The attitude towards people like us can be seen in this line advising drivers:-
You might think you know the roads but every day new hazards appear; road works, pedestrians and cyclists so make sure you pay attention.
So the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership regard pedestrians and cyclists as "hazards" alongside roadworks. To them we are no different from traffic cones or holes in the road!
The whole approach is to push blame towards the victims and young drivers, rather than enforcing road traffic law and reducing traffic speed and levels.
Worst of all is the advice for "cyclists"
Remember that cycle lanes are there to help you and when you need to make sure you share the road.
Don’t go unseen make sure your wearing high visibility clothing and always wear a helmet.
Cycle lanes are there to help you? Not round here they aren't, most of the cycle lanes in Manchester are CRAP!
Many are even downright dangerous.
As for Hi-Viz and Helmets, they are both causes for concern and may actually be counterproductive. The case for Hi-Viz is demolished by the Road Danger Reduction Forum as yet more victim blaming, and the case against cycle helmets has always been clear, as collated by the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation.
Of course neither are a legal requirement on our roads and promoting either of them actually discourages people from cycling, with all the consequent health risks of inactivity.
This campaign is doing nothing to improve the safety on our roads. We desperately need better road traffic law enforcement in Greater Manchester. Every day I walk down Deansgate I see drivers openly flouting the law and endangering lives... Here a bus goes straight through a red, long after the other direction has gone green.
It is time to properly enforce road traffic law and take the dangerous drivers off the roads, not blame their victims.
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UPDATE
Following our complaints this page has now been reworded to remove some of the offensive language...
You might think you know the roads but every day new hazards appear; road works, pedestrians and cyclists so make sure you pay attention.
Has been replaced with
You may think you know the roads but are you prepared for change? Are there roadworks along your journey now? Are there any pedestrians in the road or waiting to cross? Is there a cyclist ahead? Give room! Slow Down! Be respectful. Share the road!
and
Remember that cycle lanes are there to help you and when you need to make sure you share the road.
Don’t go unseen make sure your wearing high visibility clothing and always wear a helmet.
has been updated to read
Remember that cycle lanes are there to help you and can be useful for your journey, please use them when safe to do so.
Don’t go unseen make sure your wearing high visibility clothing and always wear a helmet.
Which is no better, except that it acknowledges what we have known all along, that some of Greater Manchester's cycle lanes are actually dangerous.
For me the issue is one of enforcement, the police simply ignore wrong doing who ever is the culprit. I was at a party in Hulne park last Friday and six police men stood by and chatted whilat two vehicles parked on zig zags yards away until I told them to do something about it. The fact is you can be a shocking lazy policeman and get away with it for your entire thirty year career.
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