Cycling UK Forum

You're invited!

THE NATIONAL FUNERAL FOR
THE UNKNOWN VICTIM OF
TRAFFIC VIOLENCE

Saturday, 15 November 2014.

Assemble at Bedford Square (near British Museum) at NOON.
Dignified Protest Procession along Oxford Street: Horse-drawn hearse.
Die-In at Marble Arch.

Details, including feeder rides, on these websites:
'STOP KILLING CYCLISTS'
'STOP THE KILLING'


Facebook: EVENT LISTING.
Twitter: @StopKillingCycl
Hashtag: #NationalFuneral
Media: PRESS RELEASE

[youtube]qmE3tWIwszc[/youtube]

If you worked for an advertising agency and had the task of coming up with a campaign aimed at discouraging cycling then this is exactly the sort of thing you would come up with: Associate cycling with death.

The protest has 10 demands of which cycling is but one.

The Dutch in the 1970s had 'Stop the Child Murders'. That lead directly to improvements to the road network - to make it fit for everyone not just people who choose to drive.

Last year's Die-In in front of Transport for London's headquarters attracted over 1000 people and brought out a director who met with volunteers to discuss changes to the roads they manage.

Subsequently, there were followup meetings, including with London's cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan.

On a national level, campaigners had meetings with MPs and Lords, again to push for improvements to make cycling and walking safer and to *feel* safer.

The most visible outcome from those meetings was having the pavement cycling advice reaffirmed.

~Andrew~

Just a couple weeks after the protest and the Government seems set to spend billions of our taxes on building more infrastructure that supports car-culture.

Telegraph today: David Cameron: 'Roads revolution will create new lanes for motorways...
"The Government will spend £15 billion on 100 major roads projects by the end of the decade as the economy continues to recover."

Pete Owens wrote:If you worked for an advertising agency and had the task of coming up with a campaign aimed at discouraging cycling then this is exactly the sort of thing you would come up with: Associate cycling with death.

+1

I can't make my my mind up wether it'll have a positive or negative effect but the timing couldn't be worse IMO,four days after armistice day.

reohn2 wrote:I can't make my my mind up wether it'll have a positive or negative effect but the timing couldn't be worse IMO,four days after armistice day.

I am also undecided but edging towards the we need to do something. As you say the timing is really bad and could have been better.
Good Friday when according to the Romans a good person was killed. Plus it is a Bank Holiday and normally a quiet news day.

The date of the protest was set for Sat 15th November because it leads into Brake charity's NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY WEEK and is on the same weekend as RoadPeace charity's WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC VICTIMS.

Aside: also see Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020

Best wishes,

~Andrew~

There are no words to describe how stupid and counter-productive this campaign is.

I think putting it on a religious day might get far more negative comment, as well as causing dilemmas for anyone who observes that day. This is on the weekend of the World Day Of Remembrance For Road Traffic Victims, not on remembrance sunday or armistice day, but the proximity might make some people think about how half a million in the UK have been killed by traffic in a decade, compared to 193 British Forces personnel in Afghanistan in that time... and I'd suggest that the traffic deaths should be far easier for our politicians to avoid.

This campaign doesn't create an association between cycling and death: sadly, using the roads in anything other than a motor vehicle is already associated with danger of death by many of the non-cycling 85% (for example, in a 2007 survey in King's Lynn, over 40% of non-cyclists requested fundamental safety improvements and it's already better than average there). Probably a substantial minority of the cycling 15% associate it with danger because they clad themselves in ineffective body armour of various types in the hopeless hope that it'll help in a collision with another vehicle.

I've changed my mind about perceived safety. Denying the problem got us nowhere fast: challenging it is good (statistically, cycling is safe), but so is harnessing people's worries to challenge politicians to address their electorate's feelings on this by allocating realistic funding to walking and cycling. I don't expect many of the old "right to ride on the road" anti-infrastructure-per-se dinosaurs to support it, but I hope many forum participants will.

I'll be showing the way for anyone wanting to cycle the relatively short distance from King's Cross/St Pancras, leaving from the cycle hire point in Belgrove Street (across Euston Road in front of the stations, next to the post office) at about 1150. Other feeder rides, including some more formal ones, are listed on the website.

mjr wrote:I think putting it on a religious day might get far more negative comment, as well as causing dilemmas for anyone who observes that day. This is on the weekend of the World Day Of Remembrance For Road Traffic Victims, not on remembrance sunday or armistice day, but the proximity might make some people think about how half a million in the UK have been killed by traffic in a decade, compared to 193 British Forces personnel in Afghanistan in that time... and I'd suggest that the traffic deaths should be far easier for our politicians to avoid.

The problem with the date IMOis that some/many(?) may see it as a jumping on the bandwagon of armistice week,irrespective of what campaigners think,that's the (possible)dilemma and as such could be counter productive.

This campaign doesn't create an association between cycling and death: sadly, using the roads in anything other than a motor vehicle is already associated with danger of death by many of the non-cycling 85% (for example, in a 2007 survey in King's Lynn, over 40% of non-cyclists requested fundamental safety improvements and it's already better than average there). Probably a substantial minority of the cycling 15% associate it with danger because they clad themselves in ineffective body armour of various types in the hopeless hope that it'll help in a collision with another vehicle.

The problem in a motorcentric society is how best to hi-light the danger of the motor car especially when statistically deaths are lower than they've ever been(I'm playing devils advocate),and the populous is so politrickally apathetic(read,they've given up on even voting let alone listening to politrickians) .

I've changed my mind about perceived safety. Denying the problem got us nowhere fast: challenging it is good (statistically, cycling is safe), but so is harnessing people's worries to challenge politicians to address their electorate's feelings on this by allocating realistic funding to walking and cycling. I don't expect many of the old "right to ride on the road" anti-infrastructure-per-se dinosaurs to support it, but I hope many forum participants will.

That's the problem,the bl**ding politrickians!
They'll tell you that there's no need to worry because the stats say we've got safe roads so don't be concerned.
What they won't say is that the CPS isn't fit for purpose,that's it's been decided that killing people with cars is acceptable,that diving standards are plummeting.And that because the police are run off their feet trying to catch up on crime that's completely overwhelming them due to cuts made by government,nobody even reports crime unless it's serious or they need an incident number for their insurance!
It's commonly known as 'cooking the books' and if you can't replace the c(r)ooks,yer stuffed.
The problem is the politrickal system all two and a bit major politrickal parties(read,one's that matter) are widdling in the same pot,there'll be no appreciable change until the system changes.

Bloody Hell, that's a bit scary.

That's me selling my bikes and buying a car then.

Hundreds of people in the protest march stopped motor traffic along and across Oxford Street on Saturday; then held a die-in at Marble Arch.

The sound of people talking replaced the sound of motors racing. People in their thousands lined the street.

See: MEDIA COVERAGE

Also see the GALLERY for photos and videos.

Here is the PRESS RELEASE.

~Andrew~

It's not maybe intended to be focussed on cycling only (ie, road deaths are road deaths regardless of if you are walking, riding, driving) but the posters and coverage in papers, youtube etc... all show hundreds of cyclists causing disruption and giving the impression it is because cycling is so dangerous and so it turns into another "law breaking cyclists bring traffic to a standstill". From every direction it is not a good message.

Yeah, look at all those "cyclists" walking through Oxford Circus in pictures in the newspapers like http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/t ... 62972.html

Quite a few people went to/from by bike and I think quite a few must have parked their bikes near Marble Arch for the die-in, but there seemed to be far more people on foot than anything else.