Bakfiets Long delivered

In the morning, 23rd December a huge bloke with a peculiar accent knocked on my door. This could mean only one thing - the cargobike arrived from the Netherlands. The cheerful chap led me to his enormous lorrym where my precious purchase was waiting for me all wrapped in cardboard and tape with a distinctive Workcycles logo. I've been greening widely when I was freewheeling it back to my flat, and getting plenty of raised eyebrows on the way.Then finally I got it into my lobby

Reply to my complaint about the "Brighten up" campaign

When I have first seen this game I thought it was in a very bad taste, not mentioning the ideas it carried. 
I have written a complaint which follows:


"Dear Sir/Madame

I am writing to let you know that I am really amazed at the single sided 
approach you have displayed by creating a game where children have 
accident on a PEDESTRIAN CROSSING if not wearing enough hi-viz gear. I 
always thought that it's the motorists who are to blame, and who should 
slow down and pay more attention and not the children who get hit while 
safely crossing the road. What you imply by this game is that we all 
should be in a car or else we risk being injured. The game also implies 
that people who drive a car have little or no responsibility for it - 
oh, they haven't seen the kid - it must have been the lack of hi-viz. I 
am really displeased with that.

Instead of making people who drive more aware, lower the speed limits, 
put speed cameras, and what's most important enforce the law you focus 
on children who don't have enough yellow reflective stuff on them. 
Driving a car is a privilege not a right - people shouldn't be made to 
think they should adjust their livestyles so that others can drive in a 
carefree manner."

This is the reply I got:

"Apologies it has taken a while to get back to you on this.  Our response to queries received on the Be Bright, Be Seen game is below.  Please let me know if you have any other questions or if you would like further information on the research and evaluation findings used to develop and refine the campaign.

Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said:

“This game is part of a range of educational materials designed to give children the skills they need to stay safe on the roads as they become more independent. 

“By explaining the consequences of different behaviour, we are not attributing the blame for accidents to any particular road user.  I am clear that everyone on the road has a role to play in creating a safe environment whether they are driving, riding, cycling or walking.”

To see all road safety campaigns from THINK!, including for car drivers (about speeding, seat belt wearing, drink & drug driving etc), motorcyclists, pedestrians and vulnerable / young road users, please visit http://www.dft.gov.uk/think/."

I still think that the responsibility for the safety of vulnerable road users should lay in the hands of people who drive, not the other way round. If it's dark and you are approaching a crossing - slow down to crawl if you need to - better that than to kill a person. Or maybe I am totally wrong. 

It's cold!

Yes it now takes some time to warm up when riding my bike. Plus the low temperature or the wind made todays cycling super hard - it's either the hub or headwind. Hope it's the latter. Time to get the wooly hat out.

There have been a couple of hot topics lately in the world of bike bloggers. Especially important is the conviction of Dennis Putz - 7 years and lifelong ban for driving for killing Catriona Patel. Seems like LCC has finally grown a pair and is asking the right questions - why a driver with so many convictions was allowed on the road.

This also sparked a discussion over the ban of lorries in central London - a very difficult topic since while it would be superb to see them gone one must not forget about the services they provide - a good replacement or a different approach must be found.

Good news about opening the BorisBikes scheme to casual users. Everyone will be able to try out BBs and use them whenever they feel like it.

Then came Ray Sadri with his post suggesting handing out free helmets to casual boris bikers  to which he received a lot of negative comments. He remains unaware of what fallacies he commits and what his ideas actually communicate to the public. Me and Mark from ibikelondon have left long comments trying to get the point across but they seem to have been misunderstood (or maybe there was no intention of comprehending). I've been cheeky enough to as people at Borisbikes.co.uk about their opinion about this idea. 

Although Ray doesn't suggest compulsory helmets a short reminder what such law does to hire bike scheme.

future projects

I am having a super stressful time at work right now, and it doesn't look like it's gonna change till the end of December. However there are things that come to my mind occasionally - little projects that I don't have time for yet, but which I would like to promise to my readers.

1) Segregated cycling infrastructure in London. Yes I know it's an oxymoron of sort, but trust me there are those little nuggets here - perhaps their design isn't ideal and they are disconnected but I would like to go and visit them, snap some photos and talk more about how they help or don't. I already have an extensive list, but if you have any ideas let me know in the comments.

2) Inspired by this article "A beginners guide to bike shopping" I want to go to different big and small bike shops and see what they are going to offer to someone who knows nothing about bikes (at least he pretends not to). This would be an indicator of how cyclists needs are perceived by salespeople and what choice do beginners get - are they thrown into spandex straight away and put on a carbon road bike or do sales people play safe and recommend hybrids first? Is the utilitarian cycling mentioned and taken into account at all? I would definitely need help with this as I am known in some of the shops already (no, I didn't start a brawl or anything).

family transport

I have finally made up my mind. To be honest I have made up my mind ages ago, but I needed to make up my wife's mind too, and sort the finances for this step as well. Yes, it's official now - I am buying a Bakfiets Cargobike Long. This is going to be our weekend bike to carry our two offspring and groceries, to go for family rides - basically to replace the car (which we never had). The decision was hard especially since it doesn't cost peanuts. £2000 however is what I would probably pay for upkeep of the car only annually, so in the end it's not that bad. Plus it's and investment. These bikes are meant to withstand the elements for at least 30 years of faithful service and not deteriorate on little bit - which means I can sell it when I don't need it any more (when that would be I don't now).
I still have a trailer which I used to use with my road bike but it just seemed so awkward, wide I had to assemble it every time I felt like a ride with my son - plus the only thing he saw from there was my bum and the curb. No I'll get to speak with him while riding - the bonding is well worth £2000. I'll report again when I get it - should be about two weeks from now.

Integration in Amsterdam

Some point out that even in the Netherlands bikes have to sometimes share the road with motor traffic. This is supposed to be an argument lessening the importance of segregated infrastructure for mass cycling. There are two issues with this statement - first is the problem of scale and then there is the problem of type. I found a good clip illustrating this - integration in Amsterdam. Let me tell you - I wouldn't mind such integration at all.



Compare it to integration in London.

Save the planet — ban cycle helmets

A very interesting post about why cycling has become what it is today.
http://adrianshort.co.uk/2009/08/24/save-the-planet-ban-cycle-helmets/