British Cycling Road Safety Report - Ahead of The Times?

With the current interest in campaigns for cycling safety, it is well worth drawing attention to the recent British Cycling Road Safety Report.  This has the following sensible 6 key points under a theme of mutual respect:
- Driving Test
- Self-protection (this is defensive riding, NOT helmets or sticking to cycle tracks!)
- HGVs
- Law Enforcement
- Road Layout
- Speed Limits
It is a short but impressive document resulting from a survey of its members and it reflects the very good sense that British Cycling sports men and women (past and present) have been saying in The Times in the last few days..

Equally the See Me Save Me campaign is now launched with a specific goal, that is bound to save lives, of requiring large vehicles to be equipped with technology that reduces their danger to others.

I have concerns about the way in which The Times campaign may head.  These concerns have not been allayed by seeing yesterday's contribution in The Sunday Times from an associate editor that argues (apparently seriously) that bicycles should be banned from main roads.  Although this kind of talk is obviously not going to get anywhere, it does much to undermine the mutual respect that British Cycling are striving for.  The Times has been notably quiet about questions of law enforcement and I cannot quite get over what Freewheeler has in the past, not entirely without justification, described as cyclophobia.

Incidentally, discard The Times Guide to Safe Cycling, if you got it last Saturday, and replaced it with British Cycling's Effective Traffic Riding