Sunday 15 June 2008

National Bike Week Blues




















The lights were at red when I took this picture yesterday on Selborne Road E17 at the junction with Willow Walk. The first day of National Bike Week. I wanted to turn right. So did the drivers in the ASL.

Surveys always say that a lot of people refuse to take up cycling in London on the grounds that "it's too dangerous". And they are right. The roads are full of drivers who are contemptuous of road traffic law and decline to respect even the most rudimentary facilities for cyclists, such as Advanced Stop Lines.

There is a way of dealing with situations like this. A chunky fine for any driver who enters an ASL when traffic lights are at red. But of course the Brown government, like all governments before it, is in thrall to the road lobby and not seriously interested in promoting cycling, walking or road danger reduction.