"The Times cycling campaign - we should ALL support it," says Alastair
As an embattled environmentalist, long used to being way outside public opinion, I am delighted by The Times 'Cities Fit for Cycling' campaign.
I see it as a major breakthrough for cycling.
The conflict between cycling and driving, cyclists and drivers, is real and obvious - especially when you are the one on two wheels.
Most cyclists have been knocked off by a car and we live in terror of a car door being opened in front of us, of a driver not checking for a bike as well as for other cars. That fear keeps thousands off their bikes.
Learner drivers should have it drummed into them that cyclists are part of the picture, that they are saving valuable road space by cycling, reducing pollution and noise and generally being a Good Thing. There should be safe–cycling courses for cyclists found guilty of bad behaviour, and the same for car drivers.
The media in general has never treated cycling as a serious form of transport – more as a loony irritant promoted by car-haters and freaks. But those days are now perhaps over. With The Times on board there is real hope, so please do take the time to look at details of their excellent campaign. The Times says that there were 1,850 deaths or serious injuries in the first half of 2011, a 12 per cent rise on the year before.
You can guarantee that behind every keen cyclist there is an anxious loved one who wishes they would give up cycling. If there is a radical shift in thinking and cities and towns are designed for the least invasive forms of transport, with pedestrians at the top of the heirarchy, then hopping on your bike won't feel reckless.
Only then will things change, as they have done in many European cities. I have watched, enchanted, in Ferrara as cyclists drifted by in swarms – elegant women in fur coats, businessmen in suits, old folk and young – all using their bikes naturally and without fear. The few cars wove carefully and respectfully among them. It was a delight. IS Britain so different that we cannot have that delight too?
Please sign up and support this excellent campaign. Now!
