photo credit: tranchis via photopin cc

Sorry, it’s true.

This week saw the much vaunted Back Bench debate on cycling safety attended by 71 MPs which apparently is a very decent turnout for such events. I wrote to my MP, Eric Ollerenshaw requesting him to attend the debate and sign Early Day Motion 2689 supporting the Times #cyclesafe campaign. He did neither, made doubly disappointing by the fact that Lancaster was one of the original Cycling Demonstration Towns.

The Times campaign, the debate and surrounding events such as the London Flashride have caused a flurry of publicity and a raising of the profile of the debate. The Nicky Campbell phone in on Radio Five Live on Thursday was devoted to the debate, and numerous forums have highlighted the issue. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to see any sign that the quality fo the debate has been raised in any way at all.

These debates always follow the same pattern:

• Motorists complain that cyclists don’t pay road tax, have compulsory insurance or take a test;
• Motorists and pedestrians complain that cyclists ride on pavements killing and injuring many people;
• Motorists complain that cyclists all jump red lights, have an arrogant attitude, and casually ignore the law.
• Cyclists cry “Foul” to all of the above and a slanging match starts.

All the debates I’ve heard and forums I’ve read this week have all followed the same pattern, and all of these arguments are totally specious for a myriad of reasons, including:

• Children are allowed to ride bikes, will they be required to take a test and have insurance, too?
• Road Tax was abolished in the 1930s and replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty which is a licence to pollute.
• The cost of collecting tax from cyclists and enforcing it would be massively bureaucratic and cost more money that it would raise;
• Cyclists aren’t allowed access to large swathes of the road network so presumably would have a discount for this as well as already starting from a very low point as cyclists don’t pollute or add to congestion.
• Roads are paid for out of general taxation – the annual budget far exceeds that raised by VED and MOT.
• Most adult cyclists are already car drivers and pay VED.
• Cyclists don’t create potholes or wear out roads.
• Far more pedestrians are killed or seriously injured ON pavements by motorists than by cyclists.
• Far more injuries and deaths are caused by car drivers jumping red lights than by cyclists (5% of injuries to pedestrians caused by red light jumpers in London between 1998 and 2007 were the fault of cyclists, 78% by car drivers and the rest by taxis, motorbikes etc).
• In 2010, 99% of all deaths and serious injuries to pedestrians in urban areas were caused by motorists.

In general, I don’t have an issue with drivers arguing for their side, what I do have a problem with is the willingness by the motoring lobby to lump cyclists into one homogeneous group. It’s seen as a black and white issue. Cyclists are in the wrong, car drivers are in the right. Let’s not let a good fact get in the way of a debate:

• Uninsured drivers cost the UK an estimated £380 million per annum (about £30 on to every insurance premium);
• 1,462,235 speeding tickets were handed out in England and Wales in 2007;
• Nearly 200,000 drivers were issued with fixed penalties for mobile phone usage in 2010.
• A single road project (M1 widening around Nottingham) costs 6 times more than the total annual spending in England on cycling.

It seems clear to me that from the above facts that car drivers are not whiter than white. The trouble is, everyone of those offences (except those committed on a motorway) is putting vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders at great risk and the consequences for these groups are almost always far greater than to the motorist. This is the nub of the issue. Until the petrol heads accept that the solution to the problem lies with them and not the cyclists there will be no progress. Period. Can’t see that happening any time soon, so until then the motorists will carry on lumping cyclists into a single antisocial tribe, and cyclists will regard motorists as raging psychopaths behind the wheel of a 1 ton steel weapon.

For the record, I never jump red lights or cycle on the pavement. I pay VED on 2 cars. I have been knocked off my bike twice, on neither occasion was I at fault in any way. I have been deliberately run off the road by a bus driver. I have been subjected to a road rage attack by the driver of an Alfa Romeo who took exception to my gesture of fright as a he nearly scraped my elbow as he overtook. The vast majority of road users treat me with consideration and patience.

Here’s the CTC’s fact sheet on cyclists and the law. It makes interesting reading.