Policy development has been one of the priorities in CAN’s strategic plan. Find our more about the policy development process and how to have your say in CAN's policies.

This area of the website contains all the information you need to get informed about and participate in the CAN Policy Development Process.  Here you have access to the policies, to the ongoing discussions and more.

The part those policies play in assisting the achievement of these goals is elaborated in CAN’s Policy Statement.

Goals

Policy development is a stepping stone towards achieving CAN’s goals:

• More trips by cycle
• That cycling is perceived as a positive activity
• Cyclists have fun and are safe while riding

How to Participate

To find out more about the Policy Development Process, follow this link:

The policy development process 

To participate in the discussion for policy development, you first need to have registered as a user for the CAN site, you can do this at:

Register for CAN site

Then you will be able to join the Policy Development group at:

Request membership of the Policy Development Team

For more information, contact John Lieswyn, the CAN Policy Coordinator: 

Email: policy [at] can [dot] org [dot] nz

Below is a list of policies that are currently being worked on. You can contribute in two ways:

• Comment on any aspects of the draft policies, or
• Make changes to the draft policies.

How it works

Opening the full version of a policy

If you are interested in any particular policy, click on its title. This will open up a page, where you then see the full length version of the policy, including any comments that have already been posted.

Add a comment

You can add a new comment by filling out the box at the bottom 'Post new comment'. Hitting the button 'Post comment', your contribution gets published.

Reply to a comment

You can also comment on another comment by 'replying' to it. Use the 'reply' link underneath the comment for that purpose.

Amend a policy

You can also edit a policy, i.e. change its text, or add to the text. You see an 'Edit' tab at the top of the page when you have a policy open. Clicking on 'Edit' will open the editor page. You can change or amend the text in the 'policy content' window. It's easy to do - have a go at it! The important bit is that you hit the 'Submit' button at the bottom of the page when you are done. Without submitting it, your amendments haven't been saved.

It's hard to stuff things up, as the 'Revisions' tab lets people see your amendments. So in case something goes wrong, the revisions facility lets you or anybody else revert to an earlier version. It's a bit like 'Track changes' in Word, but it's easier to revert to earlier versions on this website.

You can use the box 'Log message' to write brief notes about what you have amended and / or why. This is useful, so that others understand the rationale behind your actions.

When do I comment - when do I amend?

If you want to raise discussion about a topic, or query the reasoning why somebody else has drafted something, consider using a comment.

If you think something can be said in a better way, don't comment on it, but amend the policy accordingly. If you would like to have additional material covered in the policy, consider amending it yourself. If you are not sure whether the additional material is really suitable, comment about it.

Don't feel shy about amending a policy where you are not the lead author. This is an online collaboration forum, and you using it accordingly (e.g. by amending draft policies) is its intended purpose. Anyone else involved in policy development can compare any version with any other version and revert to an earlier version if they wish - so all earlier work is retained.