Mon 22 Sept is European Car Free Day - Oxford Cyclists meet 8am in Broad Street
Ian | 20.09.2003 16:10 | Health | Oxford
If you cycle in Oxford and are sick of nearly getting run over / not having adequate cycle provision, then please come to Broad Street between 8am - 9am this Monday. They'll be a free breakfast of fair trade coffee and bananas, as well as lots of local press to publicise a pro cycling agenda here in Oxford. The event is organised by Cyclox.
Monday 22 September is European Car Free Day. Wear a yellow top and meet at 8.00am for breakfast in Broad Street. Free fair trade coffee and bananas provided for cyclists.
For more information visit the Cyclox website @
http://www.oxfoe.co.uk/cyclox/
Extract from Cyclox's website...
Pro-cycle campaigns
Public campaigns
- à la commuter challenge – actions designed to have an impact on public consciousness and to encourage people to change their thinking about cycling vs car use;
- campaigns that are as likely to be pro-cycling as they are ‘anti-car’ (i.e. anti-obsessive car use especially for commuting);
- get involved in events such as Car-free day 22 Sept – opportunity for Cyclox stall, recruitment
- Cyclox will avoid actions which are simply conflictive and which can create as many problems as they solve – e.g. critical mass
Campaigns on specific cycling issues, especially safety problems
- Aimed at Oxfordshire County Council which controls all of the roads in the city. Personal safety is a much more commonly cited reason for not cycling than the weather / exertion / distance and other factors.
Suggested areas for initial Cyclox action include:
- curbing motor vehicle speed – for cyclists’ protection at certain points in the city – e.g. Magdalen Bridge, High Street;
- danger areas – make sure that the danger areas – e.g. the Plain; bottleneck parts of Botley, Abingdon and Cowley Roads – are made properly safe for cyclists;
- proper cycle route network – demand the full implementation of Cyclox’s dual cycle network researched in the ’90s (on-road routes for fast cyclists; back-road routes for slower cyclists). The existing cycle networks are incomplete and very inadequate;
- bike parking – make sure it’s installed where it’s most needed, especially in the city centre.
For more information visit the Cyclox website @
http://www.oxfoe.co.uk/cyclox/ Extract from Cyclox's website...
Pro-cycle campaigns
Public campaigns
- à la commuter challenge – actions designed to have an impact on public consciousness and to encourage people to change their thinking about cycling vs car use;
- campaigns that are as likely to be pro-cycling as they are ‘anti-car’ (i.e. anti-obsessive car use especially for commuting);
- get involved in events such as Car-free day 22 Sept – opportunity for Cyclox stall, recruitment
- Cyclox will avoid actions which are simply conflictive and which can create as many problems as they solve – e.g. critical mass
Campaigns on specific cycling issues, especially safety problems
- Aimed at Oxfordshire County Council which controls all of the roads in the city. Personal safety is a much more commonly cited reason for not cycling than the weather / exertion / distance and other factors.
Suggested areas for initial Cyclox action include:
- curbing motor vehicle speed – for cyclists’ protection at certain points in the city – e.g. Magdalen Bridge, High Street;
- danger areas – make sure that the danger areas – e.g. the Plain; bottleneck parts of Botley, Abingdon and Cowley Roads – are made properly safe for cyclists;
- proper cycle route network – demand the full implementation of Cyclox’s dual cycle network researched in the ’90s (on-road routes for fast cyclists; back-road routes for slower cyclists). The existing cycle networks are incomplete and very inadequate;
- bike parking – make sure it’s installed where it’s most needed, especially in the city centre.
Ian
Comments
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Don't drive on the road
26.09.2003 08:34
Why are so many people in this city so selfish and lazy? I use a car about 20 times each year, and cycle or train the rest of the time. I have to put up with a near constant traffic jam at the end of the street, making it hard for me to even leave my own street in the morning. Why should I have to breathe the fumes of exhaust from all of those cars, it makes me wonder whether they'd like it if I sat in a car outside those car driver's houses with my engine running 4 hours a day - would they like the stink?
I would advocate massive increases on the council tax for private cars parks (including company car parks), and a huge hike in charges for public parking, with an introduction of a 'Free Parking' badge for the frail or ill, people with kids, and pregnant women.
The main delays to my journeys are car traffic jams, and traffic lights whose rhythms are set to favour cars, but not the noble cyclist and pedestrian.
On another point - when you are in the City Centre, if you notice the bus drivers have their engines on, go and ask the controller who stands at Carfax to get the drivers to turn their engines off. I have been doing this, and have written to our hopeless MP to get the bus companies to comply.
It might be time for some militant cycling - to persuade people not to drive into the city by Critical Mass...
Jon R