Cycle Safety and the Cycling Stakeholder Forum
A total of 118 pedal cyclists were killed in Great Britain in 2012. This was a 10% increase from 107 in 2011 but is still 9% lower than the 2005-09 average.
The number of pedal cyclists who were seriously injured in 2012 rose by 4% to 3,222 compared to 2011. This marks the eighth consecutive annual rise in pedal cyclist serious injuries.
Currently a major barrier to more cycling is feeling confident about cycling on the roads. 65% of non-cyclists and 48% of cyclists agreed that it was too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads and 66% of females and 53% of males agreed that it was too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads.
Cycle safety has been in the spotlight since The Times’s “Cities Fit For Cycling” campaign begun in February 2012, following an incident where one of their journalists, Mary Bowers, was knocked down by an HGV in November 2011.
In April 2013 the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group launched their “Get Britain Cycling” report. The government responded to the report on 28 August 2013:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-responds-to-cycling-report The “Get Britain Cycling” report was debated in the House of Commons main chamber on 2 September.
British Cycling launched its “Time to #ChooseCycling” report in February 2014: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/media_centre/article/cam20140207-British-Cycling-launches-10-point-plan-to-transform-Britain-into-a-true-cycling-nation-0
The Cycling Stakeholder Forum was set up by Norman Baker MP in 2011 to gather stakeholders to collectively consider how to generate more and safer cycling. The Forum has set up a number of sub-groups including one on safety. The safety sub-group includes the AA, ACPO, Bike Right, British Cycling, CPRE (Campaign for Protection of rural England), CTC, Cyclenation, Freight Transport Association, IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists), London Cycling Campaign, Mineral Products Association, PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety), Road Haulage Association, Sustrans and TfL.
Representatives from the sub-group provided advice on the allocation of up to £20M of DfT funds to improve the design of junctions and routes to make them safer for cyclists. 81 schemes were successful.
The Safety sub-group has set up a Justice sub-group to look at how the justice system works for vulnerable road users. There are representatives from: ACPO, Home Office, CPS, MOJ and Sentencing Council as well as representatives from British Cycling, Road Peace and the CTC.
In August 2013, the Prime Minister announced his vision for a ‘cycling revolution’ to bring Britain on a par with other European countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, where cycling levels are currently much higher. The key points from the announcement were:
In September 2013 we announced a taskforce with TfL to raise awareness of safety among HGV drivers and to take targeted enforcement action against the small minority of potentially dangerous operators, drivers and vehicles.
Technical provisions for improvement to the driver’s view around their HGV have been agreed, but still require implementation in the European Union. The changes will apply to new vehicle types from 30 June 2014 once agreement has been reached in the EU.
From 29 October 2014, all new goods vehicles will have to comply with revised European rules on sideguards, which permit fewer exemptions than the current domestic legislation.
No comments:
Post a Comment