Cycling

Andrew Smith Excerpts

Thursday 23rd February 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mr Andrew Smith (Oxford East) (Lab)]

I welcome this debate and the increased attention to the need for action to make cycling a real choice and to make it more convenient and therefore more attractive, and, as the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) said, more enjoyable.

As other hon. Members have said, The Times campaign has done a great job in massively raising the profile of cycling. I also place on the record my appreciation of the work done by Cyclox, the cycling organisation in my constituency, and by Sustrans, British Cycling and CTC.

As other hon. Members have said, action on the threats to cycling is crucial for the health and environmental benefits that it brings and to cut the carnage of serious accidents and deaths. In Oxford last October, Joanna Braithwaite, who worked as personal assistant to the rector of St Aldate’s church in my constituency, was killed cycling to the church. She was knocked down by a cement mixer lorry. There have been other deaths, too, in Oxford in recent years, usually involving lorries turning—each one an horrific, avoidable tragedy.

I strongly support the call for sensors, truck turning alarms, mirrors, safety bars and HGV training to cut the risk to people cycling. The shadow Secretary of State’s proposal to pay for this by hypothecating income from the proposed HGV road-charging scheme is good and I hope that the Minister will tell us that the Government will consider that positively.

More generally, funding measures to improve conditions for cycling cost little in comparison with the costs of making and maintaining roads. Switching a small proportion of the Highway Agency budget to provide cycle ways, as The Times campaign rightly proposes—

[Mr Mike Weir (in the Chair)]

Order. I am told that there may be two Divisions in the House. I suggest we suspend the sitting for 20 minutes.

--- Later in debate ---

[Hugh Bayley (in the Chair)]

Order. Before continuing with the debate, it might be helpful to tell colleagues that, as a result of the two Divisions, the debate will now run until 5.54 pm. I shall start the winding-up speeches at 5.20, leaving a few minutes at the end for the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert).

[Mr Andrew Smith]

I was making the point that funding measures to improve cycling conditions cost little in comparison with making and maintaining roads. Switching a small proportion of the Highways Agency budget to provide cycle ways, as the campaign by The Times rightly proposes, could transform cycling provision and achieve huge cost savings if factoring in the health, environment and reduced road congestion effects. Local highway authorities should match that with a similar switch of funds to provide for cycling and maintenance of cycle tracks.

We also need town and city-wide planning of cycle infrastructure and clear accountability for its delivery. I cycle in Oxford, as do many local residents, and the quality of provision is patchy—reasonably good in parts, with dedicated lanes, marked cycle routes and priority at traffic lights, but bad in others, with dangerous sections of road, poor road surfaces and potholes close to the kerb where the cyclist will usually be. The need to join up the cycle network is pressing, so that people’s journeys can be made safely by bike right across the city. After an energetic and successful campaign, we have achieved 20 mph limits in all Oxford residential areas, but the big issue is enforcement, so that motorists realise that it is a legal limit and not a voluntary aspiration.

We should also ensure that there are safe routes to school for children, so that more parents are confident that in encouraging their children to cycle they are not putting their lives at risk. The benefits for children’s health could be huge, cutting the danger, pollution and congestion of the school run and helping promote cycling for generations to come. Better, more careful use of road maintenance expenditure is also needed, ensuring improvements for cyclists at little or no cost simply by designing in their needs from the outset, which is sadly far from standard practice. In many instances, major roads and pavements are being rebuilt and a dedicated cycle lane could be added for only a fractional increase in cost.

Cyclists need to be given a fair deal where there are roadworks. Too often, the signing and guarding blocks off the cycle way as if it is somehow not important. My constituent Graham Smith has sent me photos of that in Oxford, and cyclists as a result were forced into a busy carriageway. Practice on signing and guarding falls within the remit of the code of practice, under the New Road and Street Works Act 1991, and chapter 8 of the “Traffic Signs Manual”. I suggest that the Minister look at the guidance closely and take steps to ensure that it responds sympathetically to our shared desire to enable more journeys by bike, and that highway authorities properly comply with their duty of care to all road users, which surely must mean equal care for cyclists.

This has been a great debate. Let us ensure that it is not only a worthy venting of concern and aspiration, but a catalyst for action to make cycling in this country as good as it could be. When our road and track cyclists are showing the brilliant best that UK cycle sport can achieve, let us make the joys and wider benefits of cycling safely accessible to all.