This is my response to the “it’s not a motorway” video that is doing the rounds:
“This video contains 14 happy people and one unhappy person. Even if that unhappy person had a legitimate complaint, that would still be an excellent outcome. “
Not if he had a legitimate complaint under the Equality Act, namely, that his rights to movement as a disabled person were compromised by this “motorway”.
It’s easy to see in the video that there is (a) a crossing area just behind and (b) that there are regular gaps in the cycle track which make crossing perfectly possible.
He would then need to show that, in trying to cross, he was more exposed by these “fast” cyclists than he would be elsewhere, or that he could not cross, because no cyclist yielded once he was doing so. I find this highly unlikely, given that he was recording this, and not actually trying to cross.
The Equality Act 2010 requires “reasonable adjustments”, and those same adjustments also include allowing for freedom of movement without being intimidated by motorised traffic. The current profile of the typical London cyclist – male, young adult and rarely physically disabled shows that we are still many moons away from providing the sort of safe environment in which mass utility cycling thrives.
That environment also enables people with adapted bikes to get around in comfort.
So please keep sharing this video. The cycle lane isn’t a motorway, so the more of them we have, the better off we all are.
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