Government backs key CTC demand on road safety for cyclists

The Government’s draft Road Safety Strategy,  'A Safer Way', has backed a key demand of CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, by proposing a target to halve the risks of cycling by 2020.

This is an important victory for CTC's campaigning. The Government's previous road safety targets, measured purely in terms of numbers of injured cyclists, led many road safety officials to think the best way to their targets was to reduce cycle use rather than encouraging it! The new target is measured in terms of the risk of a serious or fatal injury per mile cycled, i.e. the actual risks faced by individual cyclists.  It also means increased cycle use will help meet the target, so long as cyclists' casualties are either reduced, or rise less steeply than the increases in cycling. 

The Government's proposed new 'rate-based' target is in line with recent research by CTC on the ‘Safety in Numbers’ effect, showing that cycling gets safer the more cyclists there are. We now hope that local authorities can feel confident in promoting cycling without the erroneous fear that overall numbers of injuries to cyclists will increase along with cycling levels.

CTC believes the best way for the Government to achieve its proposed target is to double cycle use.

This in turn involves tackling the fears that deter people from cycling: the speed of traffic, irresponsible driving, hostile roads and junctions, and dangerous vehicles especially lorries.  Meanwhile good cycle training needs to be available for people of all ages to give them the skills needed to cycle confidently and safely on the roads.

Encouraging more and safer cycling go together.  This will improve safety not just for cyclists but for all road users (since cyclists are very rarely involved in collisions where other road users suffer serious injuries), as well as having benefits for our health and that of our streets, communities and the environment.

CTC's full response to A Safer Way can be downloaded here.