Imagine, if you will, that you are a commuter who has established that cycling through the middle of a British city is the easiest way for you to get to work. It’s probably one of the cheapest methods, the greenest, the easiest, the best for you. Most of it might not be on specific bike infrastructure, because that hasn’t been built, so you have to share the road with cars.
However, thankfully, there is a bit on the journey where you are allowed to cycle in a pedestrianised area, away from cars. Maybe it saves you five minutes, maybe it just means you don’t have to stay on a busy road. You’re probably conscientious, maybe you’re even a good bell user. Sharing the space with pedestrians just works, especially if you slow down.
This person could be me - the easiest way from my house to the middle of Bristol (UK) involves some shared spaces with pedestrians - and I make a point of reducing my speed in these instances, knowing that I’m the least vulnerable presence in that situation. Whether I’m on my pub bike or my road bike, it’s clear that at points where pedestrians and cyclists come into contact, it’s my responsibility to take more care.
Not all cyclists take the same approach, and the problem of fast-moving bicycles within urban areas is exacerbated by the use of illegally modified e-bikes which provide assistance over the permitted 15mph.
These pedal-powered machines look like bikes, until closer inspection reveals batteries gaffer-taped to the frame. Travelling at 20mph, sometimes without any input from the rider, these are illegal electric motorbikes, not bicycles.
Many - but not all - of the riders aboard these bikes are fulfilling deliveries. If you have wondered how you can get a takeaway delivered to your home so quickly and cheaply, consider these illegal e-bikes a factor, alongside companies of late capitalism taking advantage of their precarious labour.
To the untrained eye, these riders may look like any other cyclist, resulting in the tarring of an entire mode of transport with the same brush. As a result, councils are cracking down on cycling in pedestrian areas, as if through penalising all people on two wheels they can stop the issues with illegal e-bike use.
Last week it was revealed that Birmingham City Council is considering banning cycling through the UK city centre, because they want to reduce the "likelihood of near misses and collisions" with pedestrians. These near misses are not the responsibility of all cyclists; a blanket ban on cycling helps nobody, and pushes riders back onto the road. This will not lead to higher levels of two-wheeled activity, which, by its nature, reduces the strain on the roads posed by cars, vans and lorries.
“We are considering measures to try and decrease instances of cycling at speed through one small area of the city centre where there is high footfall, and it is unsafe to cycle due to the likelihood of near misses and collisions," a spokesperson told the BBC.
It should not be a surprise that we at Cycling Weekly are keen on getting as many people riding as possible. We think - shock - that cycling is the best mode of transport, whether you’re a racer or someone trying to get to work, someone needing to take your child 10 minutes to the school gates, or heading out on a century loop on a fitness journey. However, sometimes we run smack bang into the reality of cycling in the UK, which isn’t always a helpful place.
More legislative, and police, action is needed e to target illegal electric bikes - if they’re bikes modified to use batteries, these are the ones that often cause fires, incidentally - but restrictions on where people choosing to travel by bike can cycle is a backwards step, one that feels all too common in this country. If we are going to get more people out of cars, onto bikes, then we need to give them more safe places to cycle, not less.
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If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.
