Cycling Ahead

Or are we behind? The review board are leaving the way open for public comments on cyclists, based on the poor cycling statistics we have in the UK, are those who promote cycling doing enough. I heard a statement from an avid cyclist who suggested that car drivers are the problem, they do not look out for cyclists and when they do see them it's either a very close call or a nudge.

So how right is that statement? because learner drivers have a perfect opportunity to find out how to deal with a cyclist and regard them as the vulnerable road user, are we doing enough as educators?

You have until 14th January to submit your views to the inquiry, the questions being - is cycling safe in towns and cities? What can central and local Government do to improve safety for cyclists, could they improve law enforcement for drivers and cyclists. Should cyclists be segregated from other road users during peak times, which may see HGV's prevented from travelling in town centres at this time.

The last inquiry was 2012, where cycling safety was investigated, however the figures for cyclist fatality and serious injury for 2012 point to the fact that something other than talking about it has to be done. Unfortunately there is an amount of dislike for cyclists using the road network due to the fact they pay no road tax or insurance, and although a cyclist can now be held accountable for causing death by dangerous cycling, there really hasn't been enough enforcement or control of reckless cyclists, who once on the road have a duty to play by the rules.

In these green times, when the car is frowned upon as it eats through resources should we all take the bike to work, or more importantly are we missing a great training opportunity during a driving lesson, or better still, to teach cyclists how to understand the road particularly for the non drivers.

The Government report suggests that we are far short of our vision for road safety in Britain if we are to maintain our position as the European leader for road safety, former Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said if we have simplistic targets we will get simplistic answers, he said that the public will always take the easy option - hmm, thanks for that.  Of course the role of Road safety Minister is now defunct due to the DFT shake up as it becomes the DFT and F.

We do of course have European targets to meet, that fall under the banner of road safety, this includes the four year MOT, of course there is speculation that road safety will not become the responsibility of the DFT as departments become smaller and the determination of responsibility comes from the back office.

Road safety partnerships came under fire and a casualty of financial trimming, which leaves a gap where experienced road safety officers had a key role, local authorities refer to this when looking at their own individual targets. As part of the need to improve services in local authorities the driving instructor has come under the spotlight to provide a higher standard of education to the novice driver to meet all of their needs and to be able to take their client into a vocational post test qualification, this includes motorcycle trainers.

In Sweden early education in driver education has had a positive impact, the UK view on this is it breeds complacency and over confidence, yet these two countries are always in the top three for road safety performance, can they both be right or is it just due to a different environment and a lack of Government commitment to recognising the role of the driving instructor.

The RHA feels that not enough awareness is made by the retailers of cycles when selling to the public that they have a responsibility, knowing your bicycle, but if that filtered through to car drivers would the retailers see it as their responsibility. With £11m available for bikeability training, but no funding for adult cycle training then perhaps that is the gap that needs to be filled.