OK, I’m on very dodgy ground here, taking a pop at Chris Boardman – a man whose forgotten more about cycling than I will ever know. Since breakfast.
But he recently appeared on BBC radio 5Live’s breakfast show and seemed to dismiss the wearing of helmets and high visibility clothing as valid safety precautions when discussing British Cycling's road safety campaign.
Arguing that we need a cultural shift in the UK, Boardman said; “The emphasis shouldn’t be just on the cyclist. We’re creating a symptom without looking at the cause. If someone gets shot on the street, the answer isn’t that everyone should wear body armour. You say – ‘hang on a minute, maybe we need to look at the reasons behind this?’.”
The key word there is ‘just’. Of course road safety is more than just down to cyclists and yes I would love us to follow the Dutch and Danish examples of legislation that puts far more emphasis on car drivers’ responsibilities. But as a regular urban cyclist I do my best to be seen and be safe. In exchange for which I would like not to be ignored, cut up, forced off the road and abused by drivers about non-payment of mythical long abolished taxes on a regular basis.
Cycle lanes, legislation and sensible speed limits would all be welcome. But there are a lot of roads in Britain and a lot of car driving voters, so I think we know how likely it is that we’ll see cycling lanes or new speed limits anytime soon.
So while I’m all in favour of campaigns like this one and really hope that we can affect a sea change in British transport policy and learn from the Dutch and the Danes, I’m not hanging up my helmet just yet.
After all, no cyclist chooses to crash into a car. We tend to come off worst!
[Falls off soapbox and abandons ranting]
But he recently appeared on BBC radio 5Live’s breakfast show and seemed to dismiss the wearing of helmets and high visibility clothing as valid safety precautions when discussing British Cycling's road safety campaign.
Arguing that we need a cultural shift in the UK, Boardman said; “The emphasis shouldn’t be just on the cyclist. We’re creating a symptom without looking at the cause. If someone gets shot on the street, the answer isn’t that everyone should wear body armour. You say – ‘hang on a minute, maybe we need to look at the reasons behind this?’.”
The key word there is ‘just’. Of course road safety is more than just down to cyclists and yes I would love us to follow the Dutch and Danish examples of legislation that puts far more emphasis on car drivers’ responsibilities. But as a regular urban cyclist I do my best to be seen and be safe. In exchange for which I would like not to be ignored, cut up, forced off the road and abused by drivers about non-payment of mythical long abolished taxes on a regular basis.
Cycle lanes, legislation and sensible speed limits would all be welcome. But there are a lot of roads in Britain and a lot of car driving voters, so I think we know how likely it is that we’ll see cycling lanes or new speed limits anytime soon.
So while I’m all in favour of campaigns like this one and really hope that we can affect a sea change in British transport policy and learn from the Dutch and the Danes, I’m not hanging up my helmet just yet.
After all, no cyclist chooses to crash into a car. We tend to come off worst!
[Falls off soapbox and abandons ranting]
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