The Beacon Message Board

http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/regio ... oad_crash/
Tragic.

Absolutely terrible and follows the tragic death of the Wolverhampton rider aged just 16 so recently. A work colleague was hit by a car today outside new street station, miraculously wasn't really hurt, George hit and severely injured recently, members being threatened and driven at regularly. I'm sick of hearing about these incidents and the lack of justice afterwards and any enforcement of basic driving standards or deterrent to drivers. What more can we do as a club? Surely challenging our mps, mayor, police and councils as a group or something is better than doing nothing. It's a matter of when not if in my opinion it being one of us or a rider on one of our events once more. I don't want to be trying to recruit kids into the club and be going to their funeral in five or ten years time.

Thoughts and heart goes out to this man's family and friends.

Just caught up with this very sad news. Most of you will know this but Cycling UK has been campaigning for many years with good legal and policy advice on Road Justice and inter alia influencing Prosecution and Sentencing guidelines, infrastructure, lorry safety standards etc. The related Cycling Defence Fund takes up particularly egregious or significant legal cases on our behalf. We are seeing some improvements most notably thanks to two very motivated and thoughtful award winning police officers the Close Pass campaign. By all means please do write to MPs local Councillors and the Police and Crime Commissioners these messages about what it is like to cycle on today's roads with some of today's drivers are getting through. In my view it is always most effective to do this as part of an organised campaign. Most politicians now recognise the cycling lobby as one they have to respond to. Chris Boardman is a marvellous spokesperson (the face of cycling) while most of the heavy lifting of policy lobbying and legal challenge is down to Cycling UK and some very active groups of independent and forthright individual bloggers and campaigners. Video evidence from helmet or bike cameras used to be treated with disdain by policy forces but more and more of them welcome it and have good systems for lodging complaints or evidence.

Thanks Dave. The work Cycling UK and the Defence Fund and British Cycling do I agree is great and seems to be getting more traction and improving understanding gradually.

It does though feel a very slow process at times with very little change on the ground locally in terms of changed behaviour or action by drivers, police, cps, magistrates or jurors. Same with the close pass work that the two officers have done, great but not felt any noticeable reduction in close passes or incidents personally. Hopefully the ability to record incidents and upload footage online will come soon in West Midlands. Meanwhile the deaths and collisions continue with little or no punishment. Just last night I learnt of a Beacon member who was hit five months ago, requiring spinal surgery (luckily successful), and only just about to get back to work. Doubt anyone else in the club is even aware. This was second time in a year they'd been hit by a driver of a vehicle.

This rider in Romsley hasn't been named yet in the press, he could be a Beacon member.

In last five or so years there's been two Solihull riders and now one Wolverhampton rider killed I believe. In the Beacon several riders have been hit by drivers or threatened including myself, with probably hundreds of other near misses experienced and not even thought about. What the answer is I don’t know in terms of if there's anything the club should or can do but doing nothing doesn't seem the right thing either.

I will raise at the next committee meeting but I suppose my question to members is would they like the committee to try and do something? E.g. Write a letter expressing our concerns to local mps, councillors, mayor, police commissioners etc. on behalf of the c300 membership.