This week on the blog we’re looking at what is a very serious topic – the safety of cyclists on our roads. We’re less than a month into 2011 and already there have been a number of cycling fatalities on the roads.
Former boxer, Gary Mason was killed whilst on his bike in London on 6 January, whilst last week saw two rising stars of road cycling killed – Carla Swart (Team HTC Highroad) and Lewis Balycki (British Cycling Talent Team) were killed within 24 hours of each other. As a result of these deaths a campaign has been started through facebook to Save A Cyclist.
In July 2010 the former Olympic rower, James Cracknell, was taking part in a challenge across America. He was cycling Route 66 through Arizona when in the early dawn, despite being lit up like a Christmas tree, the wing mirror of a truck struck him from behind, fracturing his skull in two places and leaving him with bleeding in the frontal lobes of the brain and a head full of staples. James was one of the lucky ones. He has lived to tell the tale – but there are plenty of those out there who haven’t.
A survey carried out by the Department for Transport shows that 60% of people think the roads in United Kingdom are too dangerous to cycle on. Statistic show that in 2009 there were 11 742 reported accidents involving cyclists on Britain’s roads – accounting for 5% of all road accidents.
City centres are hazardous places for cyclists
Statistics show that in 2009 there were 104 cyclists killed on Britain’s roads. Whilst this is a decrease in fatalities from 2008 – it is still too many. The statistics show that there were 11 742 reported accidents in 2009 that involved a pedal cyclist – with the most frequent causes for the accidents being the failure to look properly or judge the path or speed of other road users. Given the ever increasing cost of petrol many more people will be looking for alternative forms of transport and getting on your bike is a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of getting from A to B.
Without playing a blame game – there are things that both cyclists and other road users can do to keep themselves safe and in doing so, hopefully save lives.
For the drivers amongst you – take time to look for cyclists. Slow down – it’s not a race. When overtaking cyclist make sure you leave plenty of room. If you don’t cycle already – why not go out on a bike for an hour or two to better understand how it is for road cyclists.
For the cyclists amongst you there are simple cycle safety steps that you can take. Make sure you are wearing the correct clothing and have right equipment with you. Cycle helmets are a must along with reflectors and lights (if cycling at night). Don’t wear dark clothing at night (I don’t want to state the obvious but there were nearly 400 accidents caused in 2009 because of cyclists wearing dark clothing at night and not being visible) – make sure you can be seen.
For the cyclists among you – why not have a look on the Ordnance Survey explore portal to find new cycle routes to ride and upload your favourite routes for others to try? You’ll also find national cycle networks marked on OS Explorer maps and OS Landranger maps.
I hope you’ll join me and the hundreds of others who have joined the Save A Cyclist campaign and by doing so we see a reduction in accidents and fatalities on the roads involving cyclists.