News / Transport
Labour councillor says he has ‘no issue with responsible cyclists’
The Labour councillor who branded Bristol Cycling Campaign “arrogant and dismissive” has said that he has “no issue with responsible cyclists”.
Fabian Breckels said that his “concerns about how one lobby group come across does not make me against cycling”.
In a letter to Heather Mack, the leader of Bristol’s Green group of councillors, Breckels said that “a balance needs to be struck between conflicting travel needs and limited road space. Cycling is part of the solution, but it is not the be all and end all as we decarbonise how people get around our city.”
is needed now More than ever
Fabian Breckel has served as a councillor since 2007 – photo: Labour Party
The councillor for St George Troopers Hill ward said that he is “all for sensible infrastructure to make cycling and walking safer for all and have the proof. I am also fully supporting the Liveable Neighbourhoods pilot which will also make walking and cycling safer in our neck of the woods.”
Breckels’ letter said that “a few years back I had to deal with a cyclist objecting to a pedestrian crossing being installed on a busy road, because it would inconvenience him when he cycled through. My trying to save pedestrians from taking their life in their hands just to cross the road didn’t seem to matter to him.”
He said that his partner “was nearly knocked down by a cyclist in Broadmead when coming out of her bank in broad daylight” and he has “become wary of cyclists in shared spaces because I have had to get out of the way of cyclists who are oblivious to my existence as a pedestrian far too often”.
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He added: “A friend and her 70-year-old mother were knocked down in Bristol by a cyclist who then sped off. She raised the incident with the Cycling Campaign and got a whole lot of grief for it. In space shared with pedestrians some cyclists really need to slow down.”
Breckels also said that he has “been on packed buses that have been slowed down by solitary cyclists in bus lanes oblivious to the people they are holding up and witnessed cyclists jumping red lights more than I care to remember”.
“I do appreciate the sensible ones who stop, but if a number of cyclists stop at a red light it only takes one deciding to ignore it to put a pedestrian in hospital.”
A typical cycle path in Bristol that is safer for cyclists not to use so as not to come into conflict with pedestrians – photo: Martin Booth
Breckels’ comments have been criticised by Mack who said that his response is “to double down on the ‘dangers’ and ignore evidence of the greater harm caused by cars”.
Mack’s fellow Green Party councillor, Ed Plowden, said that most of Breckels’ letter “is an argument in favour of good, segregated infrastructure, exactly what (Bristol Cycling Campaign’s) petition was about. Good infrastructure breeds good behaviour.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Labour councillor calls Cycling Campaign ‘arrogant and dismissive’
- ‘We need a total overhaul in approach to cycling in Bristol’
- Building an underground railway will make cycling in Bristol safer
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