my social production

A concept graphic I made some months ago for a new website and cyclists’ movement.

And here’s a chat log from James about it:

Ask people how many deaths are acceptable on the roads and they will always reply ‘none’. This is clearly untrue. Cars cause thousands of deaths per year and this is an accepted status quo, and considered worth it for the benefits of driving.

If we accept the fact that transport is ALWAYS a trade off between risk and reward, then the current road traffic laws define the acceptable risk - e.g. a car driving at 30 is considered acceptable in built up areas even though lives would be saved if the limit were 20.

So, the next step is to apply that accepted risk equally and fairly to all modes of transport - i.e. a bicycle should be allowed to do absolutely anything that constitutes less risk than a car obeying the current road laws.

Here’s a past post of mine about modifying the normal phasing of traffic lights to increase safety of cyclists and drivers, and an earlier rant about how red traffic lights should generally not apply cyclists. Here’s a quote from an article and a rant/reaction (a rantaction?) about cyclist-friendly infrastructure in Copenhagen. And finally a really good exchange on the London Cyclist blog about this very topic: What is your traffic light strategy?