Oh yes, exciting! and quite refreshing to know that the momentum is ever increasing on the debate on cycling uptake in Britain. The recent general debate on cycling at Westminster Hall on 23rd Feb. 2012 coupled with several other discussions such as Newcastle Cycling Campaigner Katja Leyendecker's excellent talk on Transport Challenges, "Cyclist in the City" blogger Danny Williams' discussion on BBC Radio 4, among others have generated more awareness among UK residents. Ofcourse increasing research outputs from my PhD research on urban cycling in North East England are also contributing!
Nationally, and quite interestingly, the early day motion 679 - GET BRITAIN CYCLING - tabled two months ago, on 05.11.2012, in UK Parliament with 123 signatures has made it even more interesting, at least to me, to want to hear the upcoming (tomorrow 23rd January 2013!) oral evidence inquiry on same theme being championed by the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG). Clearly this is timely and exciting!
As tradition demands, academics will have to wait till mid-April for the report to be published. The report is to be written by no other person than the distinguished Professor of Transport Policy - Professor Phil Goodwin who's surname is just like mine but with an injected letter "o" somewhere. Whiles waiting, I am of the view that my phd research will contribute to some of the listed topics to be investigated such as: Data collection – including monitoring and review; Dangerous roads & junctions – including cycle routes, priority lights; Planning and urban design – cycling as part of transport/planning decisions; Public transport-bicycle integration; and, 20mph and default speed limits. My PhD research has for the
first time facilitated the collection and analysis of detailed bicyclists’
route choices in the UK, bringing substantive empirical evidence for
understanding daily cycling behaviours.
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