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Olympic great Boardman: We must rethink roads so that riders feel safe
Mark Prigg06.01.09
THE mastermind of Britain's cycling gold medal haul today called for a complete overhaul of London's roads.
Chris Boardman told the Evening Standard he wants to see roads transformed to make them safe for cyclists.
And the Olympic star said he would be happy to advise Mayor Boris Johnson.
Boardman, 40, said: "In order to make cycling in London viable Boris Johnson really needs to make some ballsy decisions, and now is the time to do it.
"At the moment cars have priority and that has to change." Boardman has proposed re-painting road markings to give cyclists more room and giving them two-way access on one-way roads.
Kensington and Chelsea council is already testing a scheme for cyclists to be exempt from one-way road restrictions after hundreds of cyclists were found to be flouting the rules. Boardman wants to see an expansion of this kind of scheme across London.
He said: "People just do not feel safe on the roads. We need to completely rethink the allocation of road space, and it is more than making cycle lanes wider.
"I would absolutely love to speak to Boris Johnson about this. I think he has to make his move now." A spokesperson for Mr Johnson said: "The Mayor shares Chris Boardman's passion for cycling [and] has committed £55million to be spent on cycling commitments."
Campaigners backed Boardman's plan. "There is an awful lot more the Mayor could to do improve cycling," said Tom Bogdanowicz, of the London Cycling Campaign.
The calls come after the launch last year of the Standard's Safer Cycling campaign.
Boardman is considered one of Britain's greatest cyclists, having won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics and broken the world hour record three times. He has since retired from competition and is a technical adviser to the British Olympics cycling team, which won 14 medals, including eight gold, in Beijing.
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