British Cycling are working hard to reverse the decline of cycle racing on the roads in the UK writes Grant Bayton, BC south region events officer……… As part of this work British Cycling are seeking to formalise the powers to briefly stop and slow traffic. We believe that this will make the staging of road races easier and improve the safety of the events. It may also ease the burden on the police to manage traffic around races. We are working with the Department for Media Culture and Sport (DCMS) assisted by the Home Office and the Department for Transport (DfT) to construct and deliver a traffic management pilot scheme in England and Wales.
The British Cycling Accredited Road Marshal scheme will measure the effectiveness of a ‘STOP – EVENT’ sign, a variant of the STOP – WORKS sign used for temporary traffic management and control. The ‘STOP – EVENT’ sign will be operated by trained marshals during road racing to safely control the movement of traffic in accordance with the guidelines set out by the DfT.
The Dorset Police force are happy to support the request but to use it we also require the highways to sign off the use of the sign and from there the DfT will grant approval. We intend to pilot the use of the sign on 4 events in the Dorset Region this year. We are looking for volunteers to become Empowered Marshalls who initially will do an online input followed by a half day course. All volunteers should email GrantBayton@britishcycling.org.uk to enlist on this course that will also include BC Sportives as well as Road Races.
Please help to keep our Races safer
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