Cycling UK Forum

meic wrote:The CTC forum and those of us on it do NOT represent or speak for the CTC.
It would be better to contact the CTC's campaigning arm directly. You could be quite literally wasting your time posting on this forum.

Possibly if people have been campaigning on these issues for more than my lifetime and spent a lot of energy arguing out everything in minute detail over decades. Then the appearance of somebody new and unheard of with a fresh campaign may have ruffled some feathers.

Also various people are fiercely committed to various tactics and see other people's tactics as a threat to cycling's very future.

Personally I just cant be bothered with Facebook.

totally agree with you,,what a sad hostile state of affairs !! .. democracy eh ..anyway ,, imo it shouldnt be down to campaigns,, it should be down to a willing UK government wanting to make a change to lead the way

Needs the government to actually do something about it !.they have the power ,, if they were so concerned about ,cyclists safety, the environment, traffic congestion, ect, .. they could and would do something about it

I'd suggest that you learn from the response that you've received on other fora. You do seem to be annoying quite a lot of cyclists - given that they are the ones that you are trying to represent I'd say that you are off to poor start, and we've seen nothing that suggests that you are getting what the problem is.

Thus to save a further seven pages of running around the houses, accusations and insults causing the thread to be pulled, I think that we'll call it a day now. Honestly - it really would save you a lot of wasted effort is you just take a step back and try to digest what everyone has told you. Good luck.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=60688

Like to point out,, im not representing anyone.. the campaign is set up for like minded people who want to make the UK roads better, safer for cyclists.. nothing more,nothing less.. sad that cynical negative message board heads get pleasure out of trying de rail things that are positive.


CTC a great informative place !!!!

Ellieb wrote:something fishy going on here....

it`s as simple as a Facebook campaign to make the UK`s roads more bicycle friendly. for example Holland, France

Great stuff !! .. changed it slightly the info section,, the whole idea is to put a hard hitting campaign towards the government to actually do something to improve cyclists awareness (not just pussy foot around and talk about it) for on the UK roads from ..car..lorry..van..bus drivers.

like any campaign, needs all people to get involved to make it work !!

Si wrote:Yes but you start with:

Campaigning to make the UK government aware of how unsafe it is for cyclists to ride on UK roads.

Now, as I said, I do support you in your aims of getting the government to improve the cyclist's lot - nothing at all wrong with such aims. But, as said above - if a non-cyclist reads that line from your page, is it going to instil them in the confidence that cycling is the thing for them?

Like i said, right at the start - it is not at all easy to get a balance between making those in power see what needs to be done without scaring off those who might be potential cyclists, not easy at all (indeed, much of this forum could also put off potential new comers). But it's certainly worth spending some time trying to do this otherwise we run the risk of being counter productive in our efforts.

totally agree with you,, this is what it`s all about.. it`s every cyclist`s page.. the more positive input the better !!



what would you suggest for the opening line , any ideas,,? ..

Si wrote:

Sounds like your over complicating things a bit !! .. the pro`s far out weigh the cons in cycling ..the page is set up to make cycling on UK roads safer .

Not really cver complicating. There are lots of people who don't cycle because they think it too dangerous. Yet if it were that dangerous would all the people who do cycle still do it? You say that cycling in the UK is "dire" yet I find that the vast majority of my rides are nice and safe and enjoyable. But if an experienced cyclist tells a non-cyclist that cycling in the UK is "dire" what are they to believe?

The CTC is involved in the Safety in Numbers campaign. The belief is that the more people that cycle the better they are treated: as the numbers grow other road users become used to negotiating them, and may even be cyclists themselves. Thus, to make things even safer we should be encouraging new cyclists. To do this we want to make sure that we don't put them off before they begin.

Thus my outlook might be: rather than

cycling on Uk roads is dire

I would try to move towards:

Cycling on UK roads is predominantly safe. However, there are some situations where it is less safe - it is these that we want to rectify. We also want to overcome the false perception among many non-cyclists that cycling is too dangerous for them to try.

Nothing complicated there.

this page is set up to do something positive !! and make people feel safer cycling on the UK roads..it`s the UK Government that should be doing a lot more to make the roads safer and encouraging cyclists .

https://www.facebook.com/CyclistsForRightOfWayUK

quite the contrary ,, it`s a campaign aimed at the UK government to make the roads more safer for cyclists, to encourage more cyclists..


https://www.facebook.com/CyclistsForRightOfWayUK

But surely if the roads are that dangerous you ought not to encourage newcomers? Do you see what I'm getting at? The danger that in your attempts to show the govt what problems the average cyclist faces you may be putting off that same cyclist? My point is not that you shouldn't try to make things better for cyclists (I'm fully behind you there), but that care must be taken so that we don't paint such an awful picture that we actually put some people off. A very difficult balance to strike, that requires very careful wording: "cycling on Uk roads is dire" doesn't fill the inexperienced newcomer with enthusiasm .

Sounds like your over complicating things a bit !! .. the pro`s far out weigh the cons in cycling ..the page is set up to make cycling on UK roads safer .

snibgo wrote:

CfRoWUK wrote:Campaigning to make the UK government aware of how unsafe it is for cyclists to ride on UK roads.

I think the government is already aware. MPs debated it yesterday.

CfRoWUK wrote:To make UK roads cycle friendly just like mainland Europe has adopted

In principle, I also want UK roads to be more cycle-friendly. Especially the junctions, which tend to favour speed for motorists over safety of pedestrians and cyclists. As always, the devil is in the detail. Do we reduce permeability for motorists in residential streets (as they often do in mainland Europe)? Do we ban cycling on main roads (as they also do in mainland Europe)?

CfRoWUK wrote:This page is set up to campaign for the UK government to implement Right of way for cyclists in the UK.

"Right of Way" implies that you want to maintain the right to cycle on roads. Good.

this is what`s needed... jump on board with it...more the merrier !!

Si wrote:

CyclistsFROWUK wrote:

Compared to cycling on French Dutch, German roads..cycling on Uk roads is dire,

Would you advise a newcomer not to try it then, due to the danger?

quite the contrary ,, it`s a campaign aimed at the UK government to make the roads more safer for cyclists, to encourage more cyclists..


https://www.facebook.com/CyclistsForRightOfWayUK

Si wrote:Yep, worked fine for me, although I'm not sure that I agree with the info on it - seems to be painting a very dire picture of UK cycling, such that any potential newcomer might well be put of before they start! But then it's far from alone in this, and it takes us back to the question that I keep asking: if we want to encourage newcomers then we need to reassure them that cycling is not as dangerous as many believe, but if we want to make cycling even safer we need to demonstrate that it is not safe enough - how do we get the message across without looking like we are contradicting ourselves?

Compared to cycling on French Dutch, German roads..cycling on Uk roads is dire, that`s what this campaign is about to get all fellow cyclists to support and change the governments stance on UK cyclists safety

Needs support to make it work , https://www.facebook.com/CyclistsForRightOfWayUk