Category Archives: petition

The Government has issued its response to a cycling related ePetition, and Darlington gets a mention. (See the full response and the petition by clicking this link.)

Through Cycling England, we are also funding 6 Cycle Demonstration Towns. The project provides over £8m for the 6 selected towns – Aylesbury, Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster to help them become beacons of cycling excellence.

What would it take for you to consider Darlington to be a beacon of cycling excellence?

My own personal measure is to consider the journeys I could make with my kids in a trailer behind the bike without resorting to riding on the pavement at some point. Currently these are very limited.

THE government has ignored the 11,000 emails protesting at the proposed changes to the Highway Code, said the CTC, the national cyclists organisation last week.

The revised Highway Code will require cyclists “to use cycle facilities…where provided”, unless it is overturned by the Commons or Lords in the next month. Many so-called cycle lanes are poorly designed and some expose the rider to more danger than on the road itself.

Not withstanding the government’s recent reassurance that “The use of cycle lanes is not compulsory for cyclists”, the CTC fear that insurance companies will use the revised wording as an excuse to reduce compensation they pay if a motorist hits a cyclist. They may do this on the grounds that the rider had not used the adjacent “facility” as advised by the Code.

The 11,000 email protest last year was described as “brilliant” by Charlotte Atkins MP who said cyclists had had last punched their weight and protested loudly for their rights to the road.

Now it appears that the biggest protest in modern times has fallen on deaf ears.
It is too late to amend the Code at this stage, say the CTC, which is considering what political and legal avenues are available to them.

Cycling Weekly: 11,000 signed Highway Code protest in vain

If the revised Highway Code goes through unchanged, you’re likely to have insurance companies trying to get out of paying full compensation in the event of an accident. If you’re knocked off your bike on McMullen Road, they could refuse to pay up because you were not using the cycle path which runs parallel to the road.