Birmingham by Bike – Change & Continuity along the Commute

Hi, John Monroe here. Just getting ready to uh make my way home from work and I wanted to make a few comments today on change and continuity on the commute on the ride home. Okay, heading out from campus. And the reason, the main initial reason for wanting to comment on what has changed and what has stayed the same on my commute is because of some proposed changes that are coming up uh on Haggley Road, which I will cross along the way. And maybe also because I’ve been doing this commute now for 6 years. So it’s always interesting to get a sense of what has happened over time and maybe also as a historian whose job is to try to keep an eye on change and continuity over time. Few reasons for for this comment here. So, the first thing that has changed in the years that I’ve done this commute is this new pedestrian crossing down to my left. Thank you. And some pedestrian corrals to keep uh pedestrians out of the way of drivers. And that crossing is off to the side of the junction I just went through. So, it’s a change in order to help people to cross the road, but it’s also very much things the same because they they put it there instead of uh instead of doing something to fix the dangerous junction I just went through. Also to my left, another change actually uh is uh a new car park that the university has built in recent years to encourage more people to arrive at campus by car. But maybe the most significant thing that’s stayed the same so far, the first couple minutes of this ride, is the parking, the car parking on the left lane of this uh of this road, Pett’s Road. So, it’s more important, it’s a higher priority that drivers have a that drivers have a place to park their car. over there than it is for people who are not in cars, people riding bikes to have safety when coming along this road. So, I can’t go on the left hand side of these cars because the parked cars on the left take up too much space. So, that could be a bike lane. That could be a change, but it’s not a change that’s happened. Thank you, Okay, so this section hasn’t changed. Uh unfortunately because it would be nice to see a protected bike lane here in this stretch of the road. But this stretch of the road tends to have a bit less traffic. So it’s not quite as bad as uh as that first part coming up that hill. But the fact that there’s not a lot of traffic here also has that other problem which is cars can go fast and some drivers do. And sometimes on this road you get passed really close by someone going really fast. So it’s uh it’s around quarter after 4 right now. 4:30 on a Friday. Traffic’s not too bad. So, another section here where we really need uh a protected lane cuz there’s always a line of cars here and it’s a bit tricky to get past them. Not too bad right now, but sometimes this section is hard to get through because of all the cars blocking the way. Okay, so got a bit of a hill here. Another dangerously designed stretch. Particularly dangerously designed stretch. And we’re going to see again, nothing’s changed here. I remember being shocked the first time I saw this road design. The first time I came down here as a pedestrian to my right here. This is an area where there’s schools. There’s no pedestrian crossing at all. And people just have to take their chances crossing there. But at the top of this hill, we’re going to see a place where the designs haven’t changed, but uh something something huge did change. As I come up around this corner, I always shudder a little bit because here, this extremely dangerous junction designed to put cyclists in danger achieved its result when a cyclist was killed right here last year, right at this spot. The change for that family is of course an unimaginable one. While at the same time, nothing has changed in terms of anything new happening at that junction, any redesign, even any voice of concern on the part of the people who have the power to change it. So just more frustrating blockages here. Not going to make this one. That’s okay. Yeah. I haven’t even heard any politicians and certainly no no public speaking road engineers or planners speaking about uh anything they’d like to see changed. Absolutely shameful that the local MPs, city councilors, etc. have not commented on wanting to see anything different happen at that junction where that person was killed. So it just remains the same. Though the change is one that that cyclists certainly certainly recognize and and pedestrians crossing too. That junction is atrocious for pedestrians and uh just makes it so unpleasant, so unsafe and so design. And it achieved this result. The design achieved the result that it’s kind of planned for in that cyclists are taking their life in their hands to to go through there because of what designers have uh road designers have put forward and what politicians have approved of. So here I’m waiting at Hegley Road. This is the one um another major thoroughfare. Hugely unpleasant uh barrier and and very dangerous to ride a bike along someone coming here who’ be riding on the on the sidewalk on the pavement for good reason. But there are some there is some there’s a consultation out uh that references potential changes uh maybe even a bit of a bike lane on that road. We shall see. Uh, it certainly desperately needs it. As does this one. As you can see, just little space to get through a lot of the times. So, I ride my bike quite a bit, so I’m used to it. But a pedestrian crossing here. Slow down. Okay. Um, so I’m used to it. But, you know, I would never let my kids ride this way. And for for most people, it’s just too too nerve-wracking. And who could blame them? It’s a pretty short commute. I have maybe 15 minutes max, probably less. Closer to 10 sometimes. I don’t even go that fast. But and I have to get past all the the cars that create the traffic that get in the way. But it’s not too far. But there’s usually a few moments of at least potential danger on the way. Okay. So, coming up to another spot where uh you’re crossing. Go ahead. No problem. Coming up to another spot over here where uh in the six years that I’ve lived here, this one was a few years before a cyclist was killed. here at this corner. Yet another cyclist in this short cycle ride home. I have two people, two killings. The other one right at this corner here where I’m turning right. And as you can see, nothing happened afterwards. No changes. Uh they have these sort of joke of a of a speed bump here. As you can see, for these SUVs, they don’t even make people slow down. And this is a street certainly wide enough at the same time where you can see these trucks parked here. More important for those trucks to sit there months and months and months on end than for people to be able to ride a bike safely down this street with a protected bike lane. And even at that corner where the cyclist was killed, they could very easily have put in some barriers. Uh there’s no need for cars to go around that corner at all. People could access their homes from this side. and they could access the homes on the other side going the other way. So for the family that was someone who I remember in the reading it in the paper or in the on the in the news the person had just retired and uh just riding their bike. Someone plowed into them and kept took off, kept going, led to no changes whatsoever. Okay, I’m almost home. One more dangerous right turn here. Uh there’s no crossings here either as my kids have to cross the road here to catch the bus, but that doesn’t mean that anyone’s going to put in a safe crossing. Always feel a little vulnerable in this spot right here while I wait to make this right turn. And sometimes you have to sit here for a long time. I think I might just go Okay. So, uh we’ll see if those changes happen on Haggley Road. Um could be something positive, but I think we’ve seen a lot of plans, a lot of talk, and really never any action. So the changes are devastating for the families who have to experience them and the continuities are revealing of the attitudes of people in power who uh as usual I guess feel that uh safety and dignity and getting around your city is only for people who own cars in Birmingham.