Road Wars

Pedal Power In Edinburgh

Squall 12, Spring 1996, pg. 37.

Cyclists in Edinburgh are up in arms over the City Council’s recent decision to introduce on-the-spot £20 fines for cycling misdemeanours.

According to Duncan Forbes, one of the coordinators of Edinburgh’s Critical Mass cyclists’ campaign: "It shows a deep complicity with car culture that cyclists should be fined on the spot when people who park cars in cycle lanes get away with it."

Cyclists also claim the council are ignoring the fact that most accidents are caused by motorists - "the real pirates of the road". In 1994 five cyclists died in Scotland and 1,379 were injured in accidents mostly caused by cars.

In January, 70 Critical Mass cyclists defied council apathy and repainted some of Edinburgh’s cycle lanes. The following month they placed protest fines on vehicles parked in these cycle lanes. Although previously operating an information telephone line, they claim to have faced harassment from police and now just advertise their Critical Mass meeting point at The Mound on the last Friday of each month at 5.30pm.