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I read the reports of the transport committee and was pretty annoyed by the result. Jim Dobbin MP is the member for my neighbouring constituency so i sent this e-mail :-
Dear Mr Dobbin
Whilst i am not a constituent of yours i am a Labour voter in your neighbouring constituency in Rochdale.
As a regular commuting and leisure cyclist i was pleased to hear that a local MP would be sitting on the Transport Committee meeting to discuss cycling and the subject of how to make cycling safer and more accessible.
Imagine my displeasure and disappointment when i read the reports from the results of the meeting. I would like to ask why, when the representative from the Road Haulage Association made the claim that the six dead cyclists from London were all responsible for their own deaths, did none of the panel bother to demand evidence to support this accusation - especially since none of the Coroner 's reports are back yet.
Once more anecdote and opinion was offered instead of evidence being demanded and questions asked. If even MP's cannot grasp the extremely simple point that 'road tax' was abolished in 1937 and that highways are funded via general and local taxation then why are they even sitting on such a committee.
I feel that you and your fellow committee members did cyclists and cycling a grave disservice by not even bothering to learn something of the subject before you attended the meeting.
Both this Govt and the last Labour administration have made noises about encouraging cycling yet once again we cyclists are faced with ignorance of our rights and an unwillingness to understand our requirements from our elected representatives. This is simply not good enough, people have died and this committee wasted time discussing paintwork damage to vehicles rather than addressing a most urgent point.
A very poor show all round.
Yours in despair,
******