The Times this week dedicated an unprecedented amount of coverage to cycling following the launch of its campaign to improve road conditions for urban cyclists. The campaign is laudable and has the potential to improve conditions for anyone who lives in, or passes through, a town or city, but according the ETA, alarmist headlines risk exacerbating the problem that, where cycling is concerned, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Times front page headline this week was unequivocal; Save our cyclists. But according to the statistics quoted, the casualty rate for cyclists is one killed for every 88 million miles travelled; a figure that equates to over 35,000 years of riding for a cyclist riding 10 miles a day.
A spokesperson for the ETA said: “We have much to learn from our European cousins about designing the places we live to suit people as opposed to motorised traffic, but the portrayal of road safety as important only to cyclists underpins the unfounded perception that a bicycle is too risky a mode of transport to be considered an alternative to the car.”
Headlines that make much of the tiny statistical risk of being killed on a bicycle risk becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy; there is much evidence to suggest that the more of we cyclists there are on the roads, the safer for us it becomes.
The Cities Fit for Cycling Campaign
Following a road traffic collision between a heavy goods vehicle and the bicycle being ridden by Times correspondent Mary Bowers, the paper has written a covenant for cycling.
According to the newspaper, cycling on the urban roads of Britain should be a safe and pleasurable experience. Minister, mayors and local authorities need to build cities that are fit for the purpose. They have listed the following eight key requirements:
| Cities fit for cycling | The Times |
|---|---|
| 1. | Lorries entering a city centre should be required by law to fit sensors, audible lorry-turning alarms, extra mirrors and safety bars to stop cyclists being thrown under wheels. |
| 2. | The 500 most dangerous road junctions must be identified, redesigned or fitted with priority traffic lights for cyclists and mirrors that allow lorry drivers to see cyclists on their near-side. |
| 3. | A national audit of cycling to find out how many people cycle in Britain and how cyclists are killed or injured should be held to underpin effective cycle safety. |
| 4. | The highways agency should earmark 2 per cent of its budget for next generation cycle routes, providing £100m a year towards world-class cycling infrastructure. Each year cities should be graded on the quality of cycling provision. |
| 5. | The training of cyclists and drivers must improve and cycle safety should become a core part of the driving test. |
| 6. | The default speed limit in residential areas where there are no cycle lanes should become 20mph. |
| 7. | Businesses should be invited to sponsor cycleways and cycling super-highways, mirroring the Barclays-backed bicycle hire scheme in London. |
| 8. | Every city, even those without an elected mayor, should appoint a cycling commissioner to push home reforms. |
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