Transport deaths - perspective on proposed cycling
legislation
Please can you bring the following to the attention of the
minister;
Whilst shocked at the death of Kim Briggs , crossing the
road on her phone, and run down by
Charlie Alliston, a cyclist riding a track bike on the road, I am saddened at
the response of the media and the government in jumping to legislate for this
very rare event (2 of the 1,730 deaths
in 2015). There are a number of significant recent developments in distractions
for all road users, and it seems, a heavy bias in failing to prosecute
motorists who cause daily death on our roads.
The public health benefits of walking and cycling, both as
active exercise for the participant, and to reduce congestion and pollution
needs far more encouragement and investment, not constraining. (According to a
Kings College study, there are 32,500 deaths every year from pollution related
disease in the UK. https://alumni.kcl.ac.uk/page.aspx?pid=4358)
Legislation in Western Australia (on mandatory helmets)
significantly reduced cycling rates. To take an extremely rare occurance (it
seems around 2 deaths a year are cycle/pedestrian collisions) and create laws
in a knee-jerk way seems likely to result in poor legislation.
There are other significant changes to how highways are
being used which seem to be relevant to this case, and to wider concerns.
• Use of
mobile phones and headphones, especially by pedestrians which makes them far
less aware of their surroundings
• The
advent of the electric car (much quieter than conventional cars)
• Electric
Bikes, which are heavier and often faster than many other cycles
• The
prospect of driverless cars, with no prospect to make eye contact and know
intentions
• Bigger
HGVs with limited visibility, changes to higher visibility, low windowed cabs
seems to be very slow to introduce
• Less
tolerance and more aggression from motorists
• Parking
across the pavement, cycleways, double yellow lines which is rarely policed.
• The lack
of consistent infrastructure for supporting safe and efficient cycling. Almost
every road has two pavements, by contrast cycleways are rare, and often
disappear at pinch points.
A balanced review should take account of all of these factors.
I would not favour a jay-walking law, but as a slow cyclist, I often do get
people stepping out onto the road without looking into my path, and I do think
that there should be some balancing responsibilities.
At sea, there is an order of precedence, that motor gives
way to sail (unless constrained by draught), and sail to rowing, but that for
all vessels, they have an overriding responsibility to avoid collision.
There was another rather less publicised collision, where
the cyclist died ;
Benjamin Pedley 26, cycling to church, died when a
pedestrian Nathan Kellsall walked out infront of him in Earley near Reaading.
Witnesses said that Kellsall had crossed without looking.
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/family-tribute-reading-cyclist-benjamin-12861988
and
http://road.cc/content/news/229584-cyclist-killed-when-pedestrian-stepped-out-front-him-may-have-been-prosecuted
This is on-top of many road injuries and deaths at the hands
of motorists, many of whom walk free. Here are just a few that I’ve seen
updates on in the last week;
A van driver jumping a red light who walked free despite
consigning 15 year old schoolgirl Gemma Coates to a wheelchair.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/driver-left-schoolgirl-catastrophic-injuries-13648933.amp
Esme Weir, a 4 year old, scootering on the pavement with her
pregnant mother in the Wirall. The driver had moments before waved them across
the road.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/delivery-driver-who-mounted-pavement-12782437
.
And a driver who killed a 4 year old boy on the pavement,
blamed his diabetes, and shows no remorse.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/driver-who-mounted-pavement-killed-12343791
Despite Olympic success and a renaissance, cycling in the
UK, it often feels to be a danger sport to share the road. Some motorists take
delight in cutting you up, overtaking at all costs to join a stationary queue,
and generally failing to give adequate space or consideration to a fellow
human.
West Midlands Police, who pioneered a ‘close pass’ education
tool for motorists, have seen cycle KSIs down by 20% in a year
http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/3490/cyclists-killed-or-seriously-hurt-down-by-one-fifth-thanks-to-west-midlands-close-pass
Examples of assault – either using the vehicle as a weapon,
or a driver or passenger pushing cyclists off their bike are also too frequent.
Whilst it seems one of the suggestions is mandatory training
for cyclists, much of the behavioral problems are displayed by motorists,
mandatory cycle training as part of the driving test would probably save more
lives.
Apparently a wide-ranging review of all road traffic
offences and sentencing was announced by the government in May 2014. This
evidence based approach seems to have become stuck. Acting only on cycling
ignores the cause of more than 99% of road deaths to focus on just 0.12% of
them.
Please could the government focus public resources and limited
legislative time on the offences with the propensity to do the most harm and
bad behaviour, not “a populist yearning to ignore inconvenient facts and rush
to judgment” (quote attributed to Jesse Norman MP)
