Reckless cycling puts pedestrians at risk - Cllr Neil Sandison

Councillor Neil Sandison, who represents the Liberal Democrats in Eastlands Ward and is Chair of Rugby Borough Council's Public Space Protection Orders Task Group, has written to the local papers about cycling in Rugby.

Dear Editor,

Cycling has featured prominently in the local press in recent weeks. One of the proposed modifications in the Local Plan is to encourage more provision of off road cycling for access to community facilities like secondary schools and to improve cycle user safety as our roads become more congested with increased housing development. The need for modal shift away from the car to cycling and other forms of public transport will also help reduce toxic emissions like NOX and SOX, which impair our breathing conditions.

But we must also discourage and be prepared to penalise bad or reckless cycling that puts others at risk. Like many of your readers I have witnessed very bad cycling on our pavements and in our town centre. One recent incident I witnessed was a group of young men cycling in and out of pedestrians on North Street. One of their number decided to go through the gap between a parked bus and the stand passengers were alighting from. If a blind or physically impaired person was trying to get on or off the bus at that time they would have been seriously injured or the cyclist trying to avoid them would have ended up under the bus.

This is why the police are right to crack down on reckless cycling and we as a Council Task Group are recommending tighter controls on Council and Highway managed open spaces like the pedestrian areas in the town centre. We welcome cyclists to enjoy our town centre but not to ride recklessly where they may cause serious injury to unsuspecting pedestrians who also use the same space.

Yours sincerley,

Cllr Neil Sandison

Eastlands Ward

Chair Public Space Protection Orders Task Group