I create another outrage on CCC

I've been known to cause some of the most active flurries of activity on the Camden Cycling Campaign mailing list with my inflamatory ideas. (My fave: proposing buying a Transit van and parking it on the street to store bikes in!)

Now, someone has sent a message to the group warning all of a sudden police presence in Primrose Hill. My response (predictably) was in support of that. I got a couple challenges right back, and here was my reply:

I know that many people don't agree with me on this one. But for me, it's all a slippery slope. I don't like people cycling on the narrow paths of Primrose Hill or on the bridges over Regents Canal because it's dangerous for pedestrians. And if I don't like that, I also can't like cycling down the Broad Walk.

Sure, you see lots of people cycling slowly and carefully, filtering through the dog walkers, old ladies, children, and pram-pushers - but it's hard to make a moral distinction between that and the less considerate who plow right through. For me, this also falls into the same quagmire as cycling on pavements, jumping lights, and going the wrong way down one-way streets. We can justify these all we want to ourselves, but in the end, it only helps to turn the tide of public opinion against us.

A surprising number of messages since this one have been supportive, which is very encouraging!