We were recently asked for our views on the remodelling of a major roundabout in Darlington. The roundabout in question is where McMullen Road meets Yarm Road.
McMULLEN ROAD/YARM ROAD ROUNDABOUT Continue reading
Category Archives: safety
The Latest News from 20’s Plenty for Darlington
Darlington Friends of the Earth’s Matthew Snedker continues to go from strength to strength with his work on the 20′ Plenty for Darlington campaign. Here is his latest update on how the campaign to introduce 20 mph speed limits on residential roads – with out speed humps – is getting on.
First some national news
The Department for Transport has announced that it is relaxing the requirements for 20 mph signage. In a move to remove red-tape and allow local authorities more power to implement 20 mph schemes without unnecessary cost and constraints, the DfT has announced new relaxations to allow far more flexible town-wide 20 mph schemes.
Liverpool city council is entering into consultation over plans that could result in 70% of the cities roads having 20 mph speed limits. It is estimated that this plan could provide savings of over £5.2 million per year in costs associated with traffic casualties.
What has been happening in Darlington
After our successful Green Fair stall we were invited to attend the launch of Green Park’s new play area. It is a lovely space and local residents have worked very hard to update and improve the play facilities.
We met local residents and talked about all the benefits that 20’s Plenty for Darlington will bring. Face painting and the ‘Breaking distance challenge’ proved popular, we sold car & bike stickers and we added another 30 signatures to our petition.
We are pleased to announce that we have received support from George Dent Nursery School. Carol Dawson, head teacher, said “When the policy was explained to me I thought ‘What’s not to like?’ If you care about children and other vulnerable groups how could you not support this campaign. It has been proved to be successful in other parts of the country and it’s time we had it in Darlington.”
More support comes from Acorn Dairy. Graham Tweddle said “a 20 mph speed limit, would help reduce the noise generated by vehicles using the roads at night and also improve the fuel economy.” He also went on to say “What is of more concern, is the increasing number of sleeping policemen (of different styles) used by the council. These do have a significant impact on vehicle suspension.”
I have already had an approach from one councillor asking that roads in their ward be included in any trial of 20 mph speed limits.
Does your councillor know that you want slower speed on the roads where you live?
Community Carnival
We will be at the Community Carnival, with a stall in Stanhope Park. The Carnival takes place on Saturday 25th June between 11 am and 5 pm. Please come and meet the team and find out the latest news.
The next month…
I am arranging a meeting with Michael Straugheir, Traffic Management Officer, Durham Constabulary. We will be discussing the 20’s Plenty policy and looking at how to make Darlington’s streets saver for all road users.
I will be looking to meet chairs of the Borough Council’s scrutiny committees to discuss a formal request that they investigate the 20’s Plenty for Darlington policy.
You can get involved
As well as coming to see us at the Community Carnival there are plenty of ways to get involved:
- Talk to you friends, neighbours and work colleagues about the benefits of 20’s Plenty.
- Print out copies of our campaign leaflet and pass them around.
- Print out copies of our petition and collect signatures, please ask for e-mail addresses so that we can keep people up to date with the campaign.
- Contact you councillors. Let them know of your support for the campaign and ask for their opinions on road humps, child casualty rates and the latest news fro the Department of Transport.
If you want to help with the campaign, you can contact Matthew at darlington@20splentyforus.
Whoops – No Brakes! Never Mind, I’ve Got a Helmet
An email from the Environmental Transport Association today announces news of the latest campaign to force everyone under 14 to wear a cycle helmet. The call for compulsory legislation comes from the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust, a charity that promotes helmet use amongst children. Their latest campaign will shortly be hitting every school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in the form of teachers’ packs and DVDs. But there are a few catches. Despite widespread evidence showing that head injuries amongst children occur in a wide range of circumstances, and particularly whilst in a car, this campaign is targeted at under 14’s only when they are on a bicycle. Second, the campaign is being funded by GEM, the motoring organisation. What would a motoring organisation be doing funding a campaign that wants to see cycle helmets compulsory for under 14 year old cyclists?
But perhaps most remarkable of all, GEM themselves have produced a “guide to safer cycling” featuring a child on a bike with a disconnected front brake. This potent brew of motoring interests, cycle helmet compulsion and dodgy brakes has provoked a stream of critical comments on the GEM blog. Have a look for yourself. Interestingly, whilst I’ve been writing this, GEM have pulled the link to the document in question.
The sad thing is, this is precisely the sort of “advice” that reaches our decision makers via well-paid lobbyists, whilst the real knowledge that is out there about cycling safety, and has been regularly featured on this blog, gets routinely ignored.
Perhaps the last word should go to our great friend and film-maker Mike Rubbo, who made this short film a while ago about an Australian cyclist who refuses to obey the compulsory helmet law down there.
Cyclist Safety – Two Approaches
Ever since the death on the A167 Darlington to Croft road in June 2008 of cyclist Norman Fay, and the serious injuries sustained by his friend and fellow cyclist John Stephenson, I have been meaning to blog about the circumstances, and the wider ramifications, of this tragedy. The Cycling Campaign has for some years now been calling for a separated cycle path along this stretch of road. As is clear from the picture above, for most of the length of the road, this is eminently possible on the grass verge. It is widely recognised as one of the most dangerous for cyclists in Darlington, and indeed discourages many residents of Croft and Hurworth with whom we have talked in the past from cycling at all.
When Norman and John’s accident occurred, the Cycling Campaign raised the incident at the following Borough Council’s Transport Forum (which has now, by the way, been abolished). The response was appalling. One death, and another life-threatening injury it seems, was not enough to justify considering any kind of cycling facility. Some members of the committee took it upon themselves to laugh at our concern.
We also attended the inquest into the tragedy, which took place in September 2009 in Chester-le-Street. The inquest was extensively reported here in the Northern Echo. As the article noted, in this accident the driver of the car involved never faced prosecution.
This incident reflects the two core problems for cyclists in the UK – lack of infrastructure where it is actually needed, and motorist behaviour. But it also reflects a third and related problem – the attitude of our establishment to cyclist safety. This was brought home to us all, literally, in last night’s episode of Top Gear, when cyclists’ “favourite” Jeremy Clarkson jokingly suggested that cyclists deserve to be “cut up” because they don’t pay road tax. Top Gear is one of the BBC’s top income earners from sales abroad. A campaign of complaints to the BBC about the show has already been initiated, and follows hard on the heels of comedian Steve Coogan’s attack on the programme’s presenters for their casual racism.
Disinterest in cyclist safety locally, and institutionalised backing for aggression nationally, reflects a deeper belief in the UK that cyclist safety is something the cyclist should worry about, not wider society. So the one element of Cycling England that gets retained following its demise next month will be Bikeability, the cycle training programme – training, that is, for survival on our car-oriented road system. If cycling safety was really deemed a collective concern, society at large would take much greater responsibility for developing safer infrastructure. Now, what little that was being developed nationally is to be dropped. Cyclist safety will be strictly a private affair.
Contrast the reaction in Darlington to the Croft tragedy, and the BBC’s love of Top Gear, with how the media in the Netherlands dealt with an accident involving cyclists and a car, as described in this great little video from Mark Wagenbuur.
EDIT: In the light of all the Jeremy Clarkson hoo-ha today, one member of the Cycling Campaign has suggested we jest back: