Cyclists hurt seven times more often than figures show

Cyclists hurt seven times more often than figures show
Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent
May 17 2018, 12:01am,
The Times


British cyclists are four times as likely to be killed as those in the
Netherlands

The number of cyclists being injured on British roads could be almost
seven times higher than previously thought.

Huge under-reporting of cycling injuries, often involving minor
collisions with cars and other vehicles, has been found by researchers.
About a third of incidents did “not involve anyone else�, suggesting
that they were linked to potholes in the road or other obstacles such as
bollards.

The report by Rachel Aldred, a reader in transport at Westminster
University, will fuel demands for an increase in the number of
segregated cycle lanes. She said that British cyclists were four times
as likely to be killed as those in the Netherlands, where cycle lanes
are far more common.

The study also unearthed great under-reporting in the number of people
injured while walking, with pedestrians three times more likely to be
hurt than official police accident figures show. It revealed that people
with disabilities and those from poorer homes, who are less likely to be
able to afford their own car or public transport, were more likely to be
injured than the national average.

Dr Aldred analysed feedback from the National Travel Survey, an annual
poll of the transport habits of 147,000 people. She compared this with
road accident figures based on police reports, which recorded 18,477
cycling casualties on roads in 2016, including 14,978 slight injuries
and 3,499 people who were killed or seriously injured.

Analysis of the National Travel Survey showed that the risk of cycling
injuries was much higher, although most of these additional injuries
were likely to be slight, Dr Aldred said, suggesting that the true scale
of injuries could exceed 125,000.

Figures published by the Department for Transport at the start of the
year showed that the number of people cycling has flatlined over the
past decade as traffic has risen steeply. The average adult made 15
journeys by bicycle in 2016, two fewer than ten years earlier. The
number has fluctuated between 14 and 18 trips since the mid-1990s.

The government has launched a review of cycle safety to increase the use
of bicycles. It is likely to consider imposing mandatory passing
distances to prevent motorists overtaking too close to cyclists on busy
roads. It could also investigate the possibility of fines for “car
dooring�, when motorists or car passengers negligently swing open doors
and hit passing cyclists.