Southgate Cycling Club

Neville Chanin RIP

Unabrided News Article from the CTC Newsletter (e-mail, Friday 23 April 2010)

Neville Chanin, mile-eater, super-tourist, Audax enthusiast and legend of the cross toast at many CTC dinners, sadly passed away in his sleep last Friday. He was staying at a B&B in Winchester at the time, on his way home from a tour abroad, which for many of us seems the way he should be remembered.

CTC Chief Executive Kevin Mayne said: “One of my fondest memories of Neville is being with him when he clocked up his 500,000th cycling mile. He was one of our great characters and will be widely missed.”

Petition the Prime Minister - Improving safety for cyclists on our roads - Three Feet To Pass

An e-petition was proposed at the end of 2009 and submitted in January 2010 to the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, requesting the introduction of new legislation that all motorists must allow a minimum of 3 feet in distance between their vehicle and a cyclist that they drive past.

2,602 people signed the e-petition by the closing date of 6 January 2010.

The governments response was...

The Government have no plans to introduce the proposed legislation. All drivers have a duty of care and consideration to other road users. Rules 163, 211 - 213 of The Highway Code advises drivers to give cyclists at least as much room as a car when overtaking and to give them plenty of room and pay attention to any sudden change they may have to make.

Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. An explanation of the abbreviations can be found in ‘The road user and the law’.

Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see ‘The road user and the law’) to establish liability. This includes rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do not’.

The Code can be purchased from most good bookshops, price £2.50, or viewed online.

When viewing the on-line edition of The Highway Code, attention of club members is drawn to the cycling section, which highlights the relevant rules for both cyclists and motorists (who encounter cyclists on the road.)