The Golden Path

I remember when I read about the first cars. A rule was imposed that required a person waving a red lag walking in front of the noisy stinking Automobile. Ridicules isn’t it? Stop and think, what is the number one killer nowadays? It’s road accidents. So they had a point. But being conservative, sticking to only what you know leads to absurdities and stagnation. Was the industrial revolution good or bad? Should have Britain embrace it or reject it? Should all slaves be freed? Should women get the vote? We take for granted change that previous generations foght tooth and nail for and against, predicting the end of the world and Utopia. I expect that in a few generations Genetic research will not be so controversial as it is today and the objectors would be regarded as outdated as those who could not fathom the radical idea that the earth is round or thought the Eifel Tower is a mistake. I expect that in a year or two people will not even remember that once we had to campaign for eight years to get a cycle path along Aylesbury Raod.
It takes a good dollop if intuition and open mindedness to judge whether a change or innovation is worth the risk it carries or even to guesstimate the relevant risks. We all take these risks, telling ourselves rightly or wrongly they are calculated. We get married, we take a mortgage, we drive a car, we change jobs, we replace the ruling party and so forth.
We are very bad judges of risk. We over exaggerate the odds when the result might be calamitous and underestimate when it is inconvenient. The probability of being injured in a terrorist attack is miniscule compared to the likelihood of being hit by a motor vehicle. What do you fear more? Where is more money spent?
So does a path shred by pedestrians and cyclists pose a mortal threat? A disaster waiting to happen? Yes, if you envision a Tour-de-France rally whizzing down, expecting the path to be pedestrian free. No if you are more realistic and expect the cyclists to be casual bicyclers, who respect others and ride responsibly.
So courteous and lawful behaviour is the key. A two prong approach is called for: education and enforcement. The ‘Get Wendover Cycling’ Group will help promote the former and I hope the Parish council will guide the PCSO’s to keep an eye out for the latter.
The picture is similar to the one published in the Bucks Herald. It was a really cold day and very windy but we came because showing support for cycling in Wendover in general, and to cycle paths in particular, is important to us. But cycling is not the aim. It is the mean towards several personal & environmental benefits. I will not insult your intelligence by listing them.

Wendover Train Station is not Accessible to All

The Wendover News editor was kind enough to place the folowing in the April edition:

If you ask for assistance to cross over to or from the far platform at our train station you will be told to travel to the next station up or down the line. Thus many are discouraged from using the train. This affects many potential commuters: wheel chair users, people with pushchairs or luggage, and cyclists. Many say they can walk (slowly) to the station but cannot negotiate the stairs. And for the fitter amongst us, a cycle friendly station will not only benefit Wendoverians but also encourage visitors to come with their cycles rather than their cars. In particular I have in mind the expected increase in visitors to Wendover Woods that worries the residence of Hale Lane who fear it would become congested. Chiltern Rail and Bucks County Council need to see there is a real demand for a solution such as a lift or a swivel bridge to justify the high expense associated. I would like to set up a campaign group dedicated to this issue. Please do consider volunteering to help. I prefer to be contacted through my email: eli_kling@hotmail.com. You may call 01296 696 017 or drop a note to Acer Corner, 10 Manor Road, Wendover HP22 6HQ.

Vote for Sustrans Win £50 million Lottery Fund

We want more cars on the road. Yes put wheel on streets now! That seems to be the prevailing mode in our vale. The new Princes Mary site development in Wendover will not have a bus link to the Wendover train station nor to the Tring station. There is not much effort going into ensuring that the new 9,000 or so units planed for Aylesbury will be accompanied with a growth in the local job market. And yes, you guessed it, no buses to train stations. Last week we heard the cost of travelling by train is going to rise again by much more than the past and predicted inflation (Who was the idiot who nationalized the trains in the first place?). A recent unbelievable letter to the editor of the Bucks Herald moaned about the bus lanes that are used by empty buses. This person never heard of the chicken and the egg – “Ignorant and lacking of Vision” he said in desperation. So people working to promote cycling sound to me like science fiction. Here is something that landed in my in box:

I’m writing to ask you to help sustainable transport charity Sustrans win £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund to invest in 79 communities UK-wide.

In this winner-takes-all contest Sustrans’ Connect2 project is up against 3 other organisations - the Eden Project : The Edge, Black Country Urban Park, and Sherwood: The Living Legend, with the winner to be decided by public vote over the coming weeks.

I'm supporting Sustrans’ Connect2 because it will transform local travel in towns, cities and villages throughout the UK. By building new bridges and crossings over busy roads, railways and rivers, and linking these into networks of paths, Connect2 will make it much easier for people to get where they want to go under their own steam. So whether children are going to school, people to work and the shops, or friends and family to visit each other, they’ll be able to walk or cycle for many more journeys.

As many as 6 million people live within a mile of a proposed Connect2 scheme, and 1 million children go to school within a mile of a scheme. It is calculated that over 60 million active, low carbon journeys will be made each year on the Connect2 routes, potentially saving 79,000 tonnes of carbon - the equivalent of emissions from 79,000 people's annual car use.

Vote now online for Sustrans' Connect2 at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk. We need your vote to win 50 million pounds for walking and cycling. Phone voting from landlines and mobiles begins on 7 December - please text 'Connect2' to 80010 or complete the form at www.sustransconnect2.org.uk if you would like to be sent the number to vote. All voting concludes at 12 noon on Monday 10th December.

Remember Sustans’ contribution is pivotal to projects such as the cycle path along Aylesbury road in Wendover and hopefully its next stage – the bridge over the Wendover Arm to the schools.