BOJO ducks when " STOP KILLING CYCLISTS " seek ANSWERS !

Thanks to " StopKillingCyclists Action Group "

BOJO

has had to respond by Emailed letter to the NEEDS of London Cyclists !  Whilst the origin of this Email / letter was a Lady , Charlotte Cox , writing on her OWN Behalf , the activities of this GROUP has made it clear that his efforts to date , FAIL !

During the 2008 to 2012 period , more than 15500 Casualties were created in the LONDON , that he has a responsibility to LEAD ! The email/ letter returned to " Charlotte Cox " , reads like a " SMOKE SCREEN ", that would fool a child of 5yo . Certainly in HIS period of office , a 5yo was a Death on London Roads ! No doubt a minion in his administration was responsible for putting together this " Help me get to keep my job " effort ?

Please note that the content of the email / letter is removed from the " Stop Killing Cyclists " facebook page , the additions as we go through the paragraphs , are MY additions and i will add comments from others that are to the point !

Dear Sir/Madam

      No effort to read the letter carefully , or seek out the writer's gender ?

Thank you for writing to me. I share your deep concern about cycle safety in London. That is why I am spending almost £1 billion to provide for cycling, including two fully-segregated superhighways through the heart of central London, remodelling dozens of the most dangerous junctions, and a network of back-street “quietway” routes.

     Recent Media reports of underspending of allocated funds suggest otherwise :


It is why I have promised to upgrade all the existing superhighway routes, with fully or semi-segregated cycle lanes, and to complete all new superhighways to the same standards.

    Splashing around buckets of paint which failed to save the lives of several cyclists , resulting in            BoJo   "Victim Blaming "!


It is why I have plans to turn a number of outer London boroughs into “mini-Hollands”, with large amounts of money spent in relatively small areas to achieve dramatic and transformational pro-cycling change.

       Let's not ALL yawn at once !


It is why I have announced that I intend to impose a substantial and deterrent daily charge on any lorry which is not fitted with basic safety equipment, and why I am also studying time or place-specific lorry bans.

       Found a new way of raising FUNDS , have we ?


It is why I am using my planning powers to ensure that all new major developments and road schemes are cycle-friendly.

       Read the " London Cyclist Blog recently ? 


It is why I am paying for free cycle training for any Londoner, adult or child, who wants it; it is why I have appointed a cycling commissioner, making cycling the only transport mode to have its own dedicated representative in my senior staff; and it is why I am recruiting almost 130 extra staff to Transport for London to help deliver my cycling programme.

      Promises , Promises !


This is a massive programme of change, which dovetails very closely with what cyclists have been demanding, and I share your impatience to see it delivered. But at the same time, I have promised that we will do it properly, and that cannot happen overnight. If we made changes without working out what to do with the buses, the traffic, deliveries, parking and pedestrians, then we would risk repeating some of the problems of the past.

      BoJo , you HAVE NOT LISTENED to YOUR OWN STAFF , so why should we believe this ?

Nor will I make rushed changes in response to a tragedy which could inadvertently make things more dangerous for cyclists or other vulnerable groups, such as pedestrians – who get a great deal less media attention than cyclists, but are just as important to me. And I own only five per cent of London’s roads; on the others, I can proceed only with the agreement of their owners, usually the London boroughs. But real physical change has already started; our first fully-segregated cycle superhighway was opened in November last year.

      How many of the " Victims " you blamed for THEIR OWN Demise , occured in YOUR AREA ?

My heart goes out to the victims of these awful accidents and their families and I will do my utmost to learn the lessons from their tragic deaths. But in order to learn the right lessons, it is imperative that we establish the facts of what happened, and avoid jumping to conclusions before we have done so. We should not, for instance, automatically conclude (as so many have) that all or most of these deaths are the fault of the road design. Nor should we automatically assume (as many others have) that they were caused by bad or careless behaviour by the cyclists themselves.



      Having Coroners remind you of YOUR Responsibilities for earlier Deaths , is as GOOD Excuse for             doing NOTHING


It is my responsibility, and the responsibility of the London boroughs, to provide safer roads for cycling. But, as I have also said, all users of those roads must also take responsibility for using them safely. There is no solution any traffic engineer can devise which will remove that individual responsibility or completely end accidents and deaths.

       FIRST thing YOU have said , that i could agree with !


It is also, I believe, important to separate what are clearly particular problems in particular places, such as Bow roundabout, from the general picture, which is more encouraging. In 2002 there were 110 million cycle trips in London, of which 20 ended in death. In 2012, there were 180 million cycle trips in London, of which 14 ended in death. Over the last ten years, the cyclist death rate per journey in London has more than halved. Despite the terrible recent events, the number of deaths in London last year, 14, is the same for the whole of 2012.

       Don't think that 14 Deaths in 2013 , is an achievement ! " Vision ZERO " as in Portland , Oregon ,                multi years is an achievement !


I entirely understand why the recent horrific events have obscured these facts. But I am concerned that the all-consuming media and political focus on individual deaths may in fact harm, not help, the cause of cycling in London - by scaring away potential cyclists, and by giving succour to those who say that I and my successors should not encourage cycling as it is, in their view, unsafe.


       Thanks to Social Media , we , the Public are LESS EASILY FOOLED !

I am glad to say that I completely disagree with that group of people. I can assure you that cycling is, and will remain, at the heart of my administration. It is, and will remain, one of my highest priorities. These terrible events will only reinforce my determination to make things better for cyclists in London.

       Political expedience dictates your views ! No doubt being Mayor of London , will fill the time              until your  Ambitions of Prime Minister of UK , are close to realisation  ?


Thank you again for your concern.



Yours sincerely

        Was there any Sincerity