Blog Roundup 6/2012

Reading this on Sunday? Are you now or might you ever be a cyclist in Scotland? Quick - the consultation on the future of the train service in Scotland closes tomorrow so go and sort that out before you get too comfy here.

Right, welcome back to this week's bike blog roundup, as the ripples continue to spread outwards from the Times's Cities Fit for Cyclists campaign... For instance, one result of getting a lot of savvy social media connected types to write to their MPs on a single topic is that the replies tend to get shared, and we can see who's cutting and pasting the Prime Minister's response (mirrors, training, up to local authorities, yawn) and who's writing their own. Some MPs' responses have been frankly odd (are all MPs so rude to their constituents?), some have been more on the ball and some have written about it in their own blogs while some have yet to respond at all. Cyclists in the City has been summarising the responses while on another topic and at the other end of the country Kim Harding has been thanking his councillors for their support for cycling in Edinburgh's budget - and reminding us all that if you don't tell politicians what you want, how are they supposed to know?

They could look outside their office windows, I suppose, with the planned flash ride to Parliament - you have got next Wednesday in your diary, right? Pineapple Bikes lets the pictures do the talkingas she explains what she wants - and Mark from ibikelondon follows suit while Cycle Stuff hopes to make it all the way from Cardiff. And, while you've got your diaries out, Barnet is planning a Great Divide ride (that's the North Circular to you and me).

Meanwhile, the debate rumbles on about whether campaigining for safety is counter-productive. Andrew Gilligan wonders if we should campaign for 'easier' rather than 'safer' cycling. The Road Danger Reduction Forum considers the paradox of road safety for cyclists and London Cyclist reminds everyone that hi vis won't save you if you're in a lorry's blind spot. Aberdeen Cars are satisfied to note that dangerising is spreading to those on two feet as well as two wheels. Eco Mish Mash has a road safety questionThe Invisible visible man wonders what our behaviour on the roads says about us as a society

What is undeniable is that for those affected, the pain is all too real. The parents of a cyclist killed in Edinburgh are on the long road to coming to terms with it (and have set up a fund for road safety in his name). Another cyclist was killed in Kendal on Sunday while for Rosamundi it was just another Manic Monday hit and run. More metaphorically, As Easy as Riding a Bike wants to know who killed Hatfield?

Legal news, and the week started with the question of whether the road traffic laws should be merged with the murder laws - a question given great pertinence in Bristol. First a road rage driver was given four months for an attack on a cyclist, then - as has been all around the blogosphere by now - a Bristol bus driver got 17 months for a 'moment of madness'. Coincidentally, Karl McCracken met the survivor of a similar road rage attack in the North East. It all prompts Magnatom to wonder if a new offence is needed of using a vehicle as a weapon, while Bristol Cars notes, at least all the road madness is bringing prayer back into Britain's godless streets. Meanwhile, a layperson's view of strict liability from the People's Front of Richmond cuts through the complexity.

Cycling England (gawd rest its soul) may be dead but its Cycling Demonstration towns live on, with Bristol's record examined by the Cycling Front and Chester Cycling looking at Chester's. At least, if Bristol Temple Meads is anything to go by, something's working - though no thanks to this bike lane that's no use to man nor beast (nor cyclist). In the absence of a government funded agency to think about these things, Pedestrianise London considers how real safe infrastructure might look in the UK - and David Hembrow thinks the LCC's 'Go Dutch' campaign might have been misnamed. Meanwhile in Manchester, it looks like a sporting body has become the voice of cycling in the city. Failing any decent infrastructure, maybe some tax incentives might do the job? (and guess what, the Dutch have got the march on us there too...) Depressed yet?

At least there was Valentine's day to cheer us all up, with Valentine's specials from Edinburgh Cycle Chic and Bike Minded, while one guy really did leave his heart in San Francisco.

To see ourselves as others see us ... Girls and Bicycles considers the question of 'normal' cyclists vs. the maverick and Lovely Bike considers what it takes to be considered eccentric in America. At least she wasn't accused of doing the Devil's work. Further afield, is it mandatory helmet laws or hostile roads killing bike share schemes in Australia, while in New Zealand Cycling Auckland comes across a spot of astroturfing...

Permeability in a nutshell - contrast with the route Naturally Cycling has to take to avoid traffic in Manchester.

Cyclists are the least satisfied users of London's roads - while Aberdeen cars are dissatisfied at cyclists running red lights don't they know that's their job?

This little meme has being going the rounds - being a road cyclist - or you may prefer Real Cycling's version.

As the preparations build for the Olympics, transport ministers discover thatwalking a few hundred yards is more pleasant than driving it, while David Hembrow contrasts cycling to the Olympics with cycling to a small sports centre in Assen. Naturally the Olympic facilities are much much better (no, just kidding, of course they aren't)

Next time a driver tells you to get lost? take their advice...

No cargo bike? no problem Karl McCracken's building his own. Something for a future episode of a cycling equivalent of Top Gear?

After last week's rogue bollards, the inanimate objects are at it again - stealing parking spaces now.

Don't scratch and it won't itch sound advice for cyclists (and everyone, really).

The air we breathe: a nice mashup of hire bike routes versus pollution in London

And finally, something for us all to aim for when we're grown up: the 'over 100' hour record from a cyclist who could perhaps teach this stripling a thing or two. Whether you're 8, 80 or 108, cycle safely out there

Comments

Umm Sally, I know Glasgow can be dreich and wet but I never knew there'd be a consultation on the future of rain in Scotland...

Someone spotted the deliberate error... fixed now!

AKA TownMouse

The good news on that Bristol bike lane is that a councillor got involved very quickly and it has been removed while the situation is being reconsidered.

have you blogged about it? Nice to see action being taken so quickly!

AKA TownMouse