THINK! cyclist campaign launch
Transcript
Well I’m here this morning to help launch the department’s campaign on cycle safety. It’s a THINK! campaign, because over the past 4 years we’ve seen more and more people quite rightly wanting to get on their bikes and get cycling. And unfortunately we have seen a rise also in people injured in accidents.
And what I’m doing today (10 September 2012) is launching a campaign, which says to people, drivers and cyclists, are not 2 different beings, not 2 different worlds. Most people, a lot of people, who cycle drive, a lot of people who drive cycle as well. What I’m saying to them is think about some of the very basic things you could do that would increase the safety on the roads for everyone.
If you’re a driver for instance, first of all make sure when you turn left you look, make sure you’re signalling is done nice and early as possible, so people have that clear intent. When you coming to traffic lights, observe the space in front of you for cyclists, so that their visibility is increased.
And when you’re a cyclist, look out for what cars are doing, but also make sure it’s clear if you, as you’re going to undertake that there’s good width between you and the car. I’m asking car drivers to also look at the distance between it and the cyclist.
After the Olympics and after the Paralympics, I think we’re going to see, already people are saying to me they want to get out and cycle. We’ve seen people report that there are more people out there cycling. And I think after that success, more and more people are going to be cycling and I wanted to launch this campaign as soon as we could after the Olympics to make sure that capturing all the success, more people wanting to cycle, that they cycle safely.