Let’s be clear: I really do not want to rubbish Britain’s greatest ever racing cyclist (and my ex-club mate) yet one more time. But there are some more remarks he made last year which need to be
looked at. Plus here is my appearance at the beginning of Wiggogate on Sky News after 2: 41 at 11.34.43
Category Archives: Cycle helmets
"Disaster waiting to happen": The London Bike Hire Scheme and why Bradley Wiggins was so wrong (Part Four)
I really didn’t want to rubbish Britain’s greatest ever racing cyclist (and my ex-club mate) yet again. But he made some interestingly mistaken remarks last year about London’s bike hire scheme which have not been reported so widely, and which refer to some fundamentals about safety on the road, so do take a look. Continue reading
Why Bradley Wiggins is so wrong: Part Three: Should cyclists be allowed to wear helmets?
Let’s get to the core of Bradley Wiggins’ (since partly retracted) comments which have caused such frenzied debate. We are actually going to have a brief look at the accumulated evidence on the
effects of cycle helmet wear – something which is rarely done. What this indicates is a remarkable lack of evidence of benefits. (This is apart from the diversionary – “red herring” – and the “dangerising “effects of helmet advocacy which are themselves worryingly negative.)
effects of cycle helmet wear – something which is rarely done. What this indicates is a remarkable lack of evidence of benefits. (This is apart from the diversionary – “red herring” – and the “dangerising “effects of helmet advocacy which are themselves worryingly negative.)
Although my view is that cyclists should indeed be allowed to wear helmets, this is on the basis of allowing all kinds of behaviours which have minimal, zero, or indeed negative benefits for the
user. It would be quite possible for “road safety” professionals with a commitment to prohibiting certain behaviours to do so. The point is to show the absence of positive evidence and to open the Pandora’s Box of road user response to danger, as we do below… Continue reading
user. It would be quite possible for “road safety” professionals with a commitment to prohibiting certain behaviours to do so. The point is to show the absence of positive evidence and to open the Pandora’s Box of road user response to danger, as we do below… Continue reading
Why Bradley Wiggins is so wrong: Part Two: “Road safety” ideology and the culture of cyclist subservience
Bradley Wiggins has (partly) backtracked on his comments made on August 1st. However, there is no fundamental change in the key ideological elements which were present in his original statement. They tell us a lot about the cultural barriers to achieving safety for cyclists and other road users. Continue reading
Why Bradley Wiggins is so wrong: Part One: Sport, Transport and Role Models
Firstly, the nice part: the history I share with Britain’s best ever racing cyclist. And then why I appeared on Thursday’s Sky News to explain why what he said the day before was so wrong. Continue reading
The DfT Cyclist Safety study, risk compensation and cycle helmets
We hope to be writing an extensive review of the Department for Transport’s major programme of studies carried out in 2008, 2009 and 2010 on Cyclist Safety. We think that there are a number of serious problems with what was produced and how the programme was structured – most notably the emphasis on the work on helmets, which we see as being fundamentally misconceived and executed.
While preparing this I was reminded of some DfT-commissioned evidence-review of the (in)effectiveness of road safety education: The Development of Children’s and Young People’s Attitudes to Driving: A Critical Review of the Literature by Kevin Durkinand Andy Tolmie Continue reading
"Death on the Streets: cars and the mythology of road safety"
This book, one of the main sources of evidence for the road danger reduction approach, is now out of print. A few copies are available from the author. Here are what reviewers have said: Continue reading
The London Cycling Campaign and what cyclists in London want
The continuing saga of Blackfriars Bridge has revealed a more high profile and combative London Cycling Campaign, preparing a new strategy for the organisation the year before the Mayoral elections. Will this be the way towards getting “the cyclised City”?
Consider LCC CEO Ashok Sinha’s approach as described in London Cyclist June-July 2011 (pp.16 – 18). Having stated that London is indisputably not a cyclised city, and not on a trajectory towards becoming one, how are we to remedy the situation (an issue we have addressed before here , here , and here ? The answer for him is “everything” Continue reading
What A Nerve!: How dare the AA lecture cyclists on safety!
The Automobile Association (and the other organisation for irresponsible motorists, the Royal Automobile Club) has a long history being part of danger on the road. Take a look at this clip to show how it proudly flouted road traffic law:This Motoring . The current, particularly grotesque, example of the AA offloading its responsibilities on to the actual or potential victims of rule and law breaking by AA members (and other motorists protected from proper regulation and controls by the AAs refusal to support real road safety)
The latest episode is simply part of this tradition. Of course, it is par for the course in a world where “road safety” is often about victim-blaming and avoiding motorist responsibility, despite lack of evidence for supposed benefits: it can be telling your potential victims to get out of the way – for their own good, of course. But that’s no reason to accept this nonsense, as it is part and parcel of maintaining unacceptable levels of danger on the road. Continue reading
How are you going to cope? An RDRF Guide to Survival: Part Two – Basic Texts
You can get comforted by visions of alternative transport scenarios or just find out similar souls arguing against the status quo. But at some stage fighting against the War for the Careless and Subsidised Motorist needs some heavier theoretical ammunition.
It’s time to start reading again and back to some basic texts.
If you have been through professional or academic training as a transport professional what I suggest below will challenge some of the fundamentals you’ve been taught. But coping doesn’t mean acceptance of the status quo: it means learning what’s wrong with it. Our strategy for survival involves challenging preconceptions.
So here’s a list of suggested reading Continue reading
Road Danger Reduction Forum 