Road casualties have become normal in Britain. But there is another way
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Peter Walker
6M ago
A parliamentary group has compiled 10 recommendations to make our roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists Chris Boardman has achieved many things: Olympic champion, successful businessman, head of an active travel quango. But in a muggy committee room in parliament on Monday evening, he was speaking in a very different yet all too commonplace role: the bereaved relative of someone killed on the roads. Talking in public for the first time about the death of his mother, Carol, who was run over in 2016 while cycling in north Wales by a pickup truck driver who had just been on the phone, Boardman ..read more
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London’s Tory mayoral candidate is pedalling backwards on cycling policy
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Peter Walker
8M ago
Susan Hall’s lack of enthusiasm for active travel reflects a view within the party in sharp contrast with other major European cities Among the political strands exposed by the Conservatives’ decision to pick Susan Hall to stand for London mayor – not least the apparent unlikeliness that she can win – is one that might seem niche but is in fact arguably very telling: what it says about active travel. Anyone who has observed Hall in her six years as a London assembly member, and especially her energetic and often outspoken Twitter feed, will have realised she is not a fan of cycle lanes, cyclin ..read more
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‘In at the deep end’: ditching the car for a cargo bike on the school run
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Rowena Mason
9M ago
The price tags can be eye-watering for the electric model I need around my hilly London neighbourhood It’s been 20 years since I last used a bike every day. But I’m returning to cycling because I want to take my children to school and nursery without the horrible sense of guilt from dropping them off in the car, complaints about walking or the juggle of pushchair and public transport at rush-hour. To replace my car on the daily school run, I need an electrically powered workhorse that will carry two smallish children and the bags of stuff that we lug around wherever we go. The options, I’m to ..read more
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Pay-per-month pedalling: test-riding five subscription bikes
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Peter Walker
1y ago
We tried five bikes from Swapfiets, Buzzbike and Brompton to see what you get for your monthly money For people new to cycling, buying a bike can seem daunting. Aside from the outlay, there is maintenance, and what if you decide you just don’t enjoy pedalling around? This is where subscription bikes come in. An increasingly common idea in continental Europe and now in parts of the UK, these let you rent a bike by the month or year, generally with a lock and mechanical support. As well as for the cycle-curious, this can be ideal if you are in a city temporarily, or a student ..read more
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Why do traffic reduction schemes attract so many conspiracy theories? | Peter Walker
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Peter Walker
1y ago
Plan to restrict car journeys in Oxford becomes lightning rod for fears of global assault on freedoms Jordan Peterson is rarely lacking in strong opinions, but even by the standards of the Canadian psychologist turned hard-right culture warrior, this was vehement stuff: a city is planning to lock people in their local districts as part of a “well-documented” global plot to, ultimately, deprive them of all personal possessions. Where was this? Not Beijing, or even Pyongyang. It was Oxford. In the days since Peterson’s tweet – viewed 7.5m times – officials in the city have fielded endless querie ..read more
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Ignore false claims and bad journalism – most LTNs do reduce traffic | Andrew Gilligan
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Andrew Gilligan
1y ago
Objections to active travel infrastructures are now picking and choosing data to fit the narrative I’m starting to wonder if anyone is ever going to make an honest argument against cycling and walking infrastructure again. They do exist. People used to say things like “I want to drive and park wherever I like”, or “why should cyclists and pedestrians inconvenience my much more important car journey?”. Those are still the basic objections, but these days most prominent opponents realise that it sounds a bit politically incorrect. You need some higher public interest ground, however shaky, to pi ..read more
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How car culture colonised our thinking – and our language
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet, translated by Fiona Graham
1y ago
We have become used to thinking about things from a driver’s perspective – but is that the sort of world we want? When we block traffic from a street, like for a sports event or a street party, we say that the street is “closed”. But who is it closed for? For motorists. But really, that street is now open to people. We say this because we’ve become accustomed to thinking about the street in “traffic logic”. For centuries, streets used to be a place with a multiplicity of purposes: talk, trade, play, work and moving around. It’s only in the past century that it has become a space for traffic to ..read more
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Why we drew 600-mile long picture of a bicycle across Europe
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi
1y ago
Couple rode thousands of miles to plot GPS image to raise awareness about climate crisis and encourage bike use Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi, accompanied by their dog, Zola, have just finished 4,500-mile (7,250km) bike ride across Europe to draw a giant GPS-plotted bicycle across seven countries to raise awareness of how cycling can help tackle the climate emergency. It is believed to be the world’s largest GPS drawing. You can see photos of their trip on their Instagram account. We really, really love cycling. Like everyone, we’ve become more aware of climate change, and we w ..read more
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RideLondon: it’s all change as cycling festival on closed roads returns
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Peter Walker
1y ago
There were notable differences from the last time the event was held in 2019. Here are five thoughts RideLondon is back. After a Covid-enforced hiatus, the closed-roads cycling festival held its first incarnation since 2019 on Sunday, with both the family-based Freecycle and the 30-, 60- and 100-mile rides held on the same day. There have been some changes – so what was it like? As has become traditional, here are five thoughts about the event ..read more
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The man challenging anti-cycling trolls to change their ways
The Guardian » Bike blog
by Carlton Reid
2y ago
Andrew Tierney is part of a new breed of cycling activists tackling a rise in online abuse head-on “If someone deletes their comment, that’s success for me,” says Andrew Tierney. “Hopefully, that person will think about what they’re saying in the future.” Tierney, who goes by the name @cybergibbons online, is part of a new breed of cycling activists. After noticing an increase in the amount of abuse and violent threats on social media directed at people who ride bikes, Tierney decided to take action. He started calling out the posters online, with the result that many deleted their comments or ..read more
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