Sunday 5 April 2009

Crap cycling in Edinburgh

"If you are a cyclist in Edinburgh you are taking your life in your hands. Edinburgh is a joke in terms of cycling and all the roadworks have just made drivers more aggressive."

Last year, an Evening News investigation uncovered 237 serious accidents and 1637 minor accidents involving cyclists in the last ten years.

The Capital also has one of the highest death tolls for cyclists of any city in Scotland, according to figures released by national cycling organisation CTC, which showed five people had been killed in accidents between 2001 and 2006. As many as 20 per cent of commuters in the city currently use a bicycle to get to work in the Capital and last year Lothian Buses launched a campaign to help its bus drivers and cyclists to be more considerate of each other.

Cycling groups have called for greater investment in bike lanes in the busiest areas of the city, although there have been concerns that this would further add to congestion on the Capital's roads.

And obviously when there's a choice between traffic flow and the safety and convenience of cyclists, the car must come first.

Footnote

Let's not forget the hostility of Edinburgh's car supremacist cops to cyclists