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Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin says cyclists must "do their bit" on road safety

Yesterday's speech shows a week is a long time in politics after Labour's Maria Eagle had made cycle safety a central issue...

Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin has told the Conservative Party Conference that cyclists “need to do their bit” in ensuring roads become safer. His remarks come a week after his shadow cabinet counterpart, Maria Eagle, urged the government to implement the manifesto of The Times newspaper’s Cities Fit For Cycling campaign.

"This was the summer that Britain got cycling,” said Mr McLoughlin, after highlighting the Olympics as a major project that Britain had delivered. "The number of people cycling is soaring, but the number of accidents has gone up too. We've got to change that.

"We've got to build safety into our roads for everyone that means better design and better education too because this isn't just about getting motorists to take care, it is also about getting cyclists to do their bit too."

Those words drew loud applause from the audience, but Mr McLoughlin didn’t elaborate on what, exactly, he expected cyclists to do.

Nor was there the commitment to Cities Fit For Cycling that Ms Eagle had urged, still less any talk of what the government could do to address the situation.

That was it, as far as cycling was concerned.

Instead, his speech focused on broader transport issues as well as specific projects such as HS2, the need for a new airport in the South East and investment on alleviating pinch points on major roads.

Mr McLoughlin outlined what he described as “an outstanding programme to get Britain up to speed” including “greater investment in our roads.”

He described his job as being “to reduce the hassle of getting around,” adding, “I’m ambitious about transport because I’m ambitious about Britain. Transport is the artery of any economy.

"It gets people to work, children to school, food to shops. Everyone depends on it, every day. When transport slows, everything slows. When transport stops, everything stops.”

In a parallel universe, that might have been a lead-in to a promise of huge investment in cycling as a safe means of everyday transport, one that doesn’t slow down and stop and allows people to get on with their daily business, a change of approach similar to those that transformed the Netherlands and Denmark from the 1970s onwards.

Back in Birmingham in 2012, however, there was little prospect of that happening.

Mr McLoughlin went on: “So how do we fix it? My answer in three words: invest in infrastructure.

“Our competitors around the world are investing in transport and we must too. No big infrastructure project is done without controversy, but once they are built people rely on them.

"We need better roads too, to keep car, trucks and buses moving. Let's face it, we've underinvested as a country for years. There is too much congestion. Not enough new schemes. It's madness and we're going to get it sorted out.

"You can't just click your fingers to solve it [transport problems]. You need to think big and hold your nerve for decades."

He concluded: "We will get Britain moving again."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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34 comments

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Mostyn replied to Mostyn | 11 years ago
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Watched a programme on ITV today called "The Chase" Hosted by Bradley Walsh (A Quiz Programme) one of the questions was : "What are Inconsiderate Lycra louts Commonly Known as?"

Answer : Cyclists!

We need a Think Cyclist For Safety Campaign. Life is precious to all; keep us safe and secure as we ride on lifes highway.

Everyone should ride a bike - maybe they would appreciate the difficulties we face on the road? Because we all drive cars you know.

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ironmancole | 11 years ago
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Do their bit? Sure, but how? Kill ourselves to save the drunk doing it? Wear a helmet to make us invulnerable to the oncoming 2.5 tonne Range Rover Sport overtaking in a stupid place? Carry a light house to help the ignorant see us through the haze of their smoky tobacco filled cabin? Words of an idiot who clearly has no idea what he's talking about. Then again we could blame the child for the pedophile attack, or perhaps the Jewish for the holocaust...but that's not P.C. is it? Disgusting.

Let's up the ante. How about as cyclists we treat pedestrians with the same level of care as some motorists treat cyclists? We know for example that cyclists could kill (accidentally of course) around 100 people per year and government wouldn't get involved as those are the kind of figures we see each year between fatal attacks concerning motorist and cyclists.

Of course I'm not advocating the above but it gets you thinking. If a lynch mob were to start seriously injuring and killing pedestrians how long would it be before the public were up in arms about it and demanding action? Not long I'm sure. Can you imagine if say 100 pedestrians were killed by drunk/drugged/aggressive cyclists and another few hundred thousand maimed and seriously injured?

Of course when government did come knocking we could simply throw the excuse back that motoring die hards use

- sorry, mate didn't see you
- it's your own fault for being in the way
- you're a danger to yourself and others
- you don't pay pavement tax (non-existant just like road tax!)

How is the continual slaughtering of one group by another more aggressive group for the want of basic courtesy and respect for life not a human rights issue?!! Now that's a topic I would be interested to explore.

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ironmancole replied to felixcat | 11 years ago
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Well put. So, can we (or preferably Road.CC) put this fact to the minister and then ask him to provide a sensible answer as to how the above statistics are consistent with his apparent statement essentially calling cyclists to do more when in fact its motorists (as a general rule) who actually need to put some effort in?

I would love to hear his response and then push him to answer why it is too much to ask one group to stop slaughtering another group for want of adherence to traffic law, basic respect for life and simple courtesy on what is a shared resource funded by us all.

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mrmo | 11 years ago
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Quote:

lso about getting cyclists to do their bit too.

I guess that means helping the police and getting a shotgun to deal with crap driving....

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