11,000 SIGNED HIGHWAY CODE PROTEST IN VAIN

THE government has ignored the 11,000 emails protesting at the proposed changes to the Highway Code, said the CTC, the national cyclists organisation last week.

The revised Highway Code will require cyclists ?to use cycle facilities...where provided?, unless it is overturned by the Commons or Lords in the next month. Many so-called cycle lanes are poorly designed and some expose the rider to more danger than on the road itself.

Not withstanding the government?s recent reassurance that ?The use of cycle lanes is not compulsory for cyclists?, the CTC fear that insurance companies will use the revised wording as an excuse to reduce compensation they pay if a motorist hits a cyclist. They may do this on the grounds that the rider had not used the adjacent ?facility? as advised by the Code.

The 11,000 email protest last year was described as ?brilliant? by Charlotte Atkins MP who said cyclists had had last punched their weight and protested loudly for their rights to the road.

Now it appears that the biggest protest in modern times has fallen on deaf ears.

It is too late to amend the Code at this stage, say the CTC, which is considering what political and legal avenues are available to them.