Pedal Press Winter Edition 2007
WHY! We are hardly into 2007 when tragedy strikes a key member of the Merseyside cycling community, close to a year following a similar tragedy in North Wales. Our hearts go out to Mel’s family, and we have lost a key cycling proponent, an inspiration to so many young people, with his standing and respect, clear from the crowds at his funeral.
Following on from the anger comes the frustration of campaigning for cycling where change is held back by a failure of imagination at the level of local authorities. Cyclists are beset by threat, not only from motor vehicles, but also from antisocial behavior. In cities they are torn between peaceful but risky dark winter routes, and more brightly lit busy roads. Key elements of a cycle route have been closed off for over 6 months, and even the minute gesture of a dropped kerb, recommended at a cycle forum, is remarkable only by its continued absence.
Speeding and running of red traffic lights pose an ever present risk, yet are largely un-enforced throughout the wider conurbation. And in the surrounding countryside, support for vulnerable road users on heavily trafficked routes is hard to find, yet is widespread elsewhere in Europe. At the same time, a climate change action plan now speaks up for cycling, but with a soft voice.
MCC now needs to focus on its strategy. With this in mind, the MCC regular meetings, to which all members remain warmly invited, will move to quarterly, strategic planning meetings.
The Wirral Group is meeting regularly and our members are developing key relationships with both the local authority and relevant agencies. The monthly meetings of the Liverpool Group, to which members from Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens are invited, will continue, until these geographical areas of Merseyside have gained sufficient members and have identified a venue to meet as a local cohort.
We need to reinforce our strategic framework for the Campaign, and the objective must be: Safe Roads for Safe Cycling. Our vision for the future must surely be this objective and as our purpose proclaims it is to promote ‘Cycling for Transport, Health and a Better Environment’
The Fragile Cyclist
Evidence and the Law Maxine Cain
I work with the law and also with members of the public who have been financially wronged. I often hear them say “lock him up, he’s a villain” – and I feel the criticism when people think this should occur but find it does not occur.
People have a sense of justice, and they feel it most acutely when someone they know or love is a victim of crime. But justice goes both ways, and it is surely right that people should only be convicted of a crime when it is proved beyond reasonable doubt to an independent Court that they are guilty of that crime.
But between the sense of justice and the proof of guilt there is a wide chasm. It is the difference between belief in guilt and proof of guilt, and it is called evidence. As the burden of proof lies with the prosecution in all crimes, a lack of evidence means there is simply no case to answer. The defendant is deemed innocent, however wrong that feels to those who are affected.
I have been a victim of lack of evidence. On 22 May 2000 a truck ran over my leg. The driver said he never saw me, despite the fact that I was in an advanced stop line and dressed in fluorescent yellow. He turned left, caught my bike, and took me with him. I threw myself from the bike and was fortunate that he drove over my leg and not my head. My bike was shredded.
I was injured and shocked and it was the beginning of the Fragile Cyclist, for I have been petrified of heavy traffic ever since. But the driver suffered nothing more than a short interview with the police and perhaps a sharp word from his employer. It was even my insurer who picked up the bill for my new bike.
The driver said that he never saw me, and there were no witnesses to say otherwise. There were no witnesses at all. Witness testimonies are evidence, so there was no witness evidence and no other evidence. And unless there was evidence to prove he did see me or that he ought to have seen me, he had an absolute defence of any motoring crime, as intent is everything in motoring crimes (as it is in financial crimes), with the burden of proof currently being on the prosecutor to prove it.
Danny McDonagh and Dave Parry and others may have to undergo the ordeal of giving witness testimony in Court in the trial of the driver who killed Mel Vasey. We have all read about unjust sentences passed on drivers who kill, and I will be bracing myself for a verdict or sentence in this case which I may feel is unjust. But until the burden of proof is changed to that it lies in favour of the most vulnerable road user in any collision on the road, then driver behaviour will go unchecked. And people who kill cyclists will continue to be inappropriately punished.
Sefton NewsDug Heaven
The draft Sefton Cycle Map received some points for consideration from Peter Roome and others during a consultation period . The general feeling was the map was too good to be given away as a freebie - especiallyto those with no intention of getting on a bike - but maybe it would have some subliminal effect anyway!
Do we need a new road? The Thornton to Switch Island Link is a proposed new single carriageway road connecting the motorway junction at Switch Island with the A565 Southport Road at Thornton. The proposed link road will provide a local by-pass of the communities of Netherton and Thornton, especially the areas of Green Lane, Lydiate Lane and the Northern Perimeter Road.
The next Sefton Cycle Forum, on 14th March, is at 6-30pm, in Crosby library. Anyitems for discussion to Val Hough Tel.0151 034 4206
In the latest edition of the CTC magazine there are two sites to go and investigate & by completing the on-line form any reports of potholes or requirements for highways maintenance go direct to the authority responsible for sorting out.
ED… It works as well! I have just received confirmation of a series of ruts I reported last week.
Harmony in Ferrara Peter Bates
On a trip to Venice recently, I took the train across the flat plain of the Po to Ferrara – only really because of a long-remembered Browning poem “My last Duchess”, and the city’s associations with the Renaissance harmonies of musicians like Gesualdo and Frescobaldi.
As a native of Oxford I should know the simple equation that university city + flat land + medieval street layout = bicycles – but I wasn’t prepared for what I found in the city that claims the largest Limited Traffic Area in Europe. It wasn’t just the sheer number of bikes and the range of cyclists that was surprising (clearly they weren’t all students). It wasn’t the free bikes provided at the station and at peripheral car parks for local key-holders to borrow to cycle into town. Or even the fact that the flamboyance of Italian driving applies to two wheels just as much as four.
What was interesting in the light of current Liverpool discussions is the way pedestrians and cyclists (and by no means slow cyclists) mixed amicably as they both cut straight through narrow streets in the largely car-free historic centre. Neither group seemed much disturbed by the presence of the other. During an evening’s selfless observation from pavement café I heard no bells rung in anger; I saw no angrily gesticulating pedestrians; and only one incident where a cyclist had to stop suddenly.
In Amsterdam – with laws favouring bikes, with a range of cycle lanes and with a national stereotype that is both pragmatic and phlegmatic – perhaps that sort of thing would be expected. But to find it in Italy is further confirmation that familiarity breeds content - two wheels and two feet can mix if people get used to the idea that cycles are a normal everyday way to travel and cyclists aren’t all murderous freaks – just people who want to go from A to B (and preferably not having to go via C and D.
Liverpool PCT Cycle Forum
The was the second meeting of this informal gathering designed to take the opportunity to update participants’ knowledge of what was happening, in part, of the world of cycling on Merseyside.
The representatives from the groups present gave a summary of their organizations activity.
Liverpool PCT
Gavin McLaughlin
Guided cycle rides from Walton Hall Park & Croxteth Park
Wheels for All disability cycling at Walton Hall Park
Volunteer Cycle Leaders Training Courses; next one 25th Jan 2007
Proposing to roll out equipped cycle pods at Otterspool Promenade, Belle Vale Park, Sefton Park/Princes Park, Calderstones Park, Newsham Park
Cycling Project
Phyllis Nener
Cycling Project's work is to develop and promote ‘Health on Wheels’ Programmes across the North West and Merseyside.
There is a pilot programme running at Bentley Road Medical Centre, Princes Park that includes medical evaluations to provide firm evidence of the benefits of cycling on health.
Cycling Projects are looking to develop another Liverpool ‘Wheels for All’ centre in addition to that at WaltonHallPark.
Travelwise [
Jane Moore outlined the work that Travelwise does and includes
Travel Plans; assisting employers and schools to develop travel plans for their sites.
Schools cycle training with funding from the Local Travel Plan and NRF Active City. This is delivered by Cycling Solutions
Bike Time Rides during the Summer and Winter in conjunction with the Merseyside Cycling Campaign and Cycling Solutions who provide the lead and backup riders.
Cycling Across the Ages
Gil Taylor outlined the current activities of this NRF funded cycling project whose main aim is to help improve overall health through the medium of cycling.
In conjunction with the Margaret Thompson Medical Centre and the Austin Rawlinson Sports Centre (both in Speke) there have been run two ten-week cycling referral programmes between June and November 2006. There is another course planned for early in 2007.
As a follow on to the above courses participants have the opportunity to continue their cycling activity on Tuesday rides throughout the year. Tuesday mornings (9.30 am) from Margaret Thompson Medical Centre, Speke, and 1pm Tuesday afternoons from the Millennium Centre, Childwall Valley Road.
For day outings CATA owns a purpose-built cycle trailer that can also be made available to other cycling bodies.
CATA works closely with Liverpool PCT and Gavin McLaughlin as part of the Liverpool Active City Programme.
For day outings CATA owns a purpose-built cycle trailer that can also be made available to other cycling bodies.
CATA works closely with Liverpool PCT and Gavin McLaughlin as part of the Liverpool Active City Programme. Contact via
Broadgreen Hospital & CTC
Zoe Evans
The hospital acquires small external pots of funding to run 12 week cycling courses for Phase 4 cardiac patients and their families.
When the courses end they look to signpost the patients to other cycling schemes such as CATA.
The current equipment used is a legacy of the CATCH cycle training conducted by Cycling Projects and CATA.
Liverpool Bicycle Cooperative
Colin Trigg
This is a new not-for-profit workers’ cooperative venture seeking to create jobs from cycling. It is Wirral-based and has an outlet at Thurstaston Visitor Centre as well as a mobile facility.
At present they have 34 bicycles being a mixture of hybrids, town bikes and mountain bikes.
Colin was a Financial Adviser with Lloyds TSB who identified a gap in the market for a decent cooperative cycle outlet and hire centre on Merseyside, similar to the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative and others.
Liverpool City Council (Highways Management)
Jenny Coy reported various highways schemes being progressed that improved cycling facilities in various locations.
One of the current schemes is the installation of cycle lanes between Liverpool South Parkway and the Banks Road junction improvements. This will be of great help to cycle commuters to the retail & business parks, etc.
Free cycle maps for both the University Route and NCN Route 56 are available on request.
Sustrans
Paul Thomas, Sustrans Regional Maintenance Manager
It is likely that another Bike It Development Officer will be appointed to cover schools in the Liverpool/Wirral areas.
There is the possibility of financial assistance for organizations promoting cycling activity on Sustrans routes, such as the Liverpool Loop Line.
Cycling Solutions
Neil Kay
Cycling Solutions is a not-for-profit community interest company.
It has recently benefited from NRF Active City funding that allows another 300 Liverpool schoolchildren to be trained to Level 2 of the National Standard.
In future, Level 3 will be delivered to high school pupils in 2-hour one-to-one sessions. These can also include adults and will be free.
Neil said he asked was frequently asked if any organization was delivering cycle maintenance classes. Cycling Projects do these from time to time when there was demand in specific areas.
Liverpool Bicycle Cooperative
Colin Trigg
This is a new not-for-profit workers’ cooperative venture seeking to create jobs from cycling. It is Wirral-based and has an outlet at Thurstaston Visitor Centre as well as a mobile facility.
At present they have 34 bicycles being a mixture of hybrids, town bikes and mountain bikes.
Colin was a Financial Adviser with Lloyds TSB who identified a gap in the market for a decent cooperative cycle outlet and hire centre on Merseyside, similar to the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative and others.
The Campaign extends its sympathy to the family and friends of Mel Vasey who so tragically lost his life on Sunday 14th January on the Wirral. The funeral was attended by many members of the Birkenhead North End Cycle Club where Mel had been a member since his teens. Mel was known to many as one of the ‘smiling’ faces at Quinns.
Car Free Day[CFD] 2007 Richard Evans
The theme for the September campaigns in 2007 (16-22 September) will be STREETS FOR PEOPLE. This theme proposal had the greatest level of support in a recent meeting of national co-ordinators from around Europe.
In the light of recent debate on this group, and the article in Local Transport Today 454 (Oct 19), much thought has been given to how we might run with this theme in UK, which takes into account the three most common reasons why some towns and cities, reluctantly I am always assured, do not participate:
a. the town centre is already pedestrianised
b. a town centre event would be too costly and time-consuming to organise
c. it's anti-car, local people don't want it here In a nutshell, the new angle is this: local authorities use local media outlets and direct mail to their residents associations early in the new year to invite bids from residents (individuals, groups, associations) to put forward the case for their street to be the focus for the In Town without my Car [ITWMC], and perhaps the whole week. This will be a chance for local people to develop and pilot their own ideas in their own streets, (e.g. a lower speed limit, a homezone, a road closure...)
This new approach will take CFD away from the town centres (no-one ever said it had to be town centre!) and into the residential suburbs. Such events will be far less onerous for local authorities to fund and organise. There will be substantial opportunity for local people to take on significant organisational roles, and relieve pressure on council officers. Some LAs may therefore, if they receive several good bids, be able to deliver several events across their areas.
In Town Without My Car! & European Mobility Week UK Co-coordinator
Driving and using Mobile phones will cost you..
The Department for Transport has announced new penalties for motorists breaking the law by using a hand-held mobile phone while driving.
S.26 of the Road Safety Act 2006 increases the fixed penalty for drivers, this section is will come into force on 27th February 2007, from which date the penalty will rise from £30 to £60 and 3 penalty points. The same changes are being made to the penalties for not having proper control of a vehicle - a measure which can also be used where a driver has been distracted by using a hands-free mobile phone.
If the police or the driver chooses to take a case to court rather than use a fixed penalty notice, the maximum fine will now be £1,000 (£2,500 for drivers of vans, lorries, buses and coaches).
Mobile phone use while driving was demonstrated to be even more dangerous than drink driving, see TRL Ltd's report for Direct Line Insurance
[W]holesome News
Two new online tools, which will help get potholes fixed and off-road trails cleared of obstructions, have been launched by CTC - the UK's national cyclists' organisation.