Welcome to Darlington

What happens when young women from a cycling-friendly city come to Britain - and try to continue cycling around a town as they normally would? This excerpt from our 55 minute documentary Beauty and the Bike follows German girls from Bremen as they visit the Cycling Demonstration Town of Darlington, England. It gives a flavour of current policy thinking on cycling in the UK via an interview with Darlington's Cabinet Member for Transport, Dave Lyonette. Contrast this with the policies explained by Bremen's Reinhard Loske in "Beauty and the Bike Short". The full documentary is available on DVD at www.bikebeauty.org

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• women
• environment
• cycling
• emancipation

[BeautyandtheBike]

@vintagegt This is not a council film, but independent (Darlington Media Group). And it's about people who don't cycle - the vast majority of Darlington's citizens. All the evidence shows (just google Dr David Horton for the latest research just released 2 weeks ago) that people don't cycle because they don't want to mix with vehicular traffic. Fixing pot holes won't help them one jot.

And by the way I'm a "cyclist" too.

[XCherryCatastropheX]

I Live in darlington, and this really isn't how it is, yes it is unsafe for girls because so many of the men are foul-languaged and really quite vulgar, if you would like to see a true darlington, come at night, our future of teenage smoking drinking and pregnancies is wonderful!

[MsFreemicrosoftpoint]

haaahaaaahaaaaa..lol...at darryll get on ...cant believe im seeing this....lol

[NEZZA1967]

As a person who drives a car and owns a bike ,cycle path's should be not be near roads ,we need a better cycle road totaly seperate ....

[MsFreemicrosoftpoint]

not beeing funny but if ya wanna cycle go back to your own country....yeah darlos crap for cycling but do ya know why??? cos we all have cars ...i dont mind cycling but i wouldnt take my children on roads in darlington its a fipping busy town centre durggggghhhh .....there is plenty of alternative routes u can cycle instead of invading us motorists road then blaming us ...ha...wouldnt be so bad but you all ride in middle of road so motorists worry that your gonna hit them ...cyclists+darlo = no

[Steveco]

Cycling in Darlo is a bit dodgy. There's too many cars on the road. Best time is Sunday morning.  I have used cycle lanes but even those are not hazard-free. Pedestrians, broken glass etc.

[TheDarloboii]

hahaha !! daryl and all them stood next to the lock ups haha legends !!!

[cyclenut]

Education - Teach every single person starting in lower grades. When I was six, we had a town in the playground. Kids played motorists, pedestrians, cyclistis and police. The teachers and sometimes a real police, would tell us what each should be doing.. This has made me more understanding to life and traffic more than any handbook.. Then by high shcool, really pound the laws from all angles...

[vintagegt]

This is typical council bollocks.I'm a Darlington cyclist and all the council do is pay for cycle lanes for people to park in,a total waste of time,and bays prior to traffic lights that motorists ignore and stop in anyway.The roads are peppered with pot holes that need repair!! This should be priority, not cycling lanes, they are a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.Mr Lyonette, I'm a cyclist and the council's work has done nothing for me whatsoever and I know numerous cyclists who agree. FIX POT HOLES!

[HoorayforOranges]

Cycling does not and SHOULD NOT necessitate taxation.