Edinburgh needs to deal with it’s road infrastructure. Too many people get hurt too often. It’s no secret that cycling is the cheapest, fastest and healthiest way to travel around the city we call home, and yet this is a town that poses a chronic threat to those on two wheels. Edinburgh city council has paid out more than £1.2 million to those injured whilst cycling since 2012 and with the new set of tram tracks nearing completion we can only expect the number of people injured to continue to rise.
Despite all of this, Edinburgh is one of the best places in the country to cycle and is home to some the best cycling infrastructure, segregated cycle lanes, earlier green lights for those of us on two wheels, boxes at the front of junctions for us (when cars don’t take that space from us). But it still isn’t good enough. It was only 6 years ago that a woman was tragically killed in traffic, when she fell off her bike, a fall believed to be caused by the tramlines in Edinburgh’s West End.
But it’s not just tramlines, only a few days ago the police were yet again appealing for witnesses after a car collided with a cyclist on the morning of January 26 on Ratcliffe Terrace, leaving him with multiple broken teeth and a head injury. Thankfully it seems like the cyclist is recovering well but it again proves that drivers in this town are often too convinced of their own self-importance: seeing cyclists as obstacles or impediments rather than fellow road users who also have a right to reach their destination safely and without harm. We mustn’t forget either, Ratcliffe Terrace is one of the busiest routes for students to take to and from King’s Buildings. The number of close calls that I and many others have had on this particular stretch of road, as drivers race down the hill to get through the green light as the cycle lane vanishes beneath a line of parked cars, and we are forced to squeeze back onto the road is far too many.
The psychological damage of this cannot be overstated either. A large number of those who do suffer collisions or falls due to drivers or Edinburgh’s shocking cycle infrastructure have reported a major reluctance to get back on their bikes, and some may never do so. Indeed many of those people who maybe could or would cycle have shared their concerns with me about cycling on the road. Citing fears of reckless or arrogant drivers as their chief reasons for avoiding what is quite simply a more convenient and more enjoyable way to travel.
Because here’s the thing: yes, cycling is good because it’s cheap, and yes, it’s good because it doesn’t release emissions, and yes, it’s good because it keeps you healthy. But it’s supposed to be fun as well. When I’m on my bike the world feels a little different. I’m calmer, I’m untouched by most of my worries, I’m focused on the two wheels beneath me and the road ahead of me, and nothing else matters. Until I’m suddenly dragged back down to earth by a driver hurling abuse at me, or close-passing me, or the cycle lane suddenly ending a few metres early because that van just had to park there and I need to ease my way back out into busy traffic, infuriating the drivers on the road and putting myself in harm’s way.
I suffered a fall myself in the last few weeks, Edinburgh City Council had decided that they had better priorities than putting grit down on the roads and as I took a corner onto a large, residential street my bike slid out from under me and I landed on my face. Now thankfully I wasn’t too badly hurt and my incident certainly ranks amongst some of the least significant bike accidents there are, but it is emblematic of this city’s approach to cyclists. We are all too often an afterthought – or not thought of at all.
Like I said at the start, we are making progress, and with pressure groups like critical mass and their monthly group cycles the council is beginning to see that more has to be done, but until everyone who wants to feels safe to cycle around our city, until we have made cycling accessible and welcoming to all, it won’t be enough. Ditching cars is one of the best ways we can make our own contributions to tackling climate change (95 per cent of which is caused by multinational corporations but they’re hardly going to do anything about it, other than try to pin the blame on us), but it also makes us healthier, happier and gives us a better appreciation for the places where we live and more freedom to travel when and where we want. How can that be a bad thing?
Image by Adam Losekoot.
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Edinburgh: A Cyclist’s Paradise?
Edinburgh needs to deal with it’s road infrastructure. Too many people get hurt too often. It’s no secret that cycling is the cheapest, fastest and healthiest way to travel around the city we call home, and yet this is a town that poses a chronic threat to those on two wheels. Edinburgh city council has paid out more than £1.2 million to those injured whilst cycling since 2012 and with the new set of tram tracks nearing completion we can only expect the number of people injured to continue to rise.
Despite all of this, Edinburgh is one of the best places in the country to cycle and is home to some the best cycling infrastructure, segregated cycle lanes, earlier green lights for those of us on two wheels, boxes at the front of junctions for us (when cars don’t take that space from us). But it still isn’t good enough. It was only 6 years ago that a woman was tragically killed in traffic, when she fell off her bike, a fall believed to be caused by the tramlines in Edinburgh’s West End.
But it’s not just tramlines, only a few days ago the police were yet again appealing for witnesses after a car collided with a cyclist on the morning of January 26 on Ratcliffe Terrace, leaving him with multiple broken teeth and a head injury. Thankfully it seems like the cyclist is recovering well but it again proves that drivers in this town are often too convinced of their own self-importance: seeing cyclists as obstacles or impediments rather than fellow road users who also have a right to reach their destination safely and without harm. We mustn’t forget either, Ratcliffe Terrace is one of the busiest routes for students to take to and from King’s Buildings. The number of close calls that I and many others have had on this particular stretch of road, as drivers race down the hill to get through the green light as the cycle lane vanishes beneath a line of parked cars, and we are forced to squeeze back onto the road is far too many.
The psychological damage of this cannot be overstated either. A large number of those who do suffer collisions or falls due to drivers or Edinburgh’s shocking cycle infrastructure have reported a major reluctance to get back on their bikes, and some may never do so. Indeed many of those people who maybe could or would cycle have shared their concerns with me about cycling on the road. Citing fears of reckless or arrogant drivers as their chief reasons for avoiding what is quite simply a more convenient and more enjoyable way to travel.
Because here’s the thing: yes, cycling is good because it’s cheap, and yes, it’s good because it doesn’t release emissions, and yes, it’s good because it keeps you healthy. But it’s supposed to be fun as well. When I’m on my bike the world feels a little different. I’m calmer, I’m untouched by most of my worries, I’m focused on the two wheels beneath me and the road ahead of me, and nothing else matters. Until I’m suddenly dragged back down to earth by a driver hurling abuse at me, or close-passing me, or the cycle lane suddenly ending a few metres early because that van just had to park there and I need to ease my way back out into busy traffic, infuriating the drivers on the road and putting myself in harm’s way.
I suffered a fall myself in the last few weeks, Edinburgh City Council had decided that they had better priorities than putting grit down on the roads and as I took a corner onto a large, residential street my bike slid out from under me and I landed on my face. Now thankfully I wasn’t too badly hurt and my incident certainly ranks amongst some of the least significant bike accidents there are, but it is emblematic of this city’s approach to cyclists. We are all too often an afterthought – or not thought of at all.
Like I said at the start, we are making progress, and with pressure groups like critical mass and their monthly group cycles the council is beginning to see that more has to be done, but until everyone who wants to feels safe to cycle around our city, until we have made cycling accessible and welcoming to all, it won’t be enough. Ditching cars is one of the best ways we can make our own contributions to tackling climate change (95 per cent of which is caused by multinational corporations but they’re hardly going to do anything about it, other than try to pin the blame on us), but it also makes us healthier, happier and gives us a better appreciation for the places where we live and more freedom to travel when and where we want. How can that be a bad thing?
Image by Adam Losekoot.
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