Transport written question – answered at on 30 November 2010.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what quantifiable targets he has to (a) increase cycle use and (b) reduce accident risk per kilometre travelled by cycle.
While there are no quantitative national targets to increase cycle use, the coalition Government are committed to supporting sustainable travel initiatives, including the promotion of cycling. I anticipate cycling will be among the beneficiaries of the £560 million Local Sustainable Transport Fund I announced recently.
It is primarily for local authorities to take forward actions to increase cycle use and reduce accident risks, including consideration of segregation of cyclists from motor vehicles.
The UK already has some of the safest roads in the world, but the coalition is considering how to make them even safer. We will produce a new strategic framework for road safety that sets out the Government's vision for road safety, national measures, and how we will work with others to achieve this. We will be discussing this with stakeholders and intend to publish a strategy early next year.
Yes4 people think so
No2 people think not
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Annotations
Chris Beazer
Posted on 1 Dec 2010 12:34 pm (Report this annotation)
"The UK already has some of the safest roads in the world" - only if you are sitting in a metal box propelled by fossil fuels. If you are walking or cycling, the UK's roads are among the most dangerous roads in the world, but the government still propagates such rubbish as the above quote. This same government is now washing its hands of responsibility for improving the situation. Its cuts have lead to local authorities removing speed cameras and switching off road lighting at night. If local authorities are not required to actively promote cycling, in my experience of our local authority, only lip service will be paid to this policy.
Segregation of cyclists from motor vehicles would work if the whole of the cyclists' journeys were segregated. In practice, such facilities have only introduced more junctions where cyclists and motorists meet, and it is at such junctions where the majority of collisions (80%) occur.
Martin Dann
Posted on 1 Dec 2010 10:21 pm (Report this annotation)
Segregating cyclists from motorists does not increase safety. In fact shared use paths and cycle lanes actually increase the danger to cyclists. This seems counter-intuitive, but can easily be explained once you realise that a high proportion of cycling collisions occur at junctions (rcgb 2009), and cycle facilities/lanes increase the complexity and number of junctions cyclists have to deal with.
John Franklin estimates that cycle facilities make cycling 2-3 times more dangerous in his summary of research. Does the government really want to promote facilities that endanger cyclists?
http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/research.html