Re Active Travel Survey questions 10, 11 & 12 which the Survey Monkey refused due to length of answers

The stretches of road I am responding to fit into Section 2(7) of the Act which defines an “active travel journey” as “a journey made to or from a workplace or educational establishment or in order to access health, leisure or other services or facilities”.

Question 10: What are the main barriers to cycling more often?

a. Potholes. As road repairs are not a statutory duty, poor surfaces and potholes will not be dealt with as the budget cuts will be so severe that there will not be finance to do repairs.

This puts cyclists lives at risk

I was recently told by our County Councillor that in future our county council pot holes will be measured rather than repaired

A friend of mine a hit a pothole a couple of years ago & ended up under a bus and he had been cycling hundreds of miles a year for 40 years.

b. Parents in St Dogmaels put a video camera on one child’s cycle helmet while they cycled a route which is within the Active Travel Remit (Cardigan via St Dogmaels to Poppit Sands Beach). Viewing the way in which drivers had complete disregard for this youngster on a bike was enough to prevent some parents allowing their children to cycle. The child was practically shoved into the hedge by oncoming traffic & by people overtaking.

c. I have lost courage to cycle since my cycle tyre went down the slots in a drain gully hidden in a puddle and I came off. It makes me very angry to see that even when you tell Pembrokeshire County Council that newly installed drain gullies are installed dangerously in such a way that the slots are parallel to the direction of the traffic it takes months to improve the situation to reduce the risk of accident to cyclist.

Question 11. What are the main barriers to walking more often?

a. Most parents do not encourage children to walk. Many parents are more fearful of ‘stranger danger’ than their children becoming unfit car cargo who become unfit for life. Even for a 200 metre path (Graig Footpath) in the middle of St Dogmaels ‘stranger danger’ has been the reason some parents drive children to school.

b. Our pavements are too narrow sometimes 25-30 cms. In key places pavements are absent. Some roads and pavements have such steep crossfalls that it is difficult to keep balance.

c. Some drivers do not care how close or fast they drive past pedestrians & they do not anticipate hazards eg drive with more care past families with children walking to Poppit Beach which is included in the Active Travel remit for Cardigan. Twice this year I have had to go home for a complete change of clothes when sections of our main road were flooded – some drivers just put their foot on the accelerator and I was soaked from head to foot.

d. Lack of consideration for people with disabilities. In St Dogmaels I have seen local drivers shout or hoot at people walking in the road because their balance is too poor to cope with our narrow/crossfall/sloping/intermittant and absent pavements

I have witnessed drivers hooting and shouting at partially sighted and deaf people for the same reason.

I have challenged some of these drivers behaviour and have had responses along the lines that 'disabled people should not be let out on their own'

e. In the dark, many drivers drive towards walkers with main beam on. At night even when I wear hi-viz clothing drivers coming towards me do not dip their lights, so I am completely blinded. Even if I am on a pavement our pavements are so uneven, narrow, with such severe crossfalls or poor surfaces or intermittant that I have to stand still & shade my eyes. If there is no pavement it is scary

Question 12. What would encourage you to walk or cycle more often?

Potholes being repaired

Safer routes for cycling & walking e.g. Cardigan to St Dogmaels to Poppit Sands Beach need a continuous safe zone/ pavement, with no cross fall

We need to be able to encourage our youngsters to cycle & walk more and the questionnaire does not address this. Today's young walkers & cyclists are the future

This is why we need safer routes for cycling and walking and the Active Travel Act