Ride a bike

London Log:By Choi Tuck Wo

Pedal your way through traffic jams and past long fuel queues.

AFTER a week of damaging headlines against panic fuel-buying, many thought the worst would have been over. Not necessarily.

For the government’s call to Britons not to tank up unnecessarily had actually backfired; the long queues at Shell station forecourts during last weekend’s four-day strike bore testimony to that.

Curious, isn’t it, that asking people not to panic buy must have been one of the quickest ways to help fuel a shortage.

At this point, no one should lightly dismiss the government’s intention in trying to resolve the pay dispute between the oil giant’s suppliers and tanker drivers. But it’s a grim reality that we all have to face in tackling the crowd mentality. Try telling depositors not to withdraw money during a bank run and you’ll end up with longer queues.

For human nature is such that it can be sometimes counter-productive to tell people not to do a certain thing; it only means they will. Yet you can’t really blame the government for its repeated calls to help calm the public. Nor the people for rushing to fill up their tanks.

Many motorists have, in fact, claimed they were not panicky. It’s just that they did not want to be left without fuel if there is a shortage.

And with tanker drivers threatening a series of rolling strikes throughout the summer if the pay dispute remained unresolved, Britons are bracing for more disruptions in the weeks ahead.

Yet amidst the fuel crisis, there is a refreshing whiff in the air with London mayor Boris Johnson’s call to the people to get out of their cars and onto bicycles.

An avid cyclist himself, the mayor could not have offered a better tip to the people than his message – get on your bikes and avoid the long fuel queues.

Apart from its green credentials and health benefits, cycling means you can beat the jams and need not burn a big hole in your pocket with rising fuel prices. Cycling to work or for pleasure can be fun, too. You also get to appreciate more of the city’s sights and sounds that you may have taken for granted.

It’s amazing that many Londoners who drive or travel by Underground Tube trains to work every day don’t seem to know their city as well as those who cycle.

To promote cycling, though, there must be a greater effort to reduce road dangers and have better facilities to encourage city folk to take to two wheels.

The fact that one cyclist is killed or maimed on the capital’s streets each day makes it all the more important for everyone to practise safer cycling.

The recent distribution of 10,000 safety mirrors to lorry drivers to help them spot cyclists in their “blind spot” can certainly help tackle cycle fatalities.

It’s perhaps time for the authorities to consider, among others, proposals for a mass, bicycle rental system along the lines of the Paris scheme to encourage more people to cycle.

Only then will the shrugs, sighs and sniggers that greet the raft of safety cycling campaigns be stifled.