News

Cycling with video cameras – a cyclist’s perspective: Part 1 Reporting
BCyC member James Taylor writes: I’d like to acknowledge and thank Damien Devanny (Continuous Improvement Officer for Road Safety), Avon & Somerset Police (ASP) and others at ASP’s Road Safety Unit for their assistance and encouragement with this article. WHY BOTHER? I’m often asked about this aspect of cycling, so I thought it might be useful to get some words down about it. Having cameras on my bike has enabled me to report over 230 drivers to the police since November 2018, 225 of which were contacted by the police with a warning, fixed penalty/offer of an education course, or…
The Summer of Cycling and Walking
Friday 30th July was a bumper day for announcements and publications from the Department for Transport relating to cycling, to kick of its ‘Summer of Cycling and Walking’ campaign. In this article we attempt to simplify each one for you, and understand how they are relevant to us here in Bristol. £338 million package to further fuel active travel boom The active travel boom seen throughout the pandemic will continue to thrive thanks to a £338 million package to boost cycling and walking across the country, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced today (30 July 2021). It comes after last year…
Our challenges for the new Cabinet Member for Transport in Bristol
This article was first published on Bristol247.com Congratulations to Don Alexander, who has just taken on the role of Cabinet Member for Transport. This is an important position given the impact our city’s transport challenges have on the lives of residents across the city. Getting the balance right between giving hope and managing expectations will be a key challenge as we start an important period for cycling. We take a look at Don’s ‘in-tray’ and some of his key work when it comes to cycling in the city. 1) Start implementing key strategic cycling routes in line with the Local…
Act now to improve the A38 south from Bristol
Note: Consultation closes Sunday 1st Aug 2021 – Act Now! As you cycle south out of Bristol are there any routes that you would be comfortable taking a child on? If you needed to commute to a job at the airport, could you walk or cycle? Have you cycled to the beautiful countryside around Rowberrow, Blagdon or Cheddar? The A38 could be a really valuable walking and cycling route, but at the moment it is dangerous. I found myself cycling on the road while lost a few months ago but decided to get off and walk because it felt so…
Is Bristol’s Temple Gate project really deserving of an award?
We were shocked to see that the Temple Gate scheme is up for an award from the Institution of Civil Engineers. Whilst we are sure that this was a complex engineering project, to talk of a ‘significantly enhanced user experience for cyclists’ is more than stretching it. In 2015 we wrote that “these proposals show potential but need to show a lot more ambition”. This has certainly played out, the area is filled with dangerous shared pavements, cycle lanes that end suddenly and ‘beg buttons’ to cross a six lane highway. We fed back (see here) that there was not…
Responding to Dangerous Driving: Road Justice Campaign meets with Police
Bristol Road Justice has met recently with Avon and Somerset Police (A & S) to discuss roads policing and incidents involving cyclists. At its peak A & S had 240 roads policing officers. Following cuts they now have 55. Although many of their tasks have been streamlined and they are ‘working smarter’, this is an enormous reduction, demonstrating roads policing is not a local or national priority. Their response to dangerous driving can be broken down into: 1. Incidents involving death or life-changing injury where investigations are handled by the specialist Collision Investigations Unit currently based at Almondsbury. In our…