Do not base policies about cycling on the views of existing committed cyclists

tomasrojo

And it’s not just the Understanding Walking and Cycling Report that has found this; survey after survey [pdf] repeatedly demonstrates the basic unwillingness of the vast majority of the British population to cycle amongst motor vehicles. I hope that the current All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group inquiry, Get Britain Cycling, will pay heed to this lesson, and engage seriously with the opinions of those who cycle occasionally (for instance, while on holiday, or on trails away from roads), or those who do not cycle, but would like to do so (my partner, and several other of my acquaintances), or those who do not cycle, and have not even considered doing so. These are the very people we need to be listening to.

http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/do-not-base-policies-about-cycling-on-the-views-of-existing-committed-cyclists/

Thought this represented a point of view (not actually my own, though I have sympathies to the argument) well. Certainly, our road culture is very similar to the UK's: people who cycle frequently are either very keen on cycling in the first place, or unusually determined to keep it up for other reasons.

It's commendable that the UK has had the all-party inquiry, though as always whether it has any concrete effect is another matter.

fasttalkerchat

I think its a fair point. I haven't cycled since I was 14/15 and would only consider taking it up if I lived in a city centre for commuting. But only if there were proper cycle paths. Cycling on a main road is unthinkable for me.

Cookie_Monster

repeatedly demonstrates the basic unwillingness of the vast majority of the British population to cycle amongst motor vehicles

I don't understand this mentality at all, though I've been cycling on the roads since I was about 10 so am probably biased.
I think it's just another symtpon of the ridiculous and overhyped H&S culture that seeped into modern life, the perception that cycling on the road is a highly dangerous activity, that you need special lanes and gear and what not.

fasttalkerchat

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I don't understand this mentality at all, though I've been cycling on the roads since I was about 10 so am probably biased.
I think it's just another symtpon of the ridiculous and overhyped H&S culture that seeped into modern life, the perception that cycling on the road is a highly dangerous activity, that you need special lanes and gear and what not.

I said it here before, its because of how kids are brought up. Stay off the roads and look both ways if you need to cross... and when cycling, get off your bike when a car comes and never go on a main road.

niceonetom

Is this not already de facto policy? I mean anyone who has attempted to use our current "cycling infrastructure" must very quickly conclude that it has been designed by people who do not ride bikes.

Why bother going to all the trouble of polling the opinions of the definitionally ignorant when people of at least equal ignorance are already doing their utmost to make life harder for us, the people who cycle?

Do these surveys have, among their multiple options, boxes for
•I'm too lazy or
•I'm too vain ?

If they do, what's the likelihood that respondents might check the box for "inadequate facilities" instead?

rp

tbh, you could re-write that for any activity
"Do not base policies about <activity> on the views of existing committed <activity>-ists."
... and it would still be nonsense.

Harrybelafonte

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I don't understand this mentality at all, though I've been cycling on the roads since I was about 10 so am probably biased.
I think it's just another symtpon of the ridiculous and overhyped H&S culture that seeped into modern life, the perception that cycling on the road is a highly dangerous activity, that you need special lanes and gear and what not.

You're one step away from blaming the "nanny state" which is a BS argument that avoids really studying the underlying problems.

I've been cycling on roads since I was six, encouarged to do so by my parents and we used to all go out as a group of the occasional Sunday. This is in the backend of Donegal, for reference.

Skip forward 29 years and my old man still cycles, but refuses to do it on the roads anymore due to increased traffic and speeds. It doesn't help that a mother and child were killed up the road while out for a walk. No-one walks the roads anymore. They're not imagineing these increases. H&S have nothing to do with their attitude. These are the same people who let us play in quarries, canal banks etc.

Also, from being out on club spins where I've witnessed some crazy crap from cyclists and motorists, a bit of education wouldn't go amiss o both sides. Maybe, falling back on H&S is the default reaction when ignorant of the other options.

petethedrummer

How many surveys and all party parliamentary inquiries will it take to figure out not to put a bin in the middle of a cycle lane?

Schnell

Interesting article.

"One of their major conclusions – alongside the problems of the perceived abnormality of cycling, and of inconvenience – was that cycling in and amongst motor traffic was a deeply unappealing prospect to most people."

It seems excessive that the conclusion, based on the perceptions of people who don't cycle, is to majorly change the road system and infrastructure rather than changing the perception among non-cyclists that it is a dangerous activity. I don't think this is done at all at the moment, not necessarily because of an all encompassing H&S society, but more specifically by RSA and Garda focus on the onus of protection for cyclists being on themselves, helmets, LRJ hysteria etc.

Will people cycle a few times on these fabulous new 'separated' cycle-lanes and then realise they actually want to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time and therefore get onto the road? Meanwhile I don't have any major objection to building these sort of cycling facilities as long as their use isn't compulsory and drivers don't end up with a 'get back onto your multi-lane cycle-highway' mentality.

Lumen

Schnell wrote: »

It seems excessive that the conclusion, based on the perceptions of people who don't cycle, is to majorly change the road system and infrastructure rather than changing the perception among non-cyclists that it is a dangerous activity

Telling people that cycling is not dangerous isn't a great idea TBH. Cycling can be very dangerous if done wrong, regardless of infrastructure.

Telling people that it need not be dangerous would be better. Unfortunately every attempt at doing that produces recommendations for helmets and hi-vis rather than skill development, because a helmet-and-hi-vis recommendation is easier to communicate than explaining nuances of road positioning, hook turns etc.

Civilian_Target

There's a certain element of truth to it OK - but isn't it the job of policymakers to balance input from all sides when producing a new policy?!