What he calls tyranny, I call common sense. ‘Tyranny Of Reflective Vests 2013-04-21 Cycling To Work’ (c) 2013 Roland Tanglao. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Hello, my dears!
Well, it’s time for that kind of post we have to do from time to time - the one where we have a serious conversation, you know? Yes, yes, I know, my dears. But there are important issues that need to be addressed – and some of them concern you, too. So bear with me, okay? Who knows, at the end of the article, you may even be writing in to thank me for talking about this!
And what is ‘this’, you may ask? Well, today I would like to talk about road safety in courier jobs. Now, this may seem like a silly kind of topic that everyone who works this type of job should know about, but I’ve been seeing a lot of debate about it lately, not just in Britain but abroad as well.
Let me start by saying that I think officials paying attention to this kind of subject is a good thing. Nothing against any of my readers, you’re all absolute darlings, but it is a fact that the image people have of cyclists working courier jobs is of crazy teenagers dashing in and out of traffic and almost getting themselves killed. This may or may not be accurate, but I have to confess that I have seen it altogether too many times myself!
This is why I think it is important to not only come up with rules and enforce them, but also give couriers a bit of a road safety education. There are currently too many accidents involving reckless cyclists – and, in a turn of events that infuriated my good friend Bill from the Truck Stop, also inattentive lorry drivers – to justify these means, even if owner-drivers and those working courier jobs feel like they know it all already and are just being treated like children.
I was also very happy to see that some cities in the world have already started taking steps to make their couriers aware of the dangers of the road – not so much for them as for pedestrians, who are also often victims of speeding cyclists. In New York, for instance, they’re making shop owners give their couriers vests, bells and lights for their bikes, and they’re also reducing the speed limit in certain areas to prevent accidents. Well done! (In London, the measures they are proposing to take are more related to lorries, so I’ll let Bill discuss them rather than me.)
All in all, though, I think authorities have been doing a pretty good job of taking notice of bicycle delivery people and making sure they are safe on the course of their courier jobs. What about you? How important do you think these kinds of measures are in the grand scheme of things? Write in and – oh, I know! We’ll have a fan interaction thing next time! Won’t that be fun...!
Until then, stay safe. Ta-ra!
- Gertie
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