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Belgian TV show takes politicians on a bike ride - then confronts them with 500 relatives of cyclists killed through poor infrastructure Make Belgium Great Again.PNG

Belgian TV show takes politicians on a bike ride - then confronts them with 500 relatives of cyclists killed through poor infrastructure

The programme Make Belgium Great Again is calling on people to get on their bikes to call for safer infrastructure
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Oct 28, 2019 23:03
11

Producers of a Belgian TV show that invited politicians on a bike ride as part of a discussion about how to make roads safer for cyclists had a surprise waiting for their guests – the show had gathered 500 relatives of people killed in road traffic collisions while riding their bikes.

The Brussels Times reports that the segment was included in the programme Make Belgium Great Again, which identifies problems within the country and tries to find solutions to them.

In the show which aired yesterday evening five politicians – each a senior figure from one of the main five political parties in Flanders – were taken on what they were told would be a “pleasant bike ride on a nice summer evening.”

Instead, the bike ride took in what have become known as 'moordstrookje' – chosen last year by dictionary publishers Van Dale as the Belgian/Flemish Word of the Year 2018 – and which translates as ‘murder strips’.

The term is defined as a painted bicycle lane on a dangerous street next to fast-moving cars, with such infrastructure often ending abruptly, forcing cyclists onto the main carriageway.

Following the bike ride, the show’s producers surprised the politicians with the group of 500 relatives of cyclists who had died as a result of such poor infrastructure.

All were wearing white t-shirts, many showing their relationship with the victim such as ‘mijn zoon’, ‘mijn dochter’, ‘mijn broer’ (‘my son’, ‘my daughter’, ‘my brother’). The victims themselves were represented by white ghost bikes.

Ellen Vanhove, who heads the programme’s editorial team, told the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, which has video from the programme: “We did not just want to make the umpteenth item about cyclists and traffic safety, we wanted to make an actual impact.

“In the end, we opted for this scenario. The politicians involved were not all equally happy about it, but the creases have been smoothened out now.”

She added: “We did not want to make it a policy discussion. The important thing is traffic safety here.”

One of the politicians, Ben Weyts of the New Flemish Alliance who until earlier this year was Minister of Mobility and Public Works, Brussels Periphery, Tourism and Animal Welfare in the Flemish government, said: “This hits hard. This always hits hard. I know that we are supposed to be able to solve it all. But sometimes I feel pretty powerless.

“There was a kind of auction at the last elections about the budget for traffic safety,” he continued. “Some people want €200 million, others €300 million. That is a good thing, but the problem will not be solved with money alone.”

Another of the programme’s guests, Alexander De Croo of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats party, who is currently Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Finance and Development Cooperation admitted after meeting the bereaved families that he would not let his children cycle to school on their own.

The segment ended by calling on people across Flanders to get on their bikes this coming Friday 1 November to call for €500 million a year for safer infrastructure, saying: “By taking to the streets together, we hope to demonstrate the importance we attach to safer bicycle traffic in our country.”

Belgium
Flanders
Make Belgium Great Again
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
1 like

According to TheRantyHighwayman, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges has only just been changed, setting design standards, only for Highways England and their regional equivalents though-

"The Manual used to be commended to local authorities, but that's no longer the case, but nothing stops anyone using it as a reference and for a roads scheme not being promoted by one of the four owners of the Manual,"

https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-design-manual-for-ro...

Avatar
ROOTminus1 | 5 years ago
7 likes

I've said it before and I will say it again and again:

Councils who implement infrastructure designs known to be fatal should be liable for corporate manslaughter charges on each and every instance of death it causes, with the full penalties associated with that charge levelled; custodial sentences for the responsible management and fines into the £millions for the corporate body.

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to ROOTminus1 | 5 years ago
4 likes
ROOTminus1 wrote:

I've said it before and I will say it again and again:

Councils who implement infrastructure designs known to be fatal should be liable for corporate manslaughter charges on each and every instance of death it causes, with the full penalties associated with that charge levelled; custodial sentences for the responsible management and fines into the £millions for the corporate body.

Exactly. Why is putting cycle lanes in a door-zone treated any differently from putting a 'this way to the gift shop' sign on a door to the lion-enclosure at the zoo?

Avatar
dobbo996 | 5 years ago
5 likes

My local authority, the Vale of Glamorgan, is currently carrying out works to the primary access route in and out of my home town, Penarth. They are promoting this work as an active travel scheme and using section 106 money to fund it.

During the initial consultation, two years' back, I told them the scheme was a barely disguised road improvement scheme with some poorly designed active travel elements bolted on in order to justify using 'community money'. It's a road improvement scheme to benefit drivers, pure and simple. They're now going ahead with the scheme, shovels in the ground, and it's as bad as I feared it would be - making a section of pavement narrower to ease traffic flow and painting two narrow cycle lanes that run for about 50 metres then stop, linking up to nothing at either end. Worse, the road is narrow with parked cars on one side and the completely unprotected cycle lane will disappear under the wheels of the moving cars.

It's a classic 'murder strip' that belongs in the 1970s.    

Avatar
iandusud replied to dobbo996 | 5 years ago
6 likes

dobbo996 wrote:

My local authority, the Vale of Glamorgan, is currently carrying out works to the primary access route in and out of my home town, Penarth. They are promoting this work as an active travel scheme and using section 106 money to fund it.

During the initial consultation, two years' back, I told them the scheme was a barely disguised road improvement scheme with some poorly designed active travel elements bolted on in order to justify using 'community money'. It's a road improvement scheme to benefit drivers, pure and simple. They're now going ahead with the scheme, shovels in the ground, and it's as bad as I feared it would be - making a section of pavement narrower to ease traffic flow and painting two narrow cycle lanes that run for about 50 metres then stop, linking up to nothing at either end. Worse, the road is narrow with parked cars on one side and the completely unprotected cycle lane will disappear under the wheels of the moving cars.

It's a classic 'murder strip' that belongs in the 1970s.    

I have to say that as I read the above my blood was boiling. Until we have national guide lines for cycling infrastructure local authorities can call anything they like cycling infrastructure, and it often puts cyclists at more risk than ever. 

Avatar
burtthebike replied to dobbo996 | 5 years ago
0 likes

dobbo996 wrote:

My local authority, the Vale of Glamorgan, is currently carrying out works to the primary access route in and out of my home town, Penarth. They are promoting this work as an active travel scheme and using section 106 money to fund it.

During the initial consultation, two years' back, I told them the scheme was a barely disguised road improvement scheme with some poorly designed active travel elements bolted on in order to justify using 'community money'. It's a road improvement scheme to benefit drivers, pure and simple. They're now going ahead with the scheme, shovels in the ground, and it's as bad as I feared it would be - making a section of pavement narrower to ease traffic flow and painting two narrow cycle lanes that run for about 50 metres then stop, linking up to nothing at either end. Worse, the road is narrow with parked cars on one side and the completely unprotected cycle lane will disappear under the wheels of the moving cars.

It's a classic 'murder strip' that belongs in the 1970s.    

Have you tried using the Welsh Active Travel act, and getting your MP and the Welsh Assembly involved, pointing out the misuse of funds for active travel?

Avatar
Joe Totale | 5 years ago
9 likes

Having cycled round Belgium it's infrastructure is about 100 times better than back here in the UK. 

At least Boris and Corbyn have some knowledge of cycling in London. Given that all MP's have a home in London to attend parliament, they should all be made to cycle to and from the Houses of Parliament. 

 

Avatar
RobD replied to Joe Totale | 5 years ago
7 likes

Joe Totale wrote:

Having cycled round Belgium it's infrastructure is about 100 times better than back here in the UK. 

At least Boris and Corbyn have some knowledge of cycling in London. Given that all MP's have a home in London to attend parliament, they should all be made to cycle to and from the Houses of Parliament. 

I think anyone who is involved in the design or sign off of any cycling infrastructure should have to cycle along it once a month during rush hour for the first year it's implemented.

My argument would always be (and is summed up by one of the ministers) If you wouldn't let your children cycle along it, why did you build it like that? Every new piece of cycling infrastructure should be suitable for use by all, no excuses. If it's not suitable for a child to use safely then it's not being done right.

Avatar
alchemilla | 5 years ago
16 likes

This needs doing here.

Avatar
burtthebike replied to alchemilla | 5 years ago
11 likes

alchemilla wrote:

This needs doing here.

You're so right, except that Boris and Jacob would hijack it, tell us how much they want to spend on cycling if only the EU would let them, and then blame Corbyn.  Which is the problem with a general election as everthing would be susumed by Brexit.  We have to have a referendum to settle Brexit, then an election on the issues.

Avatar
pastyfacepaddy replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

alchemilla wrote:

This needs doing here.

You're so right, except that Boris and Jacob would hijack it, tell us how much they want to spend on cycling if only the EU would let them, and then blame Corbyn.  Which is the problem with a general election as everthing would be susumed by Brexit.  We have to have a referendum to settle Brexit, then an election on the issues.

 

Yawn.

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