Bike Column Feb 2010

Ok, I must confess that I did very little cycling during the recent snowy conditions. No matter how well I wrapped up my hands always ended up freezing cold. However, I salute the courage of those who kept on biking through the snow. Probably the most reliable transport method compared to delay-prone buses, trains and cars.

Potholes AGAIN

Our roads are falling apart, especially in the wake of the recent cold snap. Water gets into cracks, freezes, expands, and then breaks up the road. In eight years of regular cycling I have never seen road conditions as bad as they are now. There are huge craters at Battlefield Rest and Victoria Road / Calder Street, and the hole at Cumberland Street is still there. I will be organising another pothole patrol with cyclists soon,  to record pothole locations and make bikers aware of how to report holes. Once again, you can report holes at www.fillthathole.org.uk.

Female Cyclists lobby parliament

 

 A group of female cyclists visited Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson to deliver a nine thousand signature petition supporting the urgent call for safer cycling conditions. Lynn Stocks from Sustrans said: ‘Women have told us that they don’t cycle because they don’t feel safe enough.  It’s great to have all these signatures backing our call for safer cycling, but this is just the start.  Governments now have to take all these voices seriously and make changes across the country that will mean more people can choose to make everyday journeys by bike, without feeling unsafe.’ 

The signatures were gathered on Sustrans’ ‘Motion for Women’ petition, which was launched in September in response to research from Sustrans that showed Scottish women are among the least likely in Britain to cycle, with 89 per cent never getting on a bike at all.

 

SQA Wins cycle friendly employer status

The Scottish Qualifications Authority has been awarded Cycle Friendly Employer Status by Cycling Scotland in recognition of their support and encouragement of staff who choose to cycle to work. SQA Chief Executive, Dr Janet Brown, said: “I’m delighted that we have achieved this prestigious award, which recognises the facilities and systems that we have put in place to make it easier for our staff to cycle to work. We are very pleased with the numbers of staff who have got involved and hope the numbers will continue to rise.

 

Government response to Cycling Action Plan

The Scottish Government recently published their response to the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. There has been a fairly strong reaction to the idea of making cyclists pay road tax. Activist Peter Hayman summed it up nicely: ‘Every cyclist means one less car on the road, and every cyclist means the road gets less damage.’