Thousands back Leicestershire's Mike Higgins in e-bid to make roads safer for cyclists
A cyclist who wants to make the roads safer for people on two wheels has gathered more than 6,000 signatures on a petition.
Mike Higgins, of Kibworth, was moved to do something for cyclists after the death of a fellow village resident who died last year after being hit by a vehicle while cycling in the countryside.
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"I heard about this man dying and he was also a father-of-two and about the same age as me and from Kibworth, with kids at the same school as mine," said Mike.
"That's what triggered me to do this. I thought, 'This could have been me. I've got to do something about this'."
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Mike, 43, logged on to the Government's e-petitions website and started a petition calling for everyone taking their driving test to be questioned about how they would safely overtake cyclists, and for more questions about cyclist safety in the written theory test.
Thanks to Twitter and help from a few high-profile sports personalities, it has taken just a week for the petition to get thousands of signatures.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the issue will be referred to the House of Commons, where a change to the law will be considered.
To help get his initiative off the ground, Mike, who has no social networking experience, set up a Twitter account and started sending messages to well-known cyclists.
Some of them, including former racing cyclist Chris Boardman and Lucy Hall, of Lutterworth, who competed in the triathlon at the London Olympics, re-tweeted his message and joined his campaign.
Mike said: "Chris Boardman is now pushing it and although I was a bit naive about e-petitions and was new to Twitter, it's really grown quickly.
"If we get to 100,000 that will be great, but, if we don't, it's still something for British Cycling to wave at the Government if it's 15,000 signatures.
"I've got a year to have the petition open and I'm a driven individual."
Martin Gibbs, British Cycling's policy and legal affairs director, said: "The more people who are aware of each other, respect and give each other space on the roads, the safer it will be for everyone.
"By ensuring cycling awareness is a mandatory part of the driving test is crucial to developing mutual respect on the roads. At the moment, people can take their test and cycling isn't even mentioned, so it's great to see this petition try to change that."
To sign the petition, search for "Mike Higgins" at:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk
Comments
by jonger
Monday, January 21 2013, 1:44PM
“There's a lot wrong with the current driving test in that driving instructors know the test routes and just teach their pupils how to drive that route correctly, they are learning the test not learning how to drive safely then being tested on their knowledge, once they have passed the test and set out on unfamiliar roads they have no idea about getting in the correct road position and indication at unfamiliar junctions, I see most days vehicles in totally the wrong lane for the direction they want to go who then block the junction turning across other lanes of traffic instead of being in the correct lane allowing other vehicles to pass them bye.”