Category Archives: Cycling

Some other things wrong withTfL’s “Towards a Road Safety Action Plan for London: 2020”

Let’s look at the rest of TfL’s “Towards a Road Safety Action Plan for London: 2020” It is basically the usual confusions, distortions and misguided mythology of “road safety” ideology. We have outlined some of the typical problems here, and, as always, suggest a look at: John Adams’ “Risk and Freedom: the record of road safety regulation” and a short discussion in his “Managing transport risks: what works?” Let’s consider some of the points made in the TfL document: Continue reading →

Disgraceful: TfL’s “Towards a Road Safety Action Plan for London: 2020”

Transport for London is holding a consultation process about this document until 28th September 2012. Obviously we wouldn’t expect a break from traditional “road safety” ideology in such a
document, but this one is particularly bad. Our colleagues in the CTC, for example, have criticised it for victim blaming and not moving forward from the 1960s. And there is one absolutely disgraceful feature to it. Continue reading →

"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.)
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 →

MAYOR JOHNSON – Getting the numbers wrong

Boris+Johnson

There has been justified anger at the absurd – and dangerous – claim by Mayor Johnson  that: “I’ve seen a figure, I think, of 62%, which
is the high proportion of cycling KSIs (killed or seriously injured) that are associated with some infraction by the cyclists themselves of the rules of the
road.” This has been jumped on with a review of the available evidence showing how wrong this statement is by the CTC . The London Cycling Campaign have also demanded to know the
origins of these supposed “statistics” in a splendid corrective . Ths reaction to Mayor Johnson’s gaffe  here is excellent: but there is more to comment on in this case. Continue reading →