tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post4170573192958472978..comments2024-02-24T06:21:30.987+01:00Comments on A view from the cycle path: How "Bikeability" and "Cycling Proficiency" have failed British cyclists.David Hembrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-55926118619570284592011-11-15T21:29:54.212+01:002011-11-15T21:29:54.212+01:00Don't have time to read all the comments now, ...Don't have time to read all the comments now, so apologies if it's already been said, but there's a real parallel here with road safety training - all emphasis on equipping kids to deal with an unacceptably unsafe environment, rather than tackling the environment itself (including driver attitudes). Having said that, I think both are probably needed for the time being.aliceplayingouthttp://www.playingout.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-63265748526052726362011-11-14T08:45:08.684+01:002011-11-14T08:45:08.684+01:00Peter: Your aims are in line with what is possible...Peter: Your aims are in line with what is possible from this scheme, and of course I wish you the best of luck with it.<br /><br />Anonymous (is that actually your real name ?): I'm not "backing down" because there's nothing at all wrong with what I wrote.<br /><br />It may upset you that I left the UK, but that was my decision to make, not yours. For decades I worked for David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-44683626416710508802011-11-13T23:17:28.641+01:002011-11-13T23:17:28.641+01:00Is it not a little rich to ask me to take a step b...Is it not a little rich to ask me to take a step back from the statistics when you have taken the ultimate step and left the country only to criticize a scheme that it appears you have no real knowledge of? Remember statistics are often a snapshot and do not tell the whole story. Also where do you get this from? "trainers have been complicit in this by being overconfident of their own Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-711705726511414652011-11-12T15:02:08.803+01:002011-11-12T15:02:08.803+01:00CP didn't do much to increase cycling. It was...CP didn't do much to increase cycling. It was purely targeted at kids in playgrounds at a time when cycles had largely fallen from favour for normal transport use by adults.<br /><br />BA <em>may</em> do better because of the way cycling is starting to be seen as something normal people might actually choose to do. But I was quite careful to choose my words in "may" and "Peter Clinchhttp://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-67333360813034711622011-11-12T11:21:11.203+01:002011-11-12T11:21:11.203+01:00Anonymous: I read it in full. The article reports ...Anonymous: I read it in full. The article reports the result of a questionnaire. We don't know what the questions were.<br /><br />It is to be expected that most people whose children have been through a course to "improve" anything will say afterwards that this course improved. That's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias" rel="nofollow">confirmation bias</a>,David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-37147800614705288752011-11-12T10:35:04.620+01:002011-11-12T10:35:04.620+01:00You have not read the link fully it also says &quo...You have not read the link fully it also says "Of those whose children had participated in Bikeability, 90% said that it had improved their child’s safety on the road." There are other reports that have heaped praise on Bikebility (the scheme has been replicated in New Zealand).I find your headline offensive; the Government may have failed cyclists but not Bikeabilty! Have you ever Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-76762209489985045832011-11-12T09:43:44.474+01:002011-11-12T09:43:44.474+01:00Anonymous: You also seem not to have actually read...Anonymous: You also seem not to have actually read the blog post.<br /><br />One of your links talks about results for a questionnaire about brand awareness. Is raising the awareness of the brand of bikeability really the point of the exercise ?<br /><br />I had thought the idea was to increase the number of people who cycle.<br /><br />Your other link calls for yet more training to back up the David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-11330802691249800792011-11-12T04:54:34.362+01:002011-11-12T04:54:34.362+01:00http://www.dft.gov.uk/bikeability/2011/11/11/bikea...http://www.dft.gov.uk/bikeability/2011/11/11/bikeability-brand-research-published/ To brand Bikeability a failure is an ill informed sweeping statement. One of the biggest issues facing cyclists is the attitude of motorists to cyclists. The general ignorance of a cyclists right to ride on the road is the real failure. Motorists need educating to share the roads. http://www.bikeradar.com/news/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-22825613534296491402011-11-11T14:58:41.600+01:002011-11-11T14:58:41.600+01:00A really good thread. I took the cycling profiency...A really good thread. I took the cycling profiency test way back, probably 1976. I was turned away from the first session because I rode a bike without a front brake, it was a German folding bike, single speed with back pedal rear brake. I took the test a year later on a regular three speed town bike and passed (no battle dress in those days). I would guess that I am the only one of those in the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-23921759168979827892011-11-10T15:47:22.559+01:002011-11-10T15:47:22.559+01:00I'm not sure it's BA/CP that's failing...I'm not sure it's BA/CP that's failing British cyclists... I think it's a pretty good response to what we have, given we can't change what we have overnight. Whether that should have been the case over the last several decades is a different matter, of course, but the fact is what we have now will still be what we have for a while yet.<br /><br />Where I stay (Dundee, Peter Clinchhttp://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-64728167049119067362011-11-09T18:43:05.576+01:002011-11-09T18:43:05.576+01:00"We don't have to wait any longer to see ..."We don't have to wait any longer to see whether the training-only approach works. It's quite clear already that it does work." <br /><br />David, just for the sake of clarity - I think you dropped the "not" before "work".Brendannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-38756553930385952292011-11-09T18:42:04.126+01:002011-11-09T18:42:04.126+01:00Right now cycling is in a trendy phase. You can p...Right now cycling is in a trendy phase. You can professionally train everyone who wants to bike, but if you don't make big changes to the infrustructure, they will be back off the bike when it's no longer cool, or when they move, get a job, quit a job, get married, get wealthy, get poor, get a kid, or get old.<br /><br />If you do make those huge pro-bicycling changes to infrastructure Brendannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-88643952181133519722011-11-09T13:09:42.906+01:002011-11-09T13:09:42.906+01:00The title of this piece is needlessly provocative....The title of this piece is needlessly provocative. But I agree it is true to say that cycle training on its own won't solve the problem we've got, and that it is being provided largely as a sop by successive governments that want to create an impression of doing something for cycling, but without taking any difficult decisions. <br /><br />One thing that cycle training can demonstrate, ifAndrew Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10202365277263713006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-59778122086159008452011-11-09T05:55:14.899+01:002011-11-09T05:55:14.899+01:00"Training is now professionalised rather than..."Training is now professionalised rather than just something any Mr/Mrs Smith or Jones could deliver."<br /><br />Oh, hey, they taught me to drive. This cycling must be really tricky stuff. I think I'll just go see what's on Top Gear.kfgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-61577668667954650102011-11-09T04:59:58.343+01:002011-11-09T04:59:58.343+01:00The link of the Portland study of the four types o...The link of the Portland study of the four types of cyclists dgot truncated. <br />Here it is again:<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/c5zj7hzClark in Vancouvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-52472547955474641122011-11-09T02:32:31.908+01:002011-11-09T02:32:31.908+01:00I'm not against training, but it is my opinion...I'm not against training, but it is my opinion that its effect is overrated.<br /><br />The amount of formal cycle training that I myself have received is exactly zero. That does not stop me from cycling everywhere.<br /><br />On the other hand, my 9-year-old daughter could receive a thousand hours of highest-quality cycle training and I still will not allow her to cycle on roads with motor Kevin Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13186428862833389619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-45837756683383361002011-11-09T00:15:18.824+01:002011-11-09T00:15:18.824+01:00David, thank you for your prompt response. Unfortu...David, thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately when you use grandstanding headlines a la the rest of our sad British media you are liable to get an emotional response. However, I still take issue with the idea that Bikeability has "failed" and the way you are judging it. I never expected it to work in isolation and I doubt if many other enlightened souls would.<br /><br />AlsoKen Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16891042871006466071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-78755669297454688342011-11-08T21:38:51.264+01:002011-11-08T21:38:51.264+01:00Hello David, and thanks for your blog which I read...Hello David, and thanks for your blog which I read religiously, and try to do my bit here in car-dominated Cheshire. Please look at my bike blog at http://rideaday.wordpress.com/<br />and please add me to your list of bike blogs if you like it!<br />Thank you<br />Nathan TownshendNathanhttp://rideaday.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-65714382654080967732011-11-08T20:27:59.499+01:002011-11-08T20:27:59.499+01:00"In 1959 . . ."
. . .the petrol tap was..."In 1959 . . ."<br /><br />. . .the petrol tap was open.<br /><br />"They say "cycling is for the Dutch not for us" and "we don't copy anyone"."<br /><br />Which is ironic, given that Dutch cycling culture developed from the British. I have chided MCA a few times for referring to iconically American bikes as "European style."<br /><br />While kfgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-36696777656034879452011-11-08T20:18:04.766+01:002011-11-08T20:18:04.766+01:00Ken: Your response is quite strange. I think you p...Ken: Your response is quite strange. I think you perhaps responded emotionally to the title rather than reading it in full.<br /><br />At no point did I call anyone a failure. In particular, I have no reason at all to criticize people who do Bikeability training. They're hard working people trying to achieve something good.<br /><br />You ask at the end of your reply, what "happens in David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-39791672371150729612011-11-08T19:48:21.167+01:002011-11-08T19:48:21.167+01:00As the principal architect of the National Standar...As the principal architect of the National Standard (brand name Bikeability) I feel I must respond to David's article, hopefully clearing up a few points. Firstly to say that it has failed is a very sweeping statement that fails to recognise the fact that myself or others involved in its development never expected it to be the panacea which seems to be the basis on which David is judging it.<Ken Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16891042871006466071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-88695895598313382742011-11-08T08:57:17.000+01:002011-11-08T08:57:17.000+01:00@ David and Clark: Thank you very much.@ David and Clark: Thank you very much.Michael Snoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-56484260884132786182011-11-08T05:17:16.006+01:002011-11-08T05:17:16.006+01:00David and Michael.
Roger Geller, the Bicycle Coor...David and Michael.<br /><br />Roger Geller, the Bicycle Coordinator of the Portland, Oregon Office of Transportation mentions four groups:<br /><br />The Strong and Fearless,<br />The Enthused and the Confident,<br />The Interested but Concerned,<br />The No Way, No How.<br /><br />http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=237507&c=44671Clark in Vancouvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-8648181284651227912011-11-07T20:22:13.613+01:002011-11-07T20:22:13.613+01:00Michael: I think most people involved do it genuin...Michael: I think most people involved do it genuinely to make the world a better place. However, their efforts are unfortunately being wasted.<br /><br />I don't have a link, but I remember the study. I think it was a bit naive and looked like the result of a multiple choice question. That 15% is a very broad range of people.David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3102538965694240940.post-22956953856982708122011-11-07T20:01:02.787+01:002011-11-07T20:01:02.787+01:00very good article. I guess this Cycling Proficienc...very good article. I guess this Cycling Proficiency thing is only one more strategy to avoid real change while making people think that a change is under way.<br /><br />BTW: I remember an article or a study about different groups of cyclists. Something like 1% of no-matter-what cyclists, 15% of will-do-with-some-support and the rest "anxious-in-need-of-safe-infrastructure" Any link?Michael Snoreply@blogger.com