In the rough and tumble world of forty years ago, when the Beatles were four unknown lads touring Hamburg, life was simple for children. They played in the streets safely, watched over by neighbours. Girls played hopscotch, skipped, tied ropes to lampposts and made swings. As the seasons changed, boys piled up coats to make goals and chalked football, then tennis and later cricket markings on the roads. They all rode bikes and scooters, made go-carts and played conkers. Then came the car.

Children were chased from the roads, streets and pavements. They were too noisy. "They might scratch the paintwork." Then as the numbers of cars increased it just became too dangerous. Sometimes too dangerous to cross the road, as double lines of parked cars stopped children crossing alone. They couldn’t see what was coming. They were too small.

There were other hidden dangers, the danger of pollution and as that rose, so too did the incidence of childhood asthma. Now another problem, equally invidious, which will have a major impact on society in years to come, lack of exercise and the growing rise in obesity among young children.

Over the ten years of its existence, Spokes has worked hard for the promotion of safe routes for cyclists and walkers both young and old. The young are particularly vulnerable. We have campaigned for Walking Buses. This idea has been taken up with great success by the KMG and Simon Dalby. But there is something that needs taking on as a matter of priority - SPEED and the opposition to speed cameras.

There is a splenetic opposition to speed cameras, fuel tax and anything which curtails the "freedom" of motorists. Groups such as MAD-Motorists Against Detection-who go round vandalising speed cameras have caused £6m damage nationwide. They have even blown up speed cameras. London’s Green Deputy Mayor Jenny Jones will be hanging "Remember Me" signs around speed cameras as a reminder that they are put up in locations where people have died.

The signs are produced by RoadPeace and are the first ever nation wide public acknowledgement for those killed or injured on the roads of Britain. Jones says, "Everytime someone from MAD vandalises a camera they are showing contempt for the people whose deaths led to the cameras being there in the first place. The MAD group is a mixture of maniacs and dinosaurs who put speed before life and metal before flesh. Road violence is the forgotten crime, and that even though there are more road deaths in London than murders committed, speeding laws have been watered down by the police."

Remember every time MAD gets more freedom, we get less. When a child is murdered there is huge coverage in the media, yet year on year 3,500 people die on our roads and 37,000 are seriously injured, most unnoticed. Of those deaths, 200 are children. As Polly Toynbee wrote in a recent Guardian article, "That’s 13 Dunblanes a year." In Medway last year 28 male drivers between 18-29 were killed and 38 pedestrians killed or seriously injured. Most due to speed. It is a carnage that would not be acceptable in war, yet we have become inured to it. Why?

Read Polly Toynbee’s article in full.

Sam Webb

It’s Fridays every day with this lightweight - In 2002 veteran cyclists Margaret & Graham Day visited Canterbury from Australia. They came with their Bike Fridays. These come apart for traveling and fit into a special case which can be fitted with wheels and towed behind the bike on tour. This carries luggage.

Have you ever wanted to ride off to tour and camp in far-away places with the greatest of ease? Have you ever wanted to shop at the market and carry everything home with the greatest of ease? Have you ever wanted the lightest nippiest bicycle in the world? Have you ever seen a tandem which could suddenly become a single as well? Have you ever seen a tandem which could easily become a triple as well? Have you ever ridden a tandem specially built so a 4 year old can pedal joyfully on the back with you?

The answer is a Bike Friday, custom built to fit and guaranteed. These 10kg lightweights are sturdy and strong. These lightweights have standard components so any spares can be found in a good cycle shop. These lightweights can be hidden in a travel case or soft bag so nobody on a plane or train or coach knows you are travelling with a mobility aid. Nobody can refuse you access to transport with a disguised Bike Friday.

So where have these ingeniously designed small wheelers been ridden? Everywhere.

Over Australia's Nullarbor Plain, over the Spanish Pyrenees, over the Swiss Jura, over the hilly route of Nova Colli in Italy, up and down New Zealand's hills, along many rivers in Europe and North America, over rough and smooth roads, marathon trips up to 8000 kms long. Even along the Crab and Winkle route in Kent. In fact, anywhere.

In Australia, people who own Bike Fridays gather for an annual wingding in autumn, when there are tall stories of travels in tantalising places, and apart from stories, there are long and short rides, fine foods to enjoy, coffee to be drunk and wines to sample.

The Australian Bike Friday Club meets in South Australia in April this year, last year we met in Victoria, next year we shall be in New South Wales. Warning - cycling can improve your health, wealth and happiness.

Margaret Day

The CTC says the Bill could much damage the prospects for success of the National Cycling Strategy Board's initiative to encourage cycling to school, and also the Government's new Active Communities project which seeks to double by the end of the decade the number of people taking regular exercise. Everywhere that cycle helmets have been made compulsory, cycle use has fallen dramatically, especially amongst younger people.