Hackney City Farm Bike Day

[Citation needed] For several reasons. If you amend that to "*existing keen cyclists* would mostly ride on the road..." that might be better but I'd still question it. For one - the statistics say it *is* "safe" - we could all ride for several lifetimes before our chances of being killed were "significant". What it isn't is "safe-feeling" (because few of us base our behaviour on analysis of stats). And that isn't changed much by policing. It's the fact that most humans aren't happy mixing it with (lots of) fast- moving motor vehicles (increasing with the relative speed difference / size / noise of those vehicles). What has been found in many places is the key blockers to remove / attractive factors to increase are reducing traffic volumes and speeds sufficiently wherever cyclists will mix with motor vehicles, and to keep cyclists moving (even if relatively slowly) in a "legible" direct route. To a first approximation both the safety AND attractiveness are simply "fewer interactions with motor vehicles". I don't disagree that the current lack of seriousness around road policing is really unhelpful though, and something that could be addressed in addition.

Perhaps the answer is "you can't get there from here" and "do more with less"? As in maybe the effort to actually *network* (even with planters / making some roads one-way and even if picking a limited area to start) wins? Again Bristol has less in favour of cycling (lots of sharp gradients, narrow spaces, serious car- sickness) and I found some of the infra clearly questionable - but I saw far more people cycling there, including the 8-80 (well, maybe 12 - 60s...) - unaccompanied kids cycling to get places seem rare in Edinburgh (apart from previously noted scrotters on the paths). Edinburgh is making new infra (Leith Connections) which is good... But still not Dutch *and* it's doing it a glacial place. AND we're still building in nominally "walkable and cycleable" new estates which are in fact just car-dependent places with some window dressing - they're not connected (aside from still being poorly done in detail).

I don't know Edinburgh, but presumably Mr Fraser's claims that cyclists are given more space than pedestrians apply to those relatively few pieces of dedicated / shared infrastructure - i.e. where a shared path or segregated cycle path exists, he notices that pedestrians seem to have the worse deal. But doesn't that overlook that many urban roads have pavements (admittedly, not always wide, good quality or free from parked cars), but not cycle facilities?

While I agree with much of this (particularly on the "needs better demarcation / separation)" some notes on the specifics of Edinburgh: There are in fact sections of actual "separate *cycle* path" (where there is also a pedestrian footway): Leith Walk, parts of the CCWEL * (Melville Street, Portobello Road to the east of Jock's Lodge, and notably from Roseburn to Haymarket, the latter getting "near Dutch") etc. Unfortunately while these are workable the main issue is these are all fragments. (The width and junctions wouldn't pass Dutch approval either but are less problematic at current cycling levels - eg still very low). Then: the former railways-turned-paths are *mostly* very workable for cycling because at "normal use levels" in my experience the "faster mode dominates" - eg. the few pedestrians cede to cyclists. Yes, aggro types, gangs of yoof and dog walkers can be exceptions, and this doesn't mean I can just blat along without consideration. I mean I can make good progress *including* sometimes slowing right down a few times on the journey, just not all the time. This accords with experience in other "shared spaces". The exception is when there's an event on or it's a really nice holiday day - at which point the numerically dominant mode (pedestrians) control the flow. (Part of the reason I rarely cycle on the Water Of Leith path). I've just been visiting Bristol and the contrast is interesting - while the traffic volumes seem much greater and there are real "narrow streets" they actually seem to be trying. Yes it's very variable and "rough and ready" but they're building infra and making *routes*. * City Centre West East Link

Absolutely ludicrous from the police. I would file a formal complaint. I reported this driver for phone use and left hooking another cyclist. The phone use was not actioned due to the dark tint of the window making it too difficult to see (I should have reported the tint too). But the left hook definitely was actioned. https://youtu.be/h0oseufAhFg

@Mr Blackbird And the Dominic Cummings type Tory policy wonk in The Thick of It. I don't think it was the BBC having a dig at cycling though, there was a time when there was a very identifiable type of person who chose a Brompton and they were making fun of that rather than cycling per se.

Yes, why can’t we edit or delete our comments if we make an error?

Reputable retailers? Well, I suppose it's true that Amazon do have a certain reputation...

Lol. At least he doesn't feel guilty for very long as that path is so short.

This news is definitely one for the "no news" category: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3g20yxvm4o Reputable high street retailers blurring the lines you say? Shocked, I was... actually, not.