Cities fit for cycling - we need to make it happen

Today, The Times relaunched and reviewed it's Cities fit for cycling campaign. It marked the launch of a cross party parliamentary 'Get Britain Cycling' inquiry aimed at getting more people to cycle and ensure cycling is safer in Britain. The report is due out in April 2013, which will be more than a year since Mr Cameron and 75 other MPs congregated to debate cycling safety.

Philip Pank's review of The Times campaign to date, made interesting if not slightly depressing reading with 4 of the points from it's 8 point plan charting a score of 2/10, and the highest one scoring 5/10, forgive me for feeling down heartened. Now don't get me wrong, I think the campaign is well thought out, the ideas for change pretty sound, feasible and most even practical to implement. The campaign has raised significant awareness nationally (36,000 people have pledged support) and shifted cycling safety up the political agenda. So one year on from launch why does progress feel painfully slow?

In an interview with Cycling Weekly Kaya Burgess, the reporter behind the campaign, suggested that "Cyclists need to seize their opportunity with both hands". He is right. We can't simply e-sign our support, write a letter to our MP and local councillor and then sit back and wait for the changes to happen. If we truly want to properly galvanise support in our cities, our towns, and on our doorsteps we have to be prepared to get off our backsides and help make it happen.

I live in Bath - a beautiful city for cycling. There are cycle lanes and plenty cycle paths. There are also loads of keen cyclists, cycling groups and independent cycle shops. The city also has its own version of Boris's bikes and a well used commuter cycleway connecting Bath with Bristol thanks to Sustrans. On paper Bath should be a cyclists haven but unfortunately, like most modern, busy cities, cyclists still suffer safety issues. Bath is massively congested, having been built well before the motor car, the roads are narrow and can be difficult to negotiate for a cyclist, particularly in the rush hour. It attracts tourists by the coach load and is a city in desperate need of a bypass to help reduce heavy traffic entering the centre.

There are lots of ideas and initiatives as The Times campaign suggests but if I was to choose one to champion here in Bath it would be to introduce 20mph as a default speed limit in residential areas. The Police quote your chances of surviving being hit by a car at 20mph are 80:20 but if you are hit at 30mph it's reversed at 20:80. The stats speak for themselves. Surely, just implementing that one initiative would mean a significant proportion of the centre would get slower and safer. That in itself would encourage more people to get on their bikes and help parents introduce their children to cycling on the roads. It would also make the city centre residential streets a nicer place to live. There is a street in Bath that already has a 20mph limit restriction but having watched cars entering the zone it really needs much better visibility at the point of entry both to allow the motorist a chance to spot it and to slow down in time.  Overall, we need to find better ways to promote the 20mph and enforce it, maybe by simply painting 20mph Zone on the road in big letters would be a start and a bit more effective than a sign on a lamppost! I recognise there are no easy answers but there is room for common sense to be added into the communication and effective introduction of new initiatives like this one.

So, I for one am going to do as The Times suggest and continue to lobby my MP, councillors etc but I am also going to ask more questions and above all find out who is driving change for cyclists in Bath and what plans are afoot to make our city and the outlying areas, fit for cycling. And if I can't find the answers, or don't get satisfactory ones, I might just have to 'be bothered' and do it myself.  How about you?