Commitment to Cycling

Javed Saddique's picture

Everybody Active - safe cycling sessions for adults with disabilities in Reading

By Javed Saddique on 13 April 2012
Everybody Active is a cycling session run each week on a Wednesday. The sessions provide the opportunity for adults with disabilities to cycle in a safe environment.
All ability cyclists take to the track in Reading

Since the launch of the Everybody Active cycling sessions, we have seen numbers of attendees increase and already we have ten regular participants who turn up whatever the weather.

The sessions have been such a success that there are now two every Wednesday between 10am and 12pm at Palmer Park, Reading.

Anna Cipullo's picture

Free cycling training for the over 50s in Swindon

By Anna Cipullo on 5 April 2012
The Over 50’s Cycling Courses in Swindon have been so popular that it is fully booked months in advance and more dates have been added to cope with demand.
Over 50s begginners line up for their first lesson

Many people have continued cycling in their learning groups many months after their courses finish, which has created a growing cycling scene for older people in the area.

Chris Peck's picture

Government launches strategy for walking and cycling

By Chris Peck on 29 March 2012
10 February 2010
The Department for Transport and the Department of Health published their Active Travel Strategy in February 2010. It incorporated a new National Cycle Plan, which promised to launch a "Decade of Cycling" in England.
Cyclists in central London

The Strategy noted that cycling currently accounts for less than 2% of trips in Britain, a very low proportion by comparison with many of our continental neighours, and it set out to significantly increase this. CTC welcomed the Strategy's recognition of the benefits of cycling, and particularly the acknowledgement that, compared to its health benefits, "The actual risk of cycling is tiny."

Julie Rand's picture

How to stay safe when riding to work

By Julie Rand on 22 March 2012
Many people are put off cycling to work because they think it's dangerous. Actually, it isn't any more dangerous, statistically, than walking and daily exercise is what most of us need to live longer. Following CTC's guide will help you feel safer on your regular cycling journeys.
Lady riding round around about indicating right

Riding to work is one of the easiest ways of incorporating some daily exercise into your routine. Never mind stuffy gyms and exercise bikes, nothing beats feeling the wind in your hair and the sun on your face - even the occasional downpour can be refreshing and you'll arrive at the workplace feeling more alive than the poor, old motorist who is still stuck in the traffic jam you just whizzed past. However, many people think - wrongly, as it happens - that cycling is very dangerous.

Victoria Hazael's picture

Will the Transport Secretary turn the cycling debate into action?

By Victoria Hazael on 23 February 2012
After a hugely positive debate on cycling in the House of Commons, CTC has called on Transport Secretary Justine Greening MP to support an action plan for ‘more and safer cycling’.
MPs at the cycling debate in Parliament

CTC has called on Transport Secretary Justine Greening MP to support an action plan for ‘more and safer cycling’, following a hugely positive debate on cycling in the House of Commons this afternoon. CTC also echoed calls from MPs for the restoration of Cycling England in order to co-ordinate delivery of this plan.

Contact Information: 

CTC Press Office
Email: publicity@ctc.org.uk
Telephone: 0844-736-8453

Notes to Editors: 

CTC, the UK’s largest cycling charity, inspires and helps people to cycle and keep cycling, whatever kind of cycling they do or would like to do. Over a century’s experience tells us that cycling is more than useful transport; it makes you feel good, gives you a sense of freedom and creates a better environment for everyone. 
 

  • We provide expert, practical help and advice.
  • We support individuals and communities.
  • We protect cyclists’ interests.
  • We campaign to make cycling mainstream and to remove the things that stop people cycling.
  • We help people develop the confidence and skills to cycle.
  • We promote the benefits of cycling to individuals, to society and to the economy.

CTC has strongly supported the Times’s “Cities fit for cycling campaign”, whose manifesto echoes many things which CTC has called for over many years.  CTC’s views and briefing materials on various cycle safety topics can be found on the pages linked from www.ctc.org.uk/safety.

CTC is one of six organisations which supports the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG), through its membership of the UK Cycling Alliance.  The other members of UKCA are the Bicycle Association, British Cycling, Cyclenation, the London Cycling Campaign and Sustrans.

UKCA produced an 8-point call to action in advance of today’s debate, which is outlined in a 2-page summary briefing:

There is also a fuller 9-page briefing from CTC, London Cycling Campaign and Cyclenation with additional detail on the actions which UKCA is calling for.

CTC’s Stop Smidsy website provides further information many others cases where drivers have received derisory sentences following convictions for ‘careless’ driving offences or other charges which seriously under-state the gravity of driving which causes danger.

 

 

Chris Peck's picture

Will the transport secretary turn the cycling debate into action?

By Chris Peck on 23 February 2012
23 February 2012
After a hugely positive debate on cycling in the House of Commons, CTC has called on Transport Secretary Justine Greening MP to support an action plan for ‘more and safer cycling’.
The debating chamber of Westminster Hall was packed for the debate on cycling

CTC has called on Transport Secretary Justine Greening MP to support an action plan for ‘more and safer cycling’, following a hugely positive debate on cycling in the House of Commons this afternoon. CTC also echoed calls from MPs for the restoration of Cycling England in order to co-ordinate delivery of this plan.

Cherry Allan's picture

Cycling and local transport

By Cherry Allan on 5 January 2012
To maximise cycling's benefits for local communities, councils should give it a central role in their transport plans and link it strongly with other policies and strategies...
Female cyclist
Headline Messages: 
  • Local authorities’ transport policies and spending plans should place cycling at the heart of their wider strategies to promote active and sustainable travel. These strategies should recognise and aim to maximise the full range of cycling’s benefits for health and the environment; the mobility it offers for people of different ages, backgrounds and abilities; its role in creating safer and more pleasant streets; and the economic benefits and cost-saving it can provide for individuals, employers and the local authority itself.
  • Councils should make commitments, either in their Local Transport Plans or cycle-specific strategies, to create a cycle-friendly environment and to focus on encouraging people from all backgrounds to take up cycling, or to cycle more often.
  • Councils should forge partnerships with employers, schools and colleges, the health sector, the police, public transport operators, local volunteer groups and others, to maximise their support and contribution towards these plans.
CTC View (formal statement of CTC's policy): 

Local authorities should:

  • Commit to cycling by: giving full recognition to its environmental, health and other benefits; linking cycling with the wider aims of local transport and other policies, especially by aiming for more as well as safer cycling and tackling the deterrents (e.g. speeding, bad driving, hostile road conditions and lorries); linking cycling plans with other strategies/policies (e.g. planning, health, education and the economy); and forging partnerships with other local partners in health, education, business public transport, the police and voluntary sector groups.
  • Make the physical environment cycle-friendly by: ensuring that developments are accessible and permeable by cycle; that highways are engineered, laid out, signed and maintained with cycle users in mind; and enhancing provisions for recreational and off-road cycling.
  • Promote cycling by: making national standards cycle training (Bikeability) available to people of all ages; supporting school and workplace travel plans and incentives; and encouraging cycling with promotional material, campaigns and personal advice.
  • Resource the plan well by: committing capital, revenue and staff resources to cycling, training staff appropriately and harnessing the support of the voluntary sector.
  • Evaluate and monitor the plan effectively by: committing to substantial increases in cycle use; measuring cycle casualties per mile or per trip; monitoring how safe people think cycling is; identifying suitable data collection and reporting mechanisms; and seeking feedback from key partners, including local communities and the voluntary sector.
Download full campaigns briefing: 
application/pdf iconCycling and local transport
Publication Date: 
January 2012

Safety in Numbers

Safety in Numbers
The Safety in Numbers campaign aims to shift attitudes to road safety amongst government and local authorities.
application/pdf iconSafety in Numbers brochure (4Mb)
application/pdf iconSafety in Numbers - with references, data
application/pdf iconSafety in numbers: Powerpoint presentation (2.4Mb)
Anonymous's picture

CTC supports 20mph as the default

By Anonymous on 15 August 2011
CTC, the national cycling charity, welcomed today’s announcement from the Institute of Advanced Motorists that many of its members support the adoption of 20mph speed limits.
CTC - Working for Cycling

However, CTC highlighted the benefits of blanket implementation versus what it called the "patchwork" approach of 20mph zones.

Contact Information: 

CTC Press Office
Email: publicity@ctc.org.uk
Telephone: 0844-736-8453

Notes to Editors: 

CTC, the national cycling charity, with 68,000 members across the UK, is both the oldest and largest cycling body in the UK, established in 1878. CTC provides a comprehensive range of services, advice, events and protection for its members and works to promote cycling by raising public and political awareness of cycling’s health, social and environmental benefits. Information on CTC is available at www.ctc.org.uk.

The Instute of Advanced Motorists' press release reporting the results of its poll can be read at:
http://www.iam.org.uk/latest_news/publicwant20mphlimitsbutnottheenforcem...

The results of the IAM survey come on the same day as the The University of East Anglia publicised the launch of a new national project to reduce the carbon footprint of the National Health Service, in which doctors will be encouraged to prevent diseases caused by "obesogenic built environments".
http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2011/August/lowcarbnhs

Blanket 20mph could give more parents the confidence to allow kids to walk to school. Research was published when schools broke up for the summer holidays, showing that less than half of children regularly walk to school.
http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/news/uk/-/just-47-of-primary-school-pupi...

Right To Ride to School

Right To Ride to School
CTC believes that all children should have the right to cycle to school. Yet in some schools backward policies mean many children are unable to cycle to school.
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  • Patron: Her Majesty The Queen
  • President: Jon Snow
  • Chief Executive: Gordon Seabright
  • Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC): A company limited by guarantee, registered in England no.25185. Registered as a charity in England and Wales No 1147607 and in Scotland No SC042541
  • CTC Charitable Trust: A company limited by guarantee, registered in England no.5125969. Registered as a charity in England and Wales No 1104324 and Scotland No SC038626

 

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