include details of where to park cars, but no mention of bikes (!), so we have asked for details. Some members of the Cycle Campaign are meeting at 6pm in the Market Place, we will then ride as a group to the forum at Hopetown House (via the Pedestrian Heart). The more the merrier!

The Council’s plans will be launched at an event in the Market Place starting at 11am
on Tuesday 4th April.

Update: Venue changed (again)

Forum Change of Venue

Tuesday 11 April 2006 at 6.15pm

The venue for the forum has changed again! As the Red Lion was unable to provide access for all, the meeting will now be held at the Council offices in Hopetown House, on Brinkburn Road.

The building is opposite the junction of Brinkburn Road and Wilson Street, with access to the car park gained from Darrowby Drive.

Please feel free to park in the staff car park as most people will have left by 6.15pm.

I hope to see you there and apologies for the repeated changes of plans.

Yours faithfully

Oli Lougheed

Why we cyclists need to strike a deal with pedestrians by Boris Johnson.

When Cameron’s Conservatives come to power it will be a golden age for cyclists and an Elysium of cycle lanes, bike racks, and sharia law for bike thieves. And I hope that cycling in London will become almost Chinese in its ubiquity. Cameron’s Conservatives will go further. We will offer no new restrictions on cyclists and certainly no ban on talking on a mobile whilst cycling, but we offer this deal to pedestrians: we’ll stay off your pavements if you jolly well watch where you’re going.

An email from AndrewU reminded me to blog about this. Thanks AndrewU.

The new highway code advises cyclists to use bike lanes where provided. But cycling organisations say this will make travelling on two wheels more dangerous. How come?

Shattered glass. Strewn rubbish. Parked cars. Deep drains. Jarring potholes. Lanes barely wider than a bike (sans rider). Lanes of a few metres. Or that switch from one side of the road to the other.

Such is the state of many of the cycle routes that criss-cross our towns and countryside. Yet these are the very facilities intended to encourage people onto their bikes.

And now the Driving Standards Agency, part of the Department for Transport, has released a draft highway code advising that cyclists should use bike lanes where provided.

The CTC, the UK’s national cyclists’ organisation, has collected thousands of signatures in a campaign to try to get the new wording changed. They fear that this advice could actually put cyclists at risk; that drivers’ insurance companies will try to avoid paying damages to cyclists injured after riding in the road rather than a nearby cycle path.

But cyclists have told BBC Radio 4’s PM that they have good reason to ride in the road, as bike lanes are often badly designed, even dangerous.

There are lots of examples and comments at the end of the article.

(Edited to add the link to the article…)

The Hearld & Post a few weeks ago carried a story about increasing numbers of children in Darlington using bikes to get to school.

Sounds like good news.