June 9th, 2009
Motoring texters need to be shamed, like drunk drivers
Published by: carltonreid
Such unthinking morons text away from motorways, too. They kill. Texting while driving is not yet as socially unacceptable as drink-driving, but the sooner it is, the better.
By Carlton Reid on June 2nd, 2009
I’m no huge fan of the No 10 Downing Street petition site. It’s toothless (Gordon Brown has not resigned, despite a popular request asking him to) and more of a diversion than a tool for democratic change. But it’s a focal point for campaigners and can bring out the best in their prose. Allan Ramsey, for instance, has penned some of his best stuff thanks to his ‘mobile menace’ petition. It’s now got 1100+ signatories, a far cry from the tens of thousands of petrolheads who have signed a petition asking for speed limits not to be dropped.
I grabbed the shot above in London last year. Seeing drivers chatting on their phones is not unusual. It’s a deplorable, dangerous practice that impairs concentration. Perhaps worse, though, is the act of texting while driving. This requires both lack of concentration and an eyes-down technique that has death written all over it. Sadly, the death is usually of some unwitting person who comes into the path of the driving texter, as has been shown in numerous death-bytexting ‘accidents’ over recent years. The other day - while a passenger in a car - I witnessed a driver texting on the M1. He was on the inside lane, no doubt going a little slower than usual for “safety”. As we drew parallel to him I could see him fiddling with his phone, looking down at the keyboard and screen, and bobbing eyes-front now and again to make sure he was roughly in the same lane he was in before he started texting. As we were overtaking (I asked my wife to get well away from such a dangerous driver) I didn’t have time to take a photograph. Anyway, had I done so he might have wobbled and crashed; or chased after us to show his displeasure at being caught on camera.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to introduce driving ban and phone confiscation, if not car confiscation, for drivers caught using/holding mobile phone - potentially lethal weapon. Ramsey campaigns for Roadpeace and is an inveterate letter writer, getting his views published in numerous local newspapers and cycle magazines. He also emails bike editors like myself. Part of his latest email is carried below. Whatever you think of his tactics, he talks a lot of sense. Since reading the story about Leigh [Dolby's] death, I have been deeply troubled. But then which cyclist wouldn’t have been? Leigh was a very experienced, capable and responsible cyclist. On August 30, 2007, Leigh’s life came to an abrupt, a tragic, an undignified and senseless end. While training for a 225 mile charity ride, which he’d planned to celebrate his 55th birthday just two days later, he was hit from behind by a driver. Why? Was it because his killer was otherwise engaged – composing and texting trivial-trash on his hand-held mobile phone? Instead of looking at the road ahead, as one is supposed to do by law, especially when driving at a speed which can kill, which basically amounts to any speed, was Leigh’s killer looking down towards his knees, trying to focus on a tiny little screen and composing useless information by pressing tiny little buttons?
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June 9th, 2009
Despite admitting to driving dangerously, Thomas Duffield was found guilty of the much lesser crime of causing death by careless driving, and was subsequently sentenced to just 12-months in jail. To make matters worse, when Leigh’s family appealed that the sentence was too lenient, the Lord Chief Justice in his wisdom ruled: Not at all!
Published by: carltonreid
Colchester’s Mr Angry: please don’t explode By Carlton Reid on May 16th, 2009
When Labour peer Lord Ahmed was involved in a fatal collision not too long ago, the judge ruled that although the records showed he had been texting in the moments just prior to the collision, because it couldn’t be proved that he was actually texting at the moment of impact, the incident could not be considered to be one of causing death by dangerous driving. Consequently, Lord Ahmed was found guilty of just dangerous driving - no death to answer to - and [not] jailed accordingly. However, he instantly appealed against the decision, and after serving just 16 days of a very lenient 12 weeks, he was released – with a huge smile on his face. Not so the family of his 28-year-old victim. Isn’t life in the UK dirt cheap? Now though, new sentencing guidelines are calling on judges to consider up to seven years jail for drivers causing death by texting. What we really need are much tougher sentences for drivers who simply just use a mobile phone, in fact, even just holding one whilst driving is dangerous.
Over on Bikeforall.net I answer a load of queries sent in to the site. Most are either too banal or too localised to be worth broadcasting. Everybody gets a personal reply but some of the questions are of general interest. These get posted to the FAQ section – with an answer – for all to see. Generally, the questions are from new cyclists, worried parents or returnees to the fold. Sometimes the questions are from non-cyclists and these tend to be more strident. One came in earlier today. I answered it at length. J Clift of Colchester (who I assumed is a Mr.) really doesn’t like people cycling on pavements [US=sidewalks]. I don’t either. It bugs me when I see adults riding on what are clearly footpaths. But I know why those adults are not riding on the road. See if you agree with what I wrote to Mr Clift.
Anyone who is as troubled and as fearful as I am about drivers who ignore the mobile phone ban, and would like to see the current £60 fine and three penalty points replaced by phone and car confiscation (so that innocent lives aren’t confiscated) plus a driving ban, (as with drink driving), then they should petition on-line. This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 11:27 am and is filed under Bad motoring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Q: “I am somewhat angered these days by the amount of people who ride on pavements, young and old, and no-one in authority seems to care or be about to stop this. The public just seem to think they can do this because there are no effective actions to stop them. I just grow angrier and madder by the day. Sometimes I have suggested to the riders they are illegally riding but I fear for my safety! What can I do before I explode?!”
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June 9th, 2009
Published by: carltonreid
local area (speeding motorists, poor signage of where cycle paths start and finish etc)? If the majority of those you see cycling on footways are youths in hoodies, ask your local police to take some action. Maybe they’ll send out some bike bobbies to nab the worst offenders? A few FPNs (fixed penalty notices of £30) might reduce the problem. Looking on the positive side, it’s probably better to meet a hooded youth cycling on a pavement than meeting the same youth acting illegally in a car. Cyclists riding on footways are wrong and irritating; they’re very rarely life-threatening. A: Cycling on the pavement is illegal and cyclists can be fined £30 on the spot (and often are). But, just as motorists routinely break traffic laws (running red lights, driving in bus lanes, habitually speeding, driving while talking on mobile phones), sadly, some cyclists also break the law and cycle on pavements (i.e. footways). Sometimes this is ignorance of the law. Other times it’s laziness. Often it’s due to confusing local authority cycle facilities: many pavements have been designated as cycle paths and yet, just a little further on, the very same stretch of ‘cycle path’ reverts to being pedestrian only.
Don’t explode. Take up the footway cycling issue with your local council. Consider widening your campaign to include complaints against all forms of anti-social transport behaviour. In fact, if your local streets were made safer for cycling, there would likely be less need for cyclists to ride on footways. Cars are heavy, fast and potentially lethal to flesh-and-blood cyclists and pedestrians. If your area saw dramatic reductions in car speeds, I’d warrant you’d see a dramatic reduction in traffic violations by cyclists.
Mostly, however, it’s out of fear of motorised traffic. Not that cycling on the pavement is necessarily safer than being on the road. Sometimes motorists mount footways and kill people. For instance, on Friday, a pregnant woman in Carlisle was killed by a dangerous driver who hit the woman while she was walking on a footway. Rest assured, all the official advice from cycle organisations is for cyclists not to ride on footways. Bikeforall.net has a page all about ‘cycling and the law’, where cyclists’ rights and responsibilities are spelled out in no uncertain terms. This article leads with the ‘cycling on pavements’ issue. A bike shop in York also has a Stop At Red campaign aimed at cyclists who run lights. I don’t know of any motoring organisation that has a similar single-issue campaign aimed at stopping motorists committing the same offence. Many motorists also routinely park on footways, a dangerous practice for passing pedestrians, wheelchair users and pushchair pushers. It’s also very damaging to pavement slabs; costly for councils to repair. In an ideal world, no cyclists, drivers or pedestrians would break the law: but we don’t live in an ideal world. By all means campaign against cyclists using footpaths but perhaps there are mitigating circumstances on some of the footpaths in your
Bikes are not welcome on Dutch trains By Carlton Reid on May 6th, 2009
That’s because there are so many bikes in the Netherlands. If Dutch people tried to bring their bikes on their train journeys, the trains would be as long as the whole Dutch rail network… That was one of the surprising findings on a parliamentatry study tour to the Netherlands I accompanied last month. Click to watch a short movie on the trip. PS Count the helmets.
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June 9th, 2009
Unprintable Content (Video, Flash, etc.) MPs and Lords from the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group visited the Netherlands in April 2009 with officials from British cycling organisations.
The Lugano Charter to be revisited? By Carlton Reid on May 5th, 2009
The New York Times is reporting that the UCI could be about to stage one of its irregular stabbing attacks against the sport it claims to represent. The Lugano Charter – a charter for stifling innovation – might be about to be upgraded. It’s worth reading this charter. It’s the philosophic basis behind the organisation’s much more difficult to digest technical regulations. The Lugano charter Tuesday 8th October 1996 Being aware of the potential dangers and problems posed by a loss of control over the technical aspects of cycling, the UCI Management Committee has today, Tuesday 8th October, taken a number of measures here in Lugano. In doing so, the UCI wishes to recall that the real meaning of cycle sport is to bring riders together to compete on an equal footing and thereby decide which of them is physically the best. The features which have contributed to the worldwide development and spread of the bicycle are its extraordinary simplicity, cost-effectiveness and ease of use. From a sociological point of view, as a utilitarian and recreational means of transport, the bicycle has given its users a sense of freedom and helped create a movement which has led to the considerable renown and popular success which cycle sport enjoys. The bicycle serves to express the effort of the cyclist, but there is more to it than that. The bicycle is also a historical phenomenon, and it is this history which underpins the whole culture behind the technical object. If we forget that the technology used is subordinate to the project itself, and not the reverse, we cross the line beyond which technology takes hold of the system and seeks to impose its own logic. That is the situation facing us today. New prototypes can be developed because they do not have to take into account constraints such as safety, a comfortable riding position, accessibility of the controls, manoeuvrability
Published by: carltonreid
of the machine, etc. The bicycle is losing its “userfriendliness” and distancing itself from a reality which can be grasped and understood. Priority is increasingly given to form. The performance achieved depends more on the form of the man-machine ensemble than the physical qualities of the rider, and this goes against the very meaning of cycle sport. The many effects of this rush to extremes risk damaging the sport of cycling. These include spiralling costs, unequal access to technology, radical innovations prepared in secret, a fait accompli policy, damage to the image of cycle sport and the credibility of performances and the advent of a technocratic form of cycling where power is concentrated in the hands of a few powerful players, to the detriment of the universality of the sport on which its future and continued development depend. Sounds reasonable, but had this charter been around in the early days of cycling we’d have had no derailleur gears and no quick release wheels. Taken to its logical conclusion we should have no MTB suspension forks; no power meters; no composite frames. Just a steel diamond frame and a single gear. In fact, the UCI could be seen to be at the very nadir of cycling cool: give the wonks their way and we’d all be riding around on fixies. This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 11:10 pm and is filed under Bicycle history, Bicycle technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
‘Family Cycling’ book on tour By Carlton Reid on April 24th, 2009
No, not a book signing tour, just a family bike tour. We practice what I preach… We’ve just returned from a week-long, lodge-based break in the Scottish Highlands. Normally we ride from B&B to B&B or from campsite to campsite but it was good to call a posh lodge home for a week, taking lots of micro rides in the area rather than an A to B tour of a region. Below are my favourite pix from the trip. As you can see, the weather was bright and sunny, just like last year’s bike trip to Scotland. Thinking of booking a trip to Scotland? Call us to find out when we’re going next, that’s the guaranteed good weather week!
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June 9th, 2009
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June 9th, 2009
Published by: carltonreid
The new ‘Family Cycling’ book doesn’t include any of the pix above. But maybe a second edition might. If the book sells out, that is. If you want a copy of ‘Family Cycling’, it’s cheapas-chips over on Amazon.co.uk, but if you’d like a signed, personalised copy I’ll do you one. I’ll throw in the postage and can even seal with a SWALK (I draw the line at locks of my hair, mainly because there’s not much left). For American readers, paying me direct, via PayPal, is very probably the quickest way to get hold of the book because it’s not yet available on Amazon.com (although it’s available for pre-order for delivery in October!). Delivery to the UK or to the US, or to anywhere, really, is in with the list price of the book. So, it’s £11.99 in real world book shops so that’s how much I’ll charge. If you want me to sign the book to a person, and with a specific message, let me know. I have the hand-writing skills of an ape, mind. Send me your requested text in the wee box below, or via an email to carltonreid@mac.com, and pay the £11.99 here: Unprintable Content (Video, Flash, etc.)
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June 9th, 2009
Here’s how to get a signed, personalised copy of the brand new ‘Family Cycling’ By Carlton Reid on April 15th, 2009
Published by: carltonreid
Thanks! The book can be previewed in page-flippy mode on Issuu.com, including the intro and, embedded below, a chapter on teaching a child to ride a bike: Unprintable Content (Video, Flash, etc.) This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Bicycle advocacy, Book review, Family Cycling book. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I do weddings, christenings, bar mitzvahs…and now, book signings. If you want a plain vanilla version of ‘Family Cycling’, it’s cheaper over on Amazon.co.uk, but if you’d like a signed, personalised copy I’ll do you one. I’ll throw in the postage, too. For American readers, paying me direct, via PayPal, is very probably the quickest way to get hold of the book because it’s not yet available on Amazon.com (although it’s available for pre-order - in October…). Delivery to the UK or to the US, or to anywhere, really, is in with the list price of the book. It’s £11.99 in real world book shops so that’s how much I’ll charge. If you want me to sign the book to a person, and with a specific message, let me know. Send me your requested text in the wee box below, or via an email to carltonreid@mac.com, and pay the £11.99 here: Email text for signed copies
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