London Cycling Campaign launches ‘Safer Lorries, Safer Cycling’

London Cycling Campaign aims to highlight and bring to action safer cycling conditions for those in the boroughs of London. 

Today, as part of their Safer Lorries Campaign, they’ve launched a hard-hitting video demonstrating the catastrophic affect a collision between a lorry and a cyclist can have.

Highlighting the significantly high incident rate compared to the small number of lorries that make up the traffic on London’s roads, London Cycling Campaign are calling for cyclists (as well as pedestrians and motorcyclists) to write to their local councils to action ‘safer lorries and safer drivers‘.

Actions, already actively used by Transport For London’s lorries, include:

  • Cyclist-awareness training for all lorry drivers
    Training involves lorry drivers riding bicycles on the road so they can better understand the vulnerability of people who cycle. This training is low cost and available all over London.
  • All lorries to have the latest safety equipment
    This means a full set of safety mirrors and sensors/cameras that help the driver be more aware of vulnerable road users near their vehicle. These cost a few hundred pounds per vehicle.

Their map of the London Boroughs also highlights the different standards in cycling safety across London; showing only 2 of the 34 boroughs are currently participating in trying to make a difference.

Of course, not looking to point the finger, LCC also highlight safety considerations to cyclists sharing the road with lorries too.

Do you want to make a difference to cycling safety in your area? Submit your support to your local council through their easy to use form.

Hayley Davies

Hayley Davies

Writer

Riding since Feb 2011 Hayley is a 30 year old female who loves adventures. If she’s not on one of her many bikes or in the water on a bodyboard/surfboard, then Hayley is probably out looking for something new to keep the adrenaline pumping!
Website: www.hjdonline.co.uk

An adventure in Malawi

Great news, funding for the following project has been approved, which means Electric Pedals are off the Malawi early next year! Woo Hoo!

A meeting with Elspeth Waldie founder of Purple Field Productions the other week has sent us off on yet another adventure….

Purple Field Productions is a charity that makes films and videos for educational and humanitarian purposes. Their mission is to not only increase awareness and understanding, but also to give people a voice.

A few months ago, Elspeth and team just happened to be out in Kisoro, Uganda making a film about protection of the environment and improving livelihoods in the face of climate change, and bumped into our old friend Denis Agaba from the Wild Life Clubs of Uganda. We met Denis in 2009 having handed over our first prototype of the Field Cinema to support the conservation work he and GAFI were doing in the surrounding schools. Denis gave Elspeth a demonstration of his field cinema and talked about the good work it was doing (see Purple Production’s director having a pedal above). Elspeth and her team were excited at the prospect of using this system in some of the regions they support in Africa. They currently take their films about HIV/AIDS, disability awareness, cerebral palsy, agriculture/food security and the environment to Malawi, Ghana and Rwanda and beyond.

For each project Purple Field Productions works in partnership with a collaborator – usually a small charity or NGO who work in the field and see the need for a film, but cannot afford to make one themselves. At the moment many of the educational films end up being shown on a TV powered by a petrol generator. The equipment is heavy, and fuel for the generator is not always available. One of Elspeth’s potential partner groups in Malawi sent this statement and pictures:

“This last year we have found it has been an extremely difficult year with regards to running mobile film shows, there has been (and there still is) a fuel crisis in Malawi, obviously we cannot run film shows without fuel as we use a generator to power it. Our staff have been walking to reach projects when we do not have fuel.”


We met Elspeth and talked through some ways we could solve these issues. One of the things that was clear was that our Electric Pedals bicycle generator and bicycle combination was not the solutions. They felt that it was just too cumbersome and heavy. So we needed to devise a energy generating unit that was fit for purpose; light, efficient, rugged and ultra portable.

This is what my dad and I have come up with so far (to be fair, he’s done most of the work!).

It’s early days yet, we’re meeting with Purple Field Productions again in a few weeks to continue discussions and iterations of this new design. We’ve tested the kit and it works brilliantly and at a mere 7kg, you can put it on you back and climb a mountain with it. Fingers crossed we’ll start sending these out to Africa next year to continue the great work the field cinema started.

Aside from anything, it’s been ace working with my dad on this project, who I have to say has been a legend…thanks Dad.

More soon,

Colin.

 

 

 

Martyn Ashton’s – Road Bike Party

I had the pleasure of meeting Martyn Ashton at the Revolution 37 (report online shortly) in Manchester where he made a special guest appearance and I realised I hadn’t shared his brilliant film with you.

In the style of the much followed Danny MacKaskill productions, but Martyn adds a twist; he takes the £10k carbon road bike used by Team Sky‘s Bradley Wiggins & Mark Cavendish for a ride with a difference. With a plan to push the limits of road biking as far as his lycra legs would dare, Martyn looked to get his ultimate ride out of the awesome Pinarello Dogma 2. This bike won the 2012 Tour de France – surely it deserves a Road Bike Party!

Shot in various locations around the UK and featuring music from ‘Sound of Guns‘. Road Bike Party captures some of the toughest stunts ever pulled on a carbon road bike.

A Film by Robin Kitchin
Produced by Ashton Bikes
Music: Sound of Guns ‘Sometimes’

Out takes video

Hello!

Mark Colbourne and I have produced a video featuring the Para-cycling team.

As myself, Mark and the rest of the Para-cycling team are unable to attend the Opening Ceremony tonight due to the cycling events starting tomorrow, we wanted to share a little video with you to say “Hello!”

We shot, directed and edited the “Hello!” video as a thank you for the overwhelming support we’ve received from the British public, and it was a fantastic opportunity for the whole team to get together and capture some moments from our time in the holding camp and athletes village.

Making the video was fun; we wanted to get together as a team and show we have personalities outside our day job, but also show some of our preparations in Newport. In doing so we hopefully put a smile on people’s faces…. Enjoy!
 
 

My Concrete Circus

Release (Director’s Cut) by Kendy

I thought I’d share my performance from last year on CH4‘s hit show “Concrete Circus“. Concrete Circus brings together the world’s hottest names in urban sports with viral film-makers and Mike Christie, the director of extreme sport documentary Jump London, to capture unique portraits of the urban sports scene. Enjoy!
 
 

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