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The Get Britain Cycling inquiry started last week and continues tomorrow, with a further four more sessions planned, ending on 6th March. MPs – and at least one peer – from the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group will listen to road safety experts for two hours tomorrow, starting at 9.30am.
The bike-friendly parliamentarians will be asking questions about speed limits, driver behaviour, cycle training, liability, cycle theft and the role of the courts and police. Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association (and a folding bike rider and Whyte MTB weekend warrior) will be joined by Neil Greig of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and Karen Dee of the Freight Transport Association. Dee will be pushed on how to stop lorries killing cyclists. Greig may be quizzed on IAM’s duff red light running survey which is now wheeled out by cyclist-hating journos and trolls on a regular basis. King may point out that the AA was ahead of its time: at a similar parliamentary inquiry in 1938 one of King’s predecessors showed a panel of peers plans for a UK safe cycling network which had underpasses and other bike path features the like of which only started to become commonplace in the Netherlands from the 1970s.
British Cycling’s Martin Gibbs and CTC’s Chris Peck will put the point of view of UK cyclists, and Jenny Mindell from the Transport & Health Study Group will stress the health benefits of cycling. How to make Britain’s roads safer will be discussed by Amy Aeron-Thomas of RoadPeace; David Davies of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety; barrister Martin Porter QC; Martin Jones of the Ministry of Justice; and Chief Inspector Ian Vincent of the Metropolitan Police. MPs – and Lord Hoffman – will quiz these experts on the often lax sentencing of killer drivers.
Future inquiry sessions will be looking at planning and design; active lifestyles; and what the Government can do to help cycling.
Before the inquiry finishes it’s widely expected the prime minister and deputy prime mister will announce new cash for cycling and a more ‘joined-up’ approach to cycling from across Government departments. The new cash and emphasis is expected to have all-party support.
