Ben Thomas:
I was dodging five lanes of swerving vans and buses near King's Cross when I saw the ad on a double-decker yesterday.
You can see it might make cyclists think. But most of the cyclists I've spoken to suggest that, if anything, it might make them think about stopping cycling
The solution is simple. Don’t expect cyclists to share road space with heavy goods vehicles.
One of those “five lanes of swerving vans and buses” should be re-allocated exclusively for cyclists, who are kept segregated from high volume motor traffic, on the successful Dutch model. All other solutions – education for lorry drivers and cyclists, cycle training, conspicuity and high viz gear, cycle helmets, ‘share the road’, ‘three feet please’ – are utterly bogus alternatives which only serve to perpetuate road violence and inequality.
Sadly those two major obstacles to mass cycling – the London Cycling Campaign and the Cyclists Touring Club – remain stubbornly wedded to the catastrophically failed strategy of ameliorating vehicular cycling. They do indeed resemble sects.
