Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps he plans to take to improve the safety of cyclists.

Paul Clark (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Gillingham, Labour)

There are a number of initiatives under way at present, aimed at improving the safety of cyclists. These include promoting Bikeability cycle training for children; providing advice to child and adult cyclists on safe road use through the Highway Code and the THINK! road safety campaign, including use of protective equipment such as high visibility clothing and cycle helmets; providing more safe cycle routes to schools and other locations; guidance to local authorities on the design of safer road infrastructure, including effective cycle-specific measures as well as more general measures that benefit all road users such as 20 miles per hour (mph) zones; improvements to motor vehicle driver testing and training; and new measures on lorry mirrors to improve the visibility of cyclists and pedestrians.

In addition, the Department for Transport has commissioned a research project looking at a range of cycle safety issues. The project commenced on 21 August 2008 and will run for 24 months. The Department expects to publish the final reports in autumn 2010.

Our proposals for a new road safety strategy "A Safer Way", published for consultation in April 2009, include a new target to halve the rate of cycle and pedestrian casualties per kilometre travelled. This recognises the need to encourage more cycling and walking as well as making them safer. Measures to achieve this include stronger guidance to local authorities to adopt 20 mph speed limits in residential streets and other areas with high levels of walking and cycle activity. We intend to publish our final road safety strategy later this year.