Dulwich Young Cyclists (DYC) survey

[Woodquest]

Dulwich Young Cyclists (DYC) are in the process of applying for funding from the Mayor's Vision for Cycling to improve cycling in Dulwich. To support our application we are conducting a survey of parents. We urgently need your response as competition is high from other areas. All information will be treated with utmost confidentiality.

Help us win funding for Dulwich!

www.surveymonkey.com/s/DYC

Many thanks

The DYC Team

[ianr]

Edda

Who are Dulwich Young Cyclists? What specifically are they applying for funds for? Where can we read details of this competition for funds, and the requirements of the scheme? What is the relation of the number and content of responses to any success in obtaining funds? Is the campaign you mention in the survey distinct from the competition and the survey?

[Woodquest]

The Dulwich Young Cyclists (part of Dulwich and Herne Hill Safe Routes to School) are a group of local representatives campaigning for safer cycling routes to schools.

I don't know where you can read up about the details of this competition (Boris Johnson's office?). We learned about it from one of our members, who met the Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan at a official function and who told him about this.

We think that the responses from this survey will prove that parents are currently too scared to let their children cycle to school and that safer cycling routes may change that (of the 10 000 pupil at Dulwich schools only 2-4% cycle to school). I don't think that a particular number of responses needs to be obtained but of course ?- the more replies the better.

We are currently focussing on obtaining the fund the Mayor has promised, which would make Southwark a pilot area for safer cycling in London ('Love London, Go Dutch'). If we don't succeed, we'll continue to campaign to make Dulwich's infrastructure safer for cyclists.

[mlteenie]

I would suggest that one obvious way of making the local infrastructure safer for cyclists is to discourage parents from driving their kids to school.

Also, if schools aren't running cycle-training (Bikeability) for years 5 & 6, why not? If no, then private individual lessons are available from the council (2 x 2hr slots per person, free).

[Cora]

Does anyone know how to turn the survey into a click through link? Easier for people to act...

[Woodquest]

Yes, more cyclists would make for a safer and cleaner environment. Kids who cycle are not even healthier and fitter but, according to this Dutch study (http://pelkhil.edu.bt/?p=3511.), do better at school.

Compulsory cycle training at schools for years 5 and 6 is part of the DYC's agenda. Leave a message with your details if you are interested in joining the DYCs.

[Woodquest]

Don't know how to do this, Cora, just cut and paste into your browser for the moment, but will consult our IT person and get back to you.

[Cora]

Have completed it but think not just clicking through makes people defer and ultimately not get round to completing it...you might get more responses once it's click through - wish I could help...someone on here will know x

[ianr]

> Does anyone know how to turn the survey into a click through link?

You include the http:// before the link, as in http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DYC

PS: just noticed Woodquest's 08:41 post and done some testing. The reason that link wasn't turned into a clickable one was the presence of the leading bracket in (http . Remove that and it's fine: http://pelkhil.edu.bt/?p=3511. You can, btw, always check the links in Preview before posting.

[DaveR]

Unfortunately the survey does not extend to parents of kids at Goodrich, Heber, Goose Green, St Anthony's or St Johns and St Clements so "Dulwich Young Cyclists" apparently do not include "East Dulwich Young Cyclists".

[Woodquest]

Currently, the DYCs are including all schools within the boundaries of Southwark Council. Hopefully, other schools and boroughs will benefit from their pioneering work in the near future. (apologies, this statement is wrong; only some school are included at present, see explanation below).

[DaveR]

Maybe I'm missing something, but the first page of the survey says:

"Dulwich schools included in survey:

- Alleyn's School (including Junior)

- Bessemer Grange Primary School

- The Charter School

- Dog Kennel Hill School

- Dulwich College (including Junior and DUCKS)

- Dulwich Hamlet Junior School

- Dulwich Infants School

- Dulwich Prep London

- Dulwich Wood Nursery

- Herne Hill School

- JAGS (including JAPS)

- Kingsdale Foundation School

- Langbourne Primary School

- Oakfield School"

and the first question is:

"*1. How many children do you have attending any of the schools listed above?"

I'm not trying to be difficult here - I do have kids at a school in (East) Dulwich, and i am interested in cycle safety, but on the face of it my views are not being asked for in this survey. If that's a deliberate decision, so be it - I'm not so interested I'm going to get into an argument about it. But I suspect the vast majority of people on this forum who are in the same position would also be excluded.

[mlteenie]

What DaveR said...

[Woodquest]

Hi, firstly an erratum: DYCs are currently not looking at all the schools within the Southwark Council boundaries.

Around 10000 pupils attend the schools listed in the survey.

The reason DYC included the above mentioned schools is that they have representatives on the Dulwich and Herne Hill Safe Routes to School committee. The DYC is a subcommittee, and has inherited these relationships and contacts. We apologies for anyone feeling currently left out, and we will discuss this at our next meeting. Perhaps the survey can be amended to allow parents from other schools to respond too; alternatively you may want to join the DYC or Safe Route to School Committee to make your views heard.

[Curmudgeon]

Who constructed your questionnaire

I think you need to include all schools in the area and allow for those whose children do cycle to comment about the issues faxed

[insidethebox]

The questionnaire was designed by a number of us in DYC. It had to be done rapidly (in under two weeks), since we wanted to distribute it before the private schools broke up for summer. We road-tested it with a dozen or so parents and made adjustments based on their feedback. No one raised your point, which is a good one. I know that kids riding on the pavements have problems avoiding pedestrians, for example.

However the focus of the questions was purposefully on the non-cyclists: to discover what are the existing barriers to cycling to school, and whether parents would switch their kids to cycling if some of these could be removed - in particular infrastructure improvements, which is what this bid for Mayoral funds is all about.

We have an open-ended question at the end of the questionnaire which is giving us a lot of useful anecdotal information about kids who are cycling.

[edhistory]

Who and where are DYC?

John K

[DaveR]

"The questionnaire was designed by a number of us in DYC. It had to be done rapidly (in under two weeks), since we wanted to distribute it before the private schools broke up for summer. We road-tested it with a dozen or so parents and made adjustments based on their feedback. No one raised your point, which is a good one. I know that kids riding on the pavements have problems avoiding pedestrians, for example.

However the focus of the questions was purposefully on the non-cyclists: to discover what are the existing barriers to cycling to school, and whether parents would switch their kids to cycling if some of these could be removed - in particular infrastructure improvements, which is what this bid for Mayoral funds is all about.

We have an open-ended question at the end of the questionnaire which is giving us a lot of useful anecdotal information about kids who are cycling."

Sorry if I'm still being thick, but the point that I and others have made is that the questionnaire is explicitly addressed to parents with children at particular schools, and those schools do not include most of the primary schools in East Dulwich. I don't know why that is the case - it's not my survey - but it might mean, for example, that any bid for Mayoral funds is not going to envisage any infrstructure improvements in East Dulwich. Which would be a shame.

[Cora]

DYC has already explained that they are interested in focusing on the schools in the area that the activists in the group are involved in, which seems fair enough. They have also suggested that those parents from other schools may also want to get involved in the group (or form a separate one) thus expanding the scope of its work/campaign which again seems fair enough?....