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The newsletter of Tower Hamlets Wheelers
April-May 1999
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top | East London Cyclist
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The wrong attitude to cycle safety
In February an article appeared in East End Life regarding an initiative taken by the local authority road safety section and the local police, with a view to making the borough roads safer for cyclists. The initiative 'Changing attitudes to cycle safety' was not aimed as one might imagine at the thousands of motorists driving through our borough every day, but at cyclists. We know that cars kill ten people every day in Britain - we know that 9,000 are seriously injured by cars every year in Britain. We know that Britain has the highest child pedestrian mortality rate in Europe. So a local authority road safety initiative targets cyclists. Gary Cummins, the Wheelers borough co-ordinator made these points to the council department concerned after being on the receiving end of several ear bashings by Wheelers members, complaining of being stopped by police and advised to wear crash helmets, and reflective clothing. Presumably the constabulary went on to advise the local young women of the borough not to wear mini skirts for fear of enticing young men to rape them. The authorities should be praised for putting this subject on the agenda, but, as was pointed out to them in the Wheelers letter, they are talking to the wrong parties. Interestingly this example of victim legislation was picked up by a Ms Jill Truman who wrote in a letter to East End Life "I was pleased to see your article ...Changing attitudes ... " hooray I thought: at last there was to be a way cyclists could cross busy junctions in safety, but what followed was a classic case of blaming the victim. Cyclists, its your fault you are being killed in such numbers...if only you would wear reflective clothing. Gary is one of the local cyclists who often does wear a ridiculously loud green luminous jacket while cycling, he can attest to their effectiveness, he was involved in two side impact collisions in eight days in the borough, one, as a car swerved across four lanes of traffic at the Aldgate raceway, sideswiped the front wheel of his bike and was witnessed by a group of speechless Dutch tourists, the second collision came from a driver on Westferry roundabout who ran him off the road, strangely oblivious to the bent wing mirror, and bent cyclist behind her. On both days he was wearing that horrible luminous green jacket. To be fair to the council, they did answer our letter regarding this subject, but still appear to have missed the point, that most cyclists problems are caused by cars not regarding them as equals on the highway. The council also pointed out that of the 600 cyclists stopped during this campaign most were happy with the experience and were co-operative. Frankly, with a policemen on the scene picking over ones bike, I can't imagine anybody who is in a hurry to get to work starting to argue with the local coppers and council officers! The reaction of those who reported this incident to Wheelers varied from either bemusement at how our authorities could get things so wrong in targeting their campaign, to irritation at being stopped on the way to work simply because they chose to cycle. |
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Sidney Street pinch points
I was travelling around the borough and noticed engineering works taking place here. Pinch points are chicanes, built as traffic islands, normally with 'cheese-grater' type railings and raised kerbs. They work by slowing two way traffic, priority being given to traffic in one direction only. For cyclists they are a dangerous hazard at best, and deadly at worst. As a cyclist approaches a pinch point they are forced to move into the centre of the road, cars travelling behind don't like being delayed by this, so naturally try to overtake the cyclist, both parties are then squeezed in the pinch point, unerving for the cyclist. Depending on how determined the car is to overtake the bike, this is where the cheese-grater bit comes in. If a cyclist comes a cropper here, they cannot simply ride to a stop on the footway, they become the cheese- and the metal barrier becomes the grater. There is a way around this. Authorities could and should build cycle gaps on either side of the chicane island. They could also build the chicanes without the tank trap like metal barriers our borough engineers are obsessed with installing on every inch of footway in our borough. Each time Wheelers receive engineering notices of this type we ask for cycle gaps to be included, and the borough has recently been positive in its response to us. For some reason the Sidney Street engineering works missed our attention. We are going to ask for cycle gaps to be built retrospectively. Hopefully in future all chicanes will include this facility. It is a pity that we (Wheelers) have to be reactive in this situation, rather than the authority engineers being pro-active in their attitudes to the needs of road users other than car drivers. |
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Wheelers 3rd Great Beigal Race
Yes...it's that time of year again - I am writing to ask you to join in and race with a bag of beigals through the borough! Although this year there is no official Local Transport Day in London, due to transport campaigners concentrations on the Greater London Authority Bill, we thought that it was still important to lobby for more sustainable forms of transport with our annual GREAT BEIGAL RACE here in Tower Hamlets. Cyclists definitely need more space on the roads. We need your participation, even if you are not a cyclist, because we are also lobbying for public transport and walking as part of a balanced strategy towards sustainable transport. For example, 75% of shoppers at Sainsbury's in Whitechapel arrive there on foot, some having travelled there by public transport, yet all that car parking space is being allocated for cars which make up only 25% of shoppers. The borough needs to be reminded that these forms of alternative transport should not be neglected in deference to the needs of the car commuting community. 85% of business leaders may be dissatisfied with London's traffic levels, but is enough being done to prevent everyone having to use their car? The latest London Research Centre figures on pedestrian fatalities show that they are expected to increase on 1997 figures. And nearly 85% of injuries to all road users are borne by pedestrians. All road casualties in Tower Hamlets have increased by 10%, but the worst casualty rates are those of pedestrians. So we are asking for your support to lobby Tower Hamlets council. This is a fun way of doing it. We are looking for people to get on the bus and train or put on their boots and walk. Then give us the time it takes to get to this year's destination, Limehouse Youth Club. We've already got a couple of rickshaws or the Tower Hamlets Community bus, if you need a lift! Be at the BEIGAL BAKE at 11.45am in Brick Lane, where you pick up your beigal. The actual race will start at 12 noon, and finish at LIMEHOUSE YOUTH CLUB in Limehouse Causeway, at the end of Narrow Street, (Westferry DLR). Once there you will be able to speak to some of the Tower Hamlets councillors and staff as well as MP, Jim Fitzpatrick. Contact Genia Leontowitsch
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AGM results
At the AGM last February, it was agreed to change the way we charge Wheelers who are not ordinary members for using the workshop. Our records show that there are currently twenty-one Wheelers who are not LCC members living in Tower Hamlets or Newham. Nine of these are people included as 'honorary' members. The other twelve have all paid membership subs in the last two years but by June 1999 all subscriptions will have expired. We are currently sending newsletters out to these Wheelers. As membership secretary for last three years, I think it is time to reassess how we collect membership subs from people, who are not categorised as ordinary members. In fact most of our workshop users are LCC members in Tower Hamlets or Newham, and receive our newsletter with their copy of London Cyclist. I suggest that we stop collecting yearly subs, from people who are not LCC members from Tower Hamlets or Newham, but instead charge them a daily membership fee whenever they want to use the workshop. In this way the users actually contribute to the upkeep. I also suggest a low daily rate of £1, so as not to penalise our regular visitors from outside the area. However we could encourage less frequent visitors to make larger contributions. Workshop managers will automatically be granted free membership. Extra newsletters can be kept in the workshop and given to anyone who has joined for the day. Obviously any new system would have to be introduced over a period of time and any paid up members must continue to receive newsletters by post until their current membership expires. However, if we stop accepting subs from now on, and explain the new system in the newsletter, then everyone should know what is going on. |
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