Welcome to Road Safety Wales
18/6/08
Denbighshire County Council is joining in the spirit of Bike Week (June 14 – 22) with a series of training activities for the county’s children.
Bike Week is an annual opportunity to promote cycling as a source of fitness and fun.
Denbighshire's Road Safety Team organises cycle training using the new National Standards www.ctsb.org.uk These replaced the old cycle proficiency, which many people will be familiar with, last September.
Over 500 young cyclists from 25 of the county's primary or junior schools have taken levels 1 and 2 training during this school year. This training continues throughout Bike Week at Clocaenog and Cyffylliog primary schools.
On Wednesday, June 18, Bryn Hedydd primary school, Rhyl, is holding a Cycle Fun Day for all the pupils, based on the national standards level 1 exercises and graded to suit each year group. This is being arranged by a parent, Barry Dunn, who is also an accredited instructor for the new training. Level 1 of the new standards is a series of off road control and manoeuvrability exercises designed to ensure that the cyclist is safe to proceed onto the level 2 training which takes place on quiet local roads. The level 3 standard trains cyclists to ride safely in the complexity of the modern road network and traffic conditions.
Cllr Eryl Williams, Lead Member for Environment and Sustainable Development, says, “It’s marvellous to see our young cyclists on their bikes wearing helmets and visibility vests and getting the real road training experience which could enable them to become regular riders as they get older.”
If you are interested in becoming an instructor, please contact Alan Hinchliffe Denbighshire's Road Safety Officer on 01824 706887.
16/6/08
Bike Week, a UK annual celebration of cycling runs from 14-22 June 2008.
Government-funded with support from the cycle industry, Bike Week aims to get more people cycling, more often. Any organisation or individual can become an event organiser and take advantage of the support provided during Bike Week, which includes free promotional material, inclusion on the bike week online database, and public liability insurance if required.
The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson marked the start of Bike Week 2008 by cycling into work this morning (Monday 16 June). Ms Davidson said:
I am very pleased to be helping to promote Bike Week and urge people throughout Wales to get out and cycle. I am also pleased that the Assembly is setting a good example by arranging our own events for staff during Bike Week.
She also outlined a number of Assembly Government Initiatives that are underway to encourage people throughout Wales to cycle:
- Walking and cycling Conference - In partnership with Sports Council for Wales, CCW and Sustrans Cymru, to help shape future actions in the promotion of Walking and Cycling on 25 June, now fully booked.
- Introduction of the National Standards in Cycle Training to Wales. Undertaken by CTC Charitable Trust and funded by Welsh Assembly Government, to significantly increase the number of qualified instructors to provide more children with high quality cycle training.
- Bike It Projects - Sustrans Cymru will receive funding for 2 pilot ‘Bike It’ projects that aim to get more school children cycling to school.
- Sustainable cycle tourism and accommodation: Working with Visit Wales to improve provision of accommodation information alongside the National Cycle Routes in Wales, to enable the public to search for accommodation that is close to the National cycle Routes in the same way that can be done for national Walking Trails.
- Olympics 2012 Legacy Action Plan – Officials are in touch with Sports colleagues and the Welsh Assembly Government 2012 Olympics team about promoting mountain bike venues in Wales for training purposes by teams participating in the Olympics.
Ms Davidson added:
If more people walk and cycle across Wales it will help reduce their dependence on the car, and contribute to cutting CO2 emissions which are causing climate change. We all need to reduce our carbon footprint, and cycling can help to make a real difference. With the cost of motoring on the rise, cycling is a cheap, healthy, and sustainable means of transport.
Website: Bike Week 2008.
28/4/08
Forty local Bobbies have got in the saddle to help beat crime and anti social behaviour in Swansea. The South Wales Police Officers have all taken part in special cycle training with Swansea Council's Road Safety Team in a bid to help them get on their bikes while on the beat.
Sgt Phil Davies of South Wales Police Communities and Partnership Team says the opportunity to put officers on a bike when they are out on patrol means they can create better links with communities.
He said, "Having our local patrols out on bikes instead of in cars makes the officers much more accessible to residents in our communities. The training has enabled them to do this safely."
The Council has also enlisted the help of some of the police officers to boost their training of cycle safety to school children in Swansea schools. This has meant that more children have been provided with vital cycle safety training than ever before. New figures have shown that there has been more than an 11 percent increase in the number of schools who received training in 2007/2008.
Clive John, Swansea Council's Cycle Road Safety Officer said, "We have over 80 primary schools in Swansea which we aim to get around.
"Training the Police to go into schools and provide this vital safety knowledge to schoolchildren has enabled us to visit more schools than we did the previous year. The increase means 1,259 ten and eleven year olds can now ride their bikes with safety in mind when out on the streets of Swansea."
Sgt Davies added, "It's important that we work with local authorities to pass on road safety to schoolchildren. I'm delighted we have been able to make a difference."
13/12/07
A scheme which will improve cycling and walking routes across Wales is part of a winning bid for £50m from the Big Lottery Fund. It follows a massive telephone and internet vote by the public backing the Connect2 scheme put forward by the charity Sustrans.
The money will be spent on at least ten routes created across Wales, building bridges and crossing points. The Sustrans bid beat off three other schemes in the public vote.
The winning Connect2 scheme includes a long-awaited pedestrian bridge between Cardiff and Penarth, two bridges over the River Wye at Monmouth and Tintern, a link between Newport and Caerleon, and, in north Wales, a bridge linking Rhyl and Kimnel Bay. Altogether, 79 towns and cities across the UK will benefit.
Sustrans' founder John Grimshaw described the announcement as "fantastic". "To say I am delighted is such an understatement," he said.
"It is fantastic for the 79 communities and many other partners and local authorities across the UK with whom we have been working for the last two years. Ultimately the real winners will be those millions of people who will now be able to Connect2 their shops, schools and workplaces and each other every day."
The Sustrans bid beat off competition from the Eden project, Sherwood forest and the Black Country urban park. Also included in the winning bid for Wales are a riverside route for Carmarthen linking it to Johnstown, a pedestrian link between the University of Glamorgan sites at Treforest into the town of Pontypridd, a new route on the Afon Tawe bridge at Clydach, and new foot and cycle paths at Cwmafan and Afan Forest park for Port Talbot.
The bid will also see a path following the route of the world's first steam train to run successfully on rails, with the Trevithick Tail at Merthyr Tydfil's Penydarren tramway.
Sir Clive Booth, chair of the Big Lottery Fund which distributes lottery grant money, said Sustrans had won nearly half of all the votes cast in the competition broadcast by ITV.
"It really won hands-down. What did it was that public support was terrific," he said.
"Given there were four projects, getting half the vote was a big achievement. I think it has captured people's imaginations because it is going to affect their lives right across the UK."
Visit the Sustrans website
23/11/07
Twelve North Walian cycling enthusiasts from a variety of backgrounds recently successfully completed a four-day training course as part of their accreditation process to becoming National Standards Cycle Instructors.
The course held at Denbigh Rugby Club and organised by Cycle Experience www.cycleexperience.com was funded by a number of North Wales authorities in readiness for the gradual implementation of National Standards Cycle Training in schools and other organisations.
4/6/07
Bike Week includes the Bike2Work promotion that encourages car owners to try commuting by bike, especially for journeys of up to five miles in busy urban areas, when cycling can be faster than any other mode of transport. Cycling for just half an hour every day can provide enough aerobic exercise to make a real difference to your zest for life!
Bike Week is intended to promote all kinds of free cycling activities for cyclists of all abilities and ages with the overall intention of encouraging 'more people to cycle, more often'. Most events are free to enter and many were suitable for novices, in all some 1,717 local events attracted an estimated 261,226 participants in 2006.
Bike Week has two major effects in that it can help the green initiatives by reducing the amount of exhaust emissions from the motorised transport normally used, as well as helping the participant’s fitness.
Whether you want to organise, promote or participate in a Bike Week or Bike2Work event, visit the Bike Week website.
