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Met Police chief says he wouldn't cycle on London's roads but public transport costs mean some Londoners have no choiceSir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Boris Johnson

Met Police chief says he wouldn't cycle on London's roads but public transport costs mean some Londoners have no choice

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe wades into cycling debate with comments on safety and the cost of public transport
by John Stevenson
Fri, Nov 22, 2013 16:14
34

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, and the man in charge of enforcing road safety in the capital says he wouldnt ride a bike in London by choice and that many Londoners are forced on to two wheels by the cost of public transport..

Speaking to BBC Radio London, Sir Bernard said: “I’ve never been a big bike rider anyway but it seems to be that if you get it wrong, or the driver gets it wrong, the person that’s going to pay is the cyclist.

“It seems to me that there’s a lot of traffic and personally I wouldn’t (cycle). But of course some people don’t have the choice; economically it’s not easy you know.

“If you’ve got someone who can’t afford to take a car into the congestion zone - if they did, you can’t park it anyway. Some people, they’ve got limited money and they can’t pay for public transport. I understand why they take the choice. It wouldn’t be mine.”

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has often claimed that cycling has increased since he was elected in 2008, and taken the credit for that rise. But if Sir Bernard is right, that’s just a coincidence and the bigger incentive for cash-strapped Londoners is the saving in travel cost.

A zone 2 travel card costs £1,216 a year - more if you pay monthly because you don’t have that much cash kicking around - which makes a bike look like quite a bargain.

The commissioner’s comments feed in to the vigorous debate about the safety of London’s roads for cyclists after six cyclists have lost their lives in the capital this month.

After he was criticised for implying that the only reason people ride in London was that they’re skint, and that he wouldn’t choose to ride because it was too dangerous, Sir Bernard attempted to clarify his comments.

In a statement released this afternoon he said: “I was expressing a personal view as a non-cyclist and I would like to clarify my position.

“There is no doubt that despite the growth of cycling in London, it has got safer and its cost effectiveness and health benefits make it an attractive option for many people.

“Cycling is an important part of our city's transport system and the work the mayor and TFL have done to get people on their bikes as safely as possible is commendable.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is responsible for setting the fres on the capital's tube and bus network which have seen successive above inflation rises since his term in office began in 2008.

Metropolitan Police
London
Bernard Hogan-Howe
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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34 comments

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A V Lowe | 10 years ago
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Clearly Sir Bernard is not spending enough time on the beat - I'd suggest he takes a look down in the Square Mile, where on some streets during the peak commuting times over 50% of the moving vehicles are bicycles, and if he were to use the detective skills of his Police training (presuming of course he isn't one of those fast-tracked graduate officers), he would find that quite a few of the riders are earning several multiples of his annual salary, and riding bikes which cost a bit more than a basic Police patrol car.

They certainly are not cycling because they are short of a penny or two, although in doing so many are saving up to £8,000 per year in commuting costs. If anything it is the imperative to escape from time poverty which is driving so many to take to the bike. this is clear from the fact that over ALL London commuter railheads, the number of cycle trips generated has risen 400% between 2001 and 2011 (TfL figures) and my own observations that at certain stations the number of bikes parked, and parking provision has risen by 1000% to 2000% as a conservative estimate. I've done the monitoring - and have pictures to prove it.

I'm going to ask you all to call for Sir Bernard to get the Met Police to follow the example of Police Scotland (with their Scottish Traffic Commissioner) and agree a Memorandum of Understanding with Nick Denton the Traffic Commissioner for the Metropolitan & Southeastern Area, who is the regulator with powers to revoke LGV and PCV drivers' licences and likewise curtail the licences of operators, where driving and vehicle operating standards fall below an acceptable standard. Nick Denton relies on being informed about drivers whose driving record shouts out that they are unfit to hold a licence to drive vehicles with such potential to kill and maim. In the absence such of a formal process, and the ability to deliver revocation of their licences, we have seen drivers such as Denis Putz, still allowed behind the wheel with a history of 20 driving bans, and 6 significant motoring offences. So Sir Bernard I'm calling on you to make that connection, and whenever an C, D, E licence holder gets pulled over, for speeding, mobile phone etc the TC gets it logged in directly from your force.

I've a second ask for you as well as getting that handle on bad drivers. Your crash investigators obviously work to the highest standards, but we hardly get to see the results of their efforts, unlike the investigations that take place when crashes occur with trains, planes and boats. Here the Rail, Air and Marine Accident Investigation Boards aim to deliver an impartial review of the facts, and establish the causal factors, with the aim of identifying the actions necessary to prevent a repeat of the same type of event, and recommending the action that need to be taken. Yes it is a different emphasis to a Police investigation, which aims to inform a a decision to prosecute or not.

Perhaps the collected information can be shared with a report that does identify the ways to remove or limit the actions, and change any design features that delivered the tragic event. The numbers are thankfully small, so there may even be the option to use the resources of the RAIB to do a pilot series, and through this deliver some clear and possibly challenging reviews on the efficacy of some of the cycling measures being delivered.

Avatar
Gkam84 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Finally got round to read the comments, The story was great. The comments just show me that many people on this site are out of touch with real life....

Avatar
skippy replied to Argos74 | 10 years ago
0 likes
Argos74 wrote:

Poor dear. Benefits of my regular commute:

* better physical and psychological health
* increased concentration levels at work
* less illness
* it's quicker

Bernie mate, it's not the money, it's the awesome. Borrow someone's bike for a few days to pootle around, even if it's just to cycle to church or the shop for a pint of milk and a paper. Before you know it you'll be looking at hills with a big smile and rummaging through Aldi for bargain kit.

Perhaps Bernie can get hold of a " Boris Bike ", then take a ride on " Super Cycle Highways " followed by a couple/trio of " Plainclothes Officers " riding spaced out , even wearing normal clothing , equipped with Cameras , one helmeted , one unhelmeted , over a variety of 5 mile sections .

When they review the Camera results , they can then , see the NORMAL behaviour of everyday traffic towards Cyclists , but since there are multiple cameras , they can action the results ! Even if they only tackle the " Police Vehicles " , harassing/wandering on to the Blue Paint they will have a RESULT ?

Having seen for himself WHAT Normal Cyclists suffer in the AREA , he is responsible for Policing , would he then not step up the requirements needed for BETTER Policing of the " MET Roads"?

Doubt he would be GAME , nor would motormouth Boris or Jeremy Clarkson ?

Would ANY of them add to this :

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/ioc-chairman-thomas-bach-create-a...

None of YOU seem to be too bothered about YOUR OWN Safety or contributing a BETTER Idea , far be it for me , to expect any better of other commenters !

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to A V Lowe | 10 years ago
0 likes
A V Lowe wrote:

Clearly Sir Bernard is not spending enough time on the beat - I'd suggest he takes a look down in the Square Mile, where on some streets during the peak commuting times over 50% of the moving vehicles are bicycles, and if he were to use the detective skills of his Police training (presuming of course he isn't one of those fast-tracked graduate officers), he would find that quite a few of the riders are earning several multiples of his annual salary, and riding bikes which cost a bit more than a basic Police patrol car.

They certainly are not cycling because they are short of a penny or two, although in doing so many are saving up to £8,000 per year in commuting costs. If anything it is the imperative to escape from time poverty which is driving so many to take to the bike. this is clear from the fact that over ALL London commuter railheads, the number of cycle trips generated has risen 400% between 2001 and 2011 (TfL figures) and my own observations that at certain stations the number of bikes parked, and parking provision has risen by 1000% to 2000% as a conservative estimate. I've done the monitoring - and have pictures to prove it.

I'm going to ask you all to call for Sir Bernard to get the Met Police to follow the example of Police Scotland (with their Scottish Traffic Commissioner) and agree a Memorandum of Understanding with Nick Denton the Traffic Commissioner for the Metropolitan & Southeastern Area, who is the regulator with powers to revoke LGV and PCV drivers' licences and likewise curtail the licences of operators, where driving and vehicle operating standards fall below an acceptable standard. Nick Denton relies on being informed about drivers whose driving record shouts out that they are unfit to hold a licence to drive vehicles with such potential to kill and maim. In the absence such of a formal process, and the ability to deliver revocation of their licences, we have seen drivers such as Denis Putz, still allowed behind the wheel with a history of 20 driving bans, and 6 significant motoring offences. So Sir Bernard I'm calling on you to make that connection, and whenever an C, D, E licence holder gets pulled over, for speeding, mobile phone etc the TC gets it logged in directly from your force.

I've a second ask for you as well as getting that handle on bad drivers. Your crash investigators obviously work to the highest standards, but we hardly get to see the results of their efforts, unlike the investigations that take place when crashes occur with trains, planes and boats. Here the Rail, Air and Marine Accident Investigation Boards aim to deliver an impartial review of the facts, and establish the causal factors, with the aim of identifying the actions necessary to prevent a repeat of the same type of event, and recommending the action that need to be taken. Yes it is a different emphasis to a Police investigation, which aims to inform a a decision to prosecute or not.

Perhaps the collected information can be shared with a report that does identify the ways to remove or limit the actions, and change any design features that delivered the tragic event. The numbers are thankfully small, so there may even be the option to use the resources of the RAIB to do a pilot series, and through this deliver some clear and possibly challenging reviews on the efficacy of some of the cycling measures being delivered.

+1 - a very well made discussion as we've come to expect 1

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