SOL Bespoke Project

In the three months since The Times launched its ‘Cities Fit for Cycling’ campaign, we have learnt a lot about the state of cycling on British streets. Here are the key figures.

STATISTICS

Behaviour on the roads

Needless
animosity between drivers and cyclists is credited with many deaths on
the roads.

Only 2
per cent of cyclists regularly jump lights.

31
per cent of drivers admit to stopping illegally over cycle-only advanced
stop boxes at traffic lights. Drivers face a £60
fine and three points on their licence for doing so.

Of pedestrians injured by red-light jumping, 4
per cent are hurt by cyclists, 71 per cent by cars. In 2009, no
pedestrians were killed by cyclists, while 426 were killed by motor
vehicles.

55
per cent of drivers acknowledge that the biggest improvement to safety
would come from an improvement in driving near cyclists, rather than a
change in the behaviour of cyclists.

42
per cent of the population say they cycle at least once a year, with 8
per cent of people cycling three or more times a week.

87 per cent of cyclists also drive cars, and so pay the same vehicle tax as
any motorists. There is no such thing as “road tax”. Cyclists have the same
right to use the road as motorists.

There are about 500,000
bicycle trips in London every day.

No driver wants to hit a cyclist. The effect
can be devastating for the driver too.

Safety

So far in 2012, 30
cyclists have already been killed on Britain’s streets. The youngest was
just 8 years old, the oldest was 80.

About 63
per cent of cyclists killed or seriously injured are hit at junctions.
1,746 people in 2010.

There were 14,667 accidents involving a cyclist on British city streets in
2010, with 47 deaths. In rural areas there were fewer accidents – 2,937 –
but more fatalities, with 64 deaths, highlighting the different
dangers posed by countryside cycling.

The decline in cycling deaths in London from 21 in 2005 to 10 in 2010 was
probably more due to better
medical care than improvements in cycle safety.

Between 2001 and 2011, 576 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and
Iraq – 1,275
cyclists died on British streets.

The number of killed or seriously injured cyclists in the capital rose
from 133 in 2008 to 150 in 2010. Total casualties over the same period
rose from 960 in 2008 to 1,225 in 2010.

Of cyclists involved in a collision with an HGV, 21
per cent die, compared with only 6 per cent of cyclists struck by a car.

Transport for London told road engineers to
exclude cyclists when assessing traffic capacity at a junciton where a
cyclist was later killed.

The capital’s highways agency could
also face corporate manslaughter charges over the same death.

Causing death
on the roads should face tougher sentences of up to life in jail,
according to a senior police road death investigator.

THE TIMES’S ‘CITIES FIT FOR CYCLING’ MANIFESTO

Support

Nearly
40,000 people have signed up to The Times’s ‘Cities Fit for Cycling’
campaign.

Prime Minister David Cameron, Opposition leader Ed Miliband, Mayor of London
Boris Johnson, Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson and Mayor of Salford Ian
Stewart have all backed The Times’s campaign, while Cambridge,
Brighton and Leeds councils have all voted through official support and
ten cities back the campaign. A
host of famous names also backed the campaign in the first few weeks.

A Westminster debate saw 77
MPs attend a debate on cycle safety.

Cycling
becomes a major issue in the London mayoral elections. A cycle-specific
hustings is hosted by The Times and Sustrans for the five main candidates.

The Times’s campaign has also been adopted by Austrian and Italian newspapers. 3,500
cyclists were killed on Italy’s streets between 2000 and 2010.

About 45
per cent of all regular cyclists are aware of The Times’s ‘Cities fit
for cycling’ campaign.

Even Jeremy Clarkson
praised Copenhagen’s cycling culture as “fan-bleeding-tastic”.

More than 10,000
people take to the streets of London and Edinburgh in support of cycle
safety.

Minicab chief John Griffin, boss
of Addison Lee, pledged his support to the campaign after angering
cyclists.

Lorries

Crossrail refused
entry to 31 of 253 vehicles bringing building materials to sites because
they failed safety standards imposed to protect cyclists.

The Department for Transport are discussing with insurers whether incentives
can be offered to hauliers who fit their lorries with extra safety equipment
to protect cyclists.

Construction companies are also exploring
ways to improve cycle safety.

Leading engineers call for every
bus and lorry to be fitted with sensors to protect cyclists and
pedestrians by 2015.

The mother who turned
her tragedy into a fight for safer lorries. Another crucial campaign.

Dangerous junctions

At least 85 per cent of councils (366 of the 433 councils in Britain) contain
a dangerous cycling blackspot, according to 10,000
points nominated by Times readers.

Transport ministers
promise to study the cycling blackspots nominated on the map and
investigate ways to improve them.

Safe
cycle lanes are to be made law in Wales, with plans to force local
councils to develop and maintain safe routes.

Local councils no
longer have to seek permission from Government every time they instal a
rear-view “trixi” mirror at dangerous junctions, due to pressure from The
Times.

A scheme in Paris allows cyclists to turn
the near-side corner of a T-junction at a red-light. Similar schemes in
Britain could give cyclists their own
short green phase to allow them to get a head-start from lorries and
HGVs.

Futuristic
projects to build elevated, enclosed cycle lanes would cost a
prohibitive £38 million per kilometre. But less hi-tech projects have been
constructed at a far more economical cost, such as elevated tracks in
Copenhagen and pedestrian and cycle-friendly bridges in Cambridge.

National audit

Polls conducted by The Times revealed much about the habits of drivers
and cyclists,
while more than 10,000 submissions were added to a reader-generated
map of Britain, showing where the most dangerous spots for cyclists can
be found.

The Times reveals that accidents
victims are being failed by underequipped rehabilitation centres.

Funding

Experts say that the Government’s austerity measures are “putting
lives at risk” on the roads.

A £100
million annual fund to finance cycle infrastructure should be set aside,
according to leading transport charities. But the £4.9 billion Highways
Agency budget has already been cut
by 20 per cent.

Transport for London received
£15 million in the Budget to put towards improving dangerous junctions.

The Labour
Party will consider adopting parts of The Times’s ‘Cities Fit for Cycling’
campaign, including the call for more funding, in its own manifesto,
during its policy review in autumn. Voters credit Labour
as the party which has responded best to cycle safety concerns.

Copenhagen has undergone a £77
million cycling makeover in the past decade, with another £28 million
earmarked for upcoming projects. This far outstrips spending in the UK.

Training for cyclists and drivers

The Times revealed that councils are failing
to claim millions of pounds in funding for children’s cycling, putting
pressure on councils to improve on last year’s figures, when fewer
than 200,000 children took a cycle training course funded by their local
authority.

There will be guaranteed
Bikeability funding for the whole of this Parliament.

Speed limits

Cutting speed limits to 20mph in trial areas showed a 50
per cent reduction in the number of cyclists killed or serious injured,
and a 60 per cent reduction in casualties among child cyclists.

The Scottish
Parliament has called for more 20mph zones in response to cyclist
fatalities north of the border.

The AA
throws its weight behind calls to extend 20mph speed limits.

Business involvement

Norman Baker, the Transport Minister, promoted The Times’s call for more
corporate sponsorship in promoting safe cycling.

The incoming mayors of both Liverpool and Salford have pledged
to explore bike-hire schemes in their cities, following the model of the
Barclays Bikes in London.

Cycling commissioners

A House of Commons inquiry into cycle safety heard demands
for David Cameron to appoint a cycling tsar to represent the needs of
cyclists in government.

Boris Johnson, in securing re-election as London Mayor, pledged
to appoint a cycling commissioner.

The Times’s call for every city to have a cycling commissioner won
government support after a Westminster debate on cycle safety.

The new Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, also
pledged to appoint a cycling commissioner.

THE KEY ARTICLES TO READ

Save
our cyclists. Why The Times launched the ‘Cities fit for
cycling’ campaign.

The
manifesto: Looking at the issues. The arguments for – and
against – the Times campaign.

On
the road to more agony and regret…if we don’t act now. The figures
behind the campaign.

The
campaign so far: manifesto draws wide support. The sort of
support we are now looking to turn into action.

Animosity
is the biggest killer on the roads. Many drivers
instinctively hate cyclists. And vice-versa. This is deadly.

Seven
cycling myths unpicked. The truth about road tax, bike helmets and
red lights.

Revealed:
the country’s worst roads for cyclists. Readers
nominate more than 10,000 blackspots.

Children
are denied free cycle training by councils’ apathy. Councils
fail to claim millions of pounds due to them.

Safe
cycle lanes to be made law in Wales. A ground-breaking move
that should be mirrored nationwide.

Providing
supports and safeguards. What the Department for Transport says it
is doing for cyclists.

I love my bike.
Cycling should be safer, but the health and enjoyment benefits still far
outweigh risks. You tell us why.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3414912.ece

Austerity measures are putting lives at risk on Britain’s streets because of
road safety budget cuts, the Government has been warned.

Almost two thirds of councils in England have had budgets reduced for road
safety engineering in the past 12 months, while 62 per cent have suffered a
reduction in staffing in the past year, according to a
report by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety
(Pacts).

Half of the councils surveyed by Pacts said that their statutory duty to
promote road safety had been put at risk by factors such as reduced staff
numbers or a loss of finance.

Robert Gifford, the executive director of Pacts, said: “This report has a
clear message to the Government: the focus on austerity is putting lives at
risk. The years 2007 to 2010 saw substantial falls in road deaths. However,
deaths rose in the first six months of 2011 and flattened in the third
quarter.”

“This suggests that road deaths will rise in Britain in 2011 for the first
time since 2003 …The Government should be deeply concerned by this change
in course.”

Mr Gifford pointed to a “lack of confidence” in the Government’s strategic
framework for road safety, published last year, as a contributory factor.

Of all road users, the austerity measures are hitting cyclists hardest, Mr
Gifford explained. As incomes are squeezed, increasing numbers of people
take to their bikes, but the Government must make sure it is safe for them
to do so.

The Times’s ‘Cities fit for cycling’ campaign is calling for greater emphasis
and investment to be placed on new infrastructure to protect cyclists, but
the Local Government Association has pointed to a “chronically underfunded
road system” as a major hindrance to such projects.

Mr Gifford said: “Cyclists are of double concern. You expect to see road
deaths fall in recession, but we’re seeing the opposite, and even more so
among cyclists being killed and seriously injured.

“In 2011, pedal cyclists killed and seriously injured was above the 2005-2009
average, and rose for the second year running.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3414966.ece

Cyclists feel forced to jump red lights due to dangerous road design and
law-breaking drivers, a survey has revealed.

Of the 2 per cent of cyclists who admitted that they regularly jump red
lights, the main reason cited was that they felt safer by getting ahead of
other traffic at dangerous junctions.

The survey by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) also found that 22 per
cent of car drivers are unaware that it is illegal to stop over an Advanced
Stop Line – the box designed to keep cyclists safe at the front of the queue
at traffic lights.

Thirty one per cent of drivers admitted that they have crossed over those
lines into cyclists’ space.

Cyclists who jump red lights are also breaking the law, but 43 per cent of
cyclists who do so said they would be less likely to jump red lights if
Advanced Stop Lines were more strongly enforced

More than half of cyclists who illegally cycle on pavements said they did so
because of cycle lanes that did not join up or to avoid dangerous junctions
with no cycle paths.

The poll was originally released by IAM with the assertion that “more than
half of cyclists jump red lights”, but the headline figure of 57 per cent
was criticised as misleading by Sustrans, British Cycling and the Cyclists’
Touring Club (CTC).

Roger Geffen, campaign director of the CTC, said: “On closer inspection the
figures, which came from a self-reported internet poll, reveal that only 2
per cent of respondents said they jump lights “frequently”, while 42 per
cent say that they have jumped lights ‘once or twice’ or ‘rarely’ and
another 44 per cent say they never have.”

The IAM also did not publicise the finding that 32 per cent of drivers also
admitted to having jumped red lights, although the figures were provided
when requested.

Research shows that, of pedestrians injured by vehicles jumping red lights,
only 4 per cents of accidents are caused by cyclists, while 71 per cent
occur when cars jump red lights.

While 54 per cent of cyclists surveyed agreed that cyclists should improve
their behaviour by sticking to the Highway Code at junctions, 48 per cent
said that poor road layout at such junctions was their top safety concern.

Simon Best, chief executive of the IAM,
called on the police to enforce the Highway Code and rules of the road more
strongly for both cyclists and drivers, and for better behaviour from all
road users.

He said: “Cyclists are right to feel that roads are not cycle friendly enough,
and this is reflected in their behaviour. But while poor junction design,
inconsistent cycle paths and inconsiderate drivers put cyclists at risk,
cyclists also have to help themselves.”

Martin Gibbs, policy director at British Cycling, said: “Some junctions are so
badly designed that people on bikes feel they have to choose between riding
legally and riding safely, and this urgently needs addressing.”

Echoing points made repeatedly in The Times’s ‘Cities
fit for cycling’ campaign, Mr Gibbs added: “Cycle provision and
cycle safety must be designed into roads and junctions before they are
built, and existing problem junctions re-engineered, so we create an
environment in which people can cycle safely and no-one feels excused from
obeying the law.”

Detective Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, head of road policing at the
Association of Chief Police Officers said: “I’m not sure that the public
understand Advanced Stop Lines properly. Part of the difficulty is that they
didn’t appear to be introduced with the relevant publicity and in many
places there aren’t markings at all.”

DCC Davenport, who is herself a cyclist, said that officers were advised to
use their “discretion” when enforcing the behaviour of cyclists and drivers
at traffic lights, but admitted that the “physical barrier” around car
drivers could deter some officers from reprimanding motorists who stop over
Advanced Stop Lines, which she described as a “weak” excuse.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3414065.ece

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, was accused of misleading Londoners over cycle
safety today after an ill-tempered question time at City Hall.

Mr Johnson told the last session before Mayoral elections on May 3 that new
figures showed that the rates of cyclists killed or seriously injured on all
roads in the capital had fallen by six per cent since 2008.

The decline is slightly lower than a fall of 7 per cent on the main roads
controlled by Transport for London, the group Mr Johnson chairs.

However, the latest published statistics show that overall cycle casualty
rates rose in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The number of casualties also rose in
each of those three years from 859 in 2007 to 960 in 2008, 1,073 in 2009 and
1,255 in 2010 on the TfL network.

The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured (KSI) fell from 147 in 2007
to 133 in 2008 but then rose to 136 in 2009 and 150 in 2010. The KSI rate
measured as a proportion of journeys taken by bicycle has fallen in each
year since 2007.

“Obviously we need to make more progress,” Mr Johnson said. “It is still true
that in central Paris the figures are lower. We do better than New York, but
we need to make our streets safer for cycling.”

He dismissed a suggestion by Jenny Jones, the Green Party Mayoral candidate,
that safety was being compromised by a reduction in the road safety budget
for the capital from £30 million to £10 million. Spending on cycling had
increased from £93 million in 2005-2008 to £204 million, Mr Johnson said.

He suggested that Ms Jones was concerned about rising casualties because her
arithmetic was wrong.

He also dismissed as “cobblers” an assertion from Val Shawcross, the Labour
spokesman on Transport, that casualties among pedestrians and cyclists were
rising.

“There is a dismal ignorance on the figures there,” Mr Johnson said.

One Assembly member accused the Mayor of being sexist in his response to the
female members.

Once the ill-tempered session had closed, Ms Jones told The Times: “The Mayor
refuses to admit he is misleading Londoners with the figures and stats he is
waving around. Cycling casualties are up, while road safety funding is
massively down.”

Cycling has become a key issue in the looming election battle after The Times
launched its Cities fit for cycling campaign.

The four main contenders have all lent their support to the covenant for
improving cycle safety.

The campaign also resonates in Westminster, where the Transport Committee is
planning to hold an inquiry into the issue. Yesterday, all MPs received a
letter from Norman Baker, Transport Minister, and Mike Penning, Road Safety
Minister, setting out the Government’s cycle strategy.

“We are keenly aware of the strong support for this campaign amongst the
public and local community groups, and indeed amongst MPs, as evidenced by
the large number who attended the Westminster Hall Debate on 23 February,”
the letter says.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3351544.ece

A lorry driver who crushed a cyclist to death when a cabin slipped off the back of his vehicle has been jailed for 27 months.

Mark Smith, 48, had secured his load of an 8.2 tonne specialist mobile office cabin with only two straps, one of which was not fastened properly, Hull Crown Court was told.

Susan Russell, a 54-year-old mother and grandmother, suffered multiple injuries when the cabin fell on her. She was killed instantly.

As he left the court, Mr Smith turned to Mrs Russell’s family and said: “I’m sorry to you all.” His apology was angrily rejected by some family members.

Despite his 27 years as a lorry driver, Mr Smith had failed to use any matting to prevent the load from slipping, without which, the court was told, the cabin would have needed 40 straps to keep it in place.

The court was told that Smith had travelled more than 50 miles from West Yorkshire to Hull with the specialist cabin hanging precariously off his trailer.

“We say he must have seen that the trailer was overhanging, he did see it, he must have appreciated the risk, he decided for his own reasons to carry on regardless and take that risk,” Bernard Gateshill, for the prosecution, told the court. “We say it is a case of deliberate risk-taking.”

The court was told that Smith was “riddled with guilt” and often had nightmares and flashbacks to the accident.

Judge John Dowse said that Smith had led an unblemished life, but it was now in tatters as a result of his negligence.

He said that no sentence he passed, or remarks he made, would bring comfort to either family, both of whom had been devastated by the accident.

But he told Smith that he had responsibility for the load and should have checked that it was safe to transport.

He told him: “You should have inspected it, you should have had more straps, you should have stopped and you should have called for help.

“If you had done any of these things, I’m afraid it was more than likely this lady would not have lost her life.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3354800.ece

Developing and maintaining safe cycle routes is to be made a legal obligation
for local councils in Wales, in “ground-breaking” plans set out by the Welsh
Assembly.

Traffic-free routes for pedestrians and safe cycle lanes will be developed
across Wales to connect sites such as hospitals, shopping centres and
schools as part of the Active Travel (Wales) Bill, launched as a White Paper
by ministers today.

Cycling campaigners are calling for similar legislation to be adopted
throughout Britain. While the Department for Transport wrote to local
councils across the UK in February to “encourage” them to “review” their
provisions for cyclists, the bill proposed by the Welsh Assembly would make
it a legal requirement for local authorities to plan “fully integrated
transport networks”.

Carl Sargent, the Welsh Transport Minister, said that the Bill would improve
public health, reduce emissions, boost tourism and provide an economic
benefit in deprived areas.

He told The Times: “Making Wales bike friendly has got to be good for
the economy and the Health Minister is very interested in the health
benefits of getting people active.

“It can also help tackle poverty and deprivation, giving easy access to places
of employment, especially when integrated with buses and train services. If
we can get the whole package, it offers so much support for our community.

“We want to make walking and cycling the most natural and normal way of making
short everyday journeys. I would urge people to have their say and get
involved in this consultation.”

The bill will not pass into legislation until the end of 2013, but an £11
million annual fund already exists in Wales to promote infrastructure for
walking and cycling.

Mr Sargent said that The Times’ Cities fit for Cycling campaign had
added momentum to the proposal of new legislation to protect cyclists.

He said: “I am aware of the Times campaign and we have taken into
account what Times readers are saying in terms of looking into
legislation that could support the safety elements of campaign.”

The Bill, which is expected to be “warmly welcomed” by all parties in the
Welsh Assembly and also by the 22 local authorities across Wales, will
require councils to map pre-existing safe routes for cyclists and also
detail the enhancements that would be needed to improve them. It will also
ask councils to consider “enhancing walking and cycling provision in the
development of new road schemes”.

Though mass protest bike-rides took place in London and Edinburgh last month
to call on the English and Scottish parliaments to take action on cycle
safety, the Welsh Assembly has taken the first proactive step.

Malcolm Shepherd, chief executive of the Sustrans cycling charity, said: “This
is a ground-breaking move by the Welsh government that will help people get
around more safely, cheaply and healthily.

“If this was implemented across the UK, it would set us on a path to achieving
a lot of what The Times has been working towards with its Cities fit
for cycling campaign.

“People all over the UK want to cycle and walk more for every day journeys but
are held back by safety concerns.

“Walking and cycling are the answers to the UK’s rocketing fuel bill and
expanding waistline but getting around actively must be made safer and
easier across the country.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3409144.ece

As part of The Times’s ‘I
love my bike’ project to document the joys of cycling, we speak to
Malcolm Shepherd, CEO of cycling charity Sustrans, about getting back on his
bicycle after a bad accident.

“It’s a very funny feeling when I see people arriving at work on their bikes –
I feel extremely envious,” Malcolm Shepherd tells The Times.

As the boss of Sustrans – Britain’s biggest cycling charity and key supporter
of The Times’ ‘Cities
fit for cycling’ campaign – being unable to ride a bike for more
than a year has been a source of chagrin both professionally and personally.

A little over 13 months ago, Mr Shepherd was involved in a cycling accident in
which he was badly hurt, with his right leg in particular severely injured.
He recovered enough to go back to work, but it will be a long time before he
has the full use of his leg again. Before the accident he had lived and
breathed cycling, and was devastated to lose such a large chunk of his life.

“The convenience of cycling is amazing,” he said. “You can be at your
workplace in a known period of time – even if there’s traffic, it takes you
roughly the same time every day. Whereas if you’re reliant on buses – as I
have been because I don’t own a car – it’s totally unpredictable. For me on
a bike it’s seventeen to twenty minutes to get to work. You have to allow an
hour for the bus and then be prepared to be late.

“I’m wanting desperately to get back on my bike. Not being able to cycle
impacts on my work – for example, we usually take our clients out [on bikes]
to see Sustrans’ achievements. I haven’t been able to join in the cycling –
I’ve missed out.

“But it’s not just work – we always used to go on cycling holidays. And I miss
the physical activity especially – since the accident, for the first time in
my life, I began to put on weight. I never ever had to worry about that
before.”

Mr Shepherd was in hospital for two weeks after the accident and has had to do
months of physiotherapy and exercises to build up his muscles. In the hope
that eventually he would be able to get back out on the road, he bought a
stationary bike to practise on.

“A joy to me is my static bicycle. It’s been of enormous benefit to me and was
one of my milestones. It was a hugely emotional moment just to get on the
static bike – and before the accident, that was the last thing I would ever
do! I still go on it twice a day.”

“Very early on we weren’t sure what the outcome would be, and we’re still not
sure what level of mobility I will have – but I really believe that I will
gain full mobility. I am working very hard at it.”

Finally, after months of training, he went for his first proper cycle in over
a year.

“I went for my first cycle ride since the accident last week – just two miles
on incredibly quiet roads. It was a simply beautiful day. You really do feel
the benefits of cycling – just going for a ride you feel so good.

“It’s quite a scary thought to get back in heavy traffic. This is not uncommon
with people who’ve had accidents – it’s a fear of the unknown, normally. I’m
nervous at the prospect of returning.”

Mr Shepherd has been a champion for improving cycle safety for years, but the
accident has given him a new perspective on the issue. Though he cannot
discuss the details of the accident, due to an ongoing legal process, it has
made him think more carefully about attitudes on the road.

“This has fired me up with an enthusiasm to make it a much greater priority…
The insight it [having an accident] gives you is quite extraordinary. You
begin to see the impact cycling has on the wider society.

“It’s abundantly clear to me that we have to change the way people view
cycling, and look very carefully at it.

“We want everyone to cycle, not just brave, fit young men, and to do it as a
naturally automatic thing. We have to make our streets and all of our
environment very different for those on foot and on bikes. But I’m
optimistic. I’ve been in this game a long time.

“Influencing the Government takes a long time. What The Times is
doing is of great assistance – we have seen a big increase in understanding
safety. We’re moving in the right direction.”

Mr Shepherd contributed to The Times’s ‘I
love my bike’ project with his own submission:

“#ilovemybike because it gets me around quickly”

To submit your own entry, upload a picture of yourself with your bike to
Twitter, Instagram or Flickr with the hashtag “#ilovemybike because…”, and
tell us why. You can also email us your entry to ilovemybike@thetimes.co.uk.

View the submissions so far at ilovemybike.tumblr.com

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3408217.ece

Cycling pressure groups will tell the Scotttish government next week that
nothing less than a revolution in attitudes is required to make the
country’s towns and cities fit for cyclists and pedestrians.

Cycling Scotland, Sustrans and other lobbyists are to meet Keith Brown, the
Transport Minister, on Wednesday, in the wake of two recent fatalities in
Edinburgh, resulting from collisions between bikes and motor vehicles.
Underpinning the campaigners’ arguments is a belief that decades of urban
planning, predicated on the needs of motorists, must be redesigned to put
people first.

John Lauder, national director of Sustrans, said: “Given the financial
situation, we know we can’t go out overnight and redesign our
infrastructure, but we can prioritise: identify the most dangerous road
junctions, set speed limits, create safe corridors, and so on.”

Mr Lauder was speaking little more than a week after Brian Simons, a cyclist,
was killed during rush hour on the A8 Corstorphine Road. In January Andrew
McNicoll died on the A70, another heavily used commuter route in and out of
Edinburgh. Campaigners believe that the deaths might have been prevented had
Scotland adopted pro-cycling policies, which have become embedded in parts
of Northern Europe and Scandinavia.

Nationally only 2.3 per cent of journeys to work in Scotland are made by bike,
though the Scottish Government hopes to raise the figure to 10 per cent by
2020. That ambition has been applauded by health lobbyists and
anti-pollution activists , but they believe it can be achieved only by
adresssing safety concerns.

“Rather than cyclists being seen as an inconvenience, they have to be a very
credible part of the transport culture,” said Mr Lauder. “Road safety bodies
and cycling organisations must get together with government, agencies, HGV
associations, motoring groups and the police to make the streets work
safetly.”

Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark are held up as models of good practice.
Despite high rates of car ownership, all three countries have achieved high
overall bike shares of urban travel, ranging from 9 per cent in Germany to
19 per cent in Denmark and 27 per cent in the Netherlands. Four out of every
ten journeys in Copenhagen are made by bike. Campaigners recognise that
roads and public spaces will have to be redesigned for bikes, if safe
cycling is to be achieved. Strict speed limits of 20mph in residential areas
will be required, along with filtering systems in busy areas to keep
cyclists safe from much bigger and heavier vehicles.

Ian Aitken, chief executive of Cycling Scotland, said: “It’s clear we still
need to provide more support for cyclists to make it feel safer and reduce
accidents rates even further and work towards zero fatalities on our roads.

“Better infrastructure to protect cyclists at junctions and more segregated
and on-road cycle lanes are certainly what prospective cyclists say they
want to see more of. There’s also a need for better driver education in
terms of how to pass cyclists.”

Having set a target for active transport, the Scottish Government should
intervene to give strategic direction to a national campaign promoting
cycling, said Mr Lauder. “The Cycling Action Plan has set an eminently
achieveable target. That being the case, we need to start now adressing our
road network and how it works. In essence, cyclists are designed out of our
road network. We have not thought through how we accommodate people and how
we share space.”

Some small steps are being taken. A 20mph limit will soon be enforced in
residential streets of Edinburgh between Arthur’s Seat and Morningside,
while a “quality bike corridor” is being established between George Square
and King’s Buildings, Edinburgh University’s two main campuses. In
Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, activists are urging East Dunbartonshire Council
to honour a year-old commitment to safer cycling by making the area a 20mph
zone.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3354950.ece

Italians put on their helmets, checked the brakes and yesterday joined the
pack trying to improve the safety of urban cyclists.

Taking direct inspiration from the Times cycle safety campaign, word of
which is being spread around the world by the #cyclesafe tag on Twitter,
Italian bloggers have teamed up with the national newspapers La Gazzetta
dello Sport and II Corriere della Sera to launch Salva i
ciclisti, an Italian take on the “Save our cyclists” headline that
launched the Times campaign on February 2.

Already 63 members of the Italian Parliament in Rome have pledged their
support.

The first demand of the Italian manifesto calls on the Government to
“guarantee the application at a local level of the eight points of the Times
manifesto in municipal areas”, and has already received official backing
from the mayors of Milan, Florence, Rome, Bologna and other cities around
the country.

Just as the Cities Fit For Cycling campaign was launched after Mary Bowers,
the Times reporter, was seriously injured when she was hit by a lorry
as she cycled to work on November 4 last year, the Gazzetta dello Sport
is anxious to act after one of its journalists, Pier Luigi Todisco, was
killed cycling to work.

His widow, Frances, was at the launch of Salva i ciclisti yesterday and
said: “I would sincerely like to thank The Times for launching
this campaign. I only hope we can make a small difference.”

Giangiacomo Schiavi, the deputy editor of II Corriere della Sera,
told the press conference: “We have written about cycle accidents and cycle
safety in the past, but we were too sweet about it. We should have been more
angry in criticising the state of the roads for cyclists in Italy. We should
have done what The Times did for Britain. Now we will do that.”

In 2010, 263 cyclists were killed on Italy’s roads. The total for the decade
from 2000 to 2010 was more than 3,500 , double the number of cycling deaths
on British roads.

According to research by the Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta into
cycling in 24 European countries, 17 have a better record for cyclist deaths
than Britain.

Research conducted in 2007 found that Britain had the fourth worst record for
the proportion of fatal road accidents that take place in urban areas — 39
per cent — behind Greece, Italy and Portugal.

Pierfrancesco Maran, a city councillor representing the Mayor of Milan,
Giuliano Pisapia, said: “We have done a lot to bring down the number of
fatalities for car drivers in Milan, but have not done the same for
cyclists. We have a bike hire scheme and are trialling a congestion zone in
the centre of the city to reduce traffic, but we really need to address the
issue of drivers who park in cycle lanes.”

Touring around Milan yesterday, bicycles were everywhere; leaning against the
parasols outside streetside cafés, circling around the central park and
dodging the yellow buses and trams that weave through the city centre.

The stereotype of fast and frantic traffic on the Continent seemed to hold
true as groups of cyclists jostled for space along roads where erratic
herring-bone and double parking provides an obstacle course at every turn.

As in Britain, the sentiment is that cycling in Italy is treated either as a
hobby or a professional sport, but is overlooked as a healthy, convenient,
enjoyable and sustainable means of transportation around busy cities; cities
that, much like London, Edinburgh, Liverpool or London, are far older than
the introduction of cars that now choke their streets.

Paolo Pinzuti, the blogger who took up the Times campaign in Italy six
days after its launch in Britain, said: “Cycle lanes, in London or in Milan,
are all very well, but cycle lanes can often be to cyclists what zoos are to
animals. We need to be able to share the road space. We can’t look at
Amsterdam or Copenhagen and say that their cycling culture is not possible
in our countries because their roads are different. That just isn’t true.”

Today, Mark Cavendish, the British world champion, will be competing in the
classic Milan-to-San Remo sprinters’ road race. Each of the bikes in the
race will bear the Times Cities Fit for Cycling logo, alongside the
Italian Salva i ciclisti logo, in support of growing protests across
Europe to highlight the right of cyclists to co-exist safely with
pedestrians, cars and lorries on the roads.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3354846.ece

A 43-year-old man has become the nineteenth cyclist this year to die on
Britain’s roads. The man, who has not been named, collided with an HGV on
the A1 near Blyth, in Nottinghamshire, yesterday. A forensic team attended
the scene and police asked for witnesses who were in the area around 8.55am.

In 2010, 111 cyclists died and the year before, 104. Cycling fatalities have
been increasing since 2008, prompting The Times to start its Cities
Fit for Cycling campaign.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3355948.ece