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Cycling (CC licensed image by crabchick:Flickr)What’s keeping Brits off the bike? In a word: fear, says new study
A study of British adults’ attitudes to cycling has found that a large number want to cycle more for everyday short journeys but feel unable to do so because they find sharing the roads with cars, buses and lorries too scary.
The survey also shows that people now believe that cyclists should be taken seriously (68%), that they are doing their bit for the environment and that they are actually rather brave (50%).
Researchers at UWE-Bristol asked YouGov to help survey GB adults in both 2010 and 2013 to get their views on a range of issues linked to cycling in this country. They found that in 2010 33% of the GB sample agreed they were contemplating cycling for short journeys, and 18% agreed they’d actually made plans to take up cycling. However, as the 2013 data makes clear, these plans didn’t materialise, with cycling levels amongst the population remaining broadly flat.
Census data released recently also shows that despite a modest increase in cycling in some areas, especially in cities where provision has been made for cycling, the same proportion of people rode to work in 2011 as in 2001.
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A majority of those surveyed agreed cyclists should be taken seriously
(CC licensed image by Tristan Schmurr/Flickr)
One reason why people havent started cycling even thought they say they’d like to is lack of confidence. In the 2013 survey, 34% of GB adults agreed that, ‘I’m not confident enough to consider cycling’.
New cyclists want to be protected from motorised traffic, and this may be why as many as 65% of GB adults support an increase in funding to support more cycling for everyday journeys. Indeed, and contrary to the ‘road wars’ anti-cycling media hysteria of recent times, cycling is very warmly regarded by all but a few.
In the 2013 survey cycling was regarded as good for the environment by 72% (vs only 8% disagree) and a majority - 54% - agreed that Britain would be a better place if more people cycled (just 13% disagreed).
Even the hyperbolic idea that cycling is a great way of solving some of the world’s problems had 30% agreement. Only 10% thought cycling to work isn’t normal and 46% agreed that cycling is cool.
Media bias is increasingly recognised as such: a recent Top Gear piece making jokes at cycling’s expense should be set against the finding that 37% agreed (18% disagree) that TV motoring programmes are too negative about cycling, for example.
Professor Alan Tapp of UWE Bristol said: “Our data is clear that anti-cycling media rhetoric does not represent the views of the majority. A majority of adults in GB support cycling and want to see more money spent on it.
“Moreover, people recognise the environmental and congestion reducing potential of cycling, and many people would cycle more themselves – if only they felt more confident to do so.
“This is more evidence to back up the key recommendation of last year’s All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group: government must meet the urgent need for a safer cycling environment by investing in cycleways.
“At the moment enormous budgets are allocated to road building without any opposition, and yet much more modest recommendations for cycling are prevented from happening. This surely needs to change.”
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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72 comments
If for a moment you think about this,
A large proportion of adults drive, a large proportion of adults want to cycle but are scared.
What are they scared of, drivers!
So does this mean a large proportion of drivers recognise, maybe unconsciously, that they are incompetent and should not have licences because they haven't got a frickking clue about how to drive!!!!
"New cyclists want to be protected from motorised traffic, and this may be why as many as 65% of GB adults support an increase in funding to support more cycling for everyday journeys".
The motorised traffic these potential cyclists are afraid of is made up of themselves...They are basically admitting that they are scared of their own driving, which puts them off. This can't be admitted by people, as its everyone else who is the problem, but its the same issue I come up against trying to increase the number of children cycling to school. The parents all say "but its not safe with all the cars around the school.." - okay, but who is driving these cars? You.
I am the keenest cyclist out there, but the one thing that puts me off jumping on my bike and going where I want when I want is only ever the thought of the scary/dangerous/bullying driving that I might encounter, particularly around the rush-hours. In no other walk of life would an old chap feel it acceptable to pass me with his middle finger raised, or the fella in the Range Rover the other day force his way past a group of people, just because they are on bikes (I imagine he would do differently if we were on horses?). Until the liability law is changed to match many other countries, (where the driver is assumed to be at fault in an incident unless they can prove otherwise, not "presumed innocent" as in the UK), all the millions in the world can be spent on infrastructure but it won't encourage many many would-be's out of their "safe cars" onto bikes.
I'm finding myself getting really annoyed by the pervasive view that strict liability will magically make the UK's roads a nicer place.
Italy, Malta and Poland all have strict liability laws. Are they cycling utopias? Do they even have above average levels of cycling? No. Next!
"In the 2013 survey cycling was regarded as good for the environment by 72% (vs only 8% disagree) and a majority - 54% - agreed that Britain would be a better place if more people cycled (just 13% disagreed)."
The minority must live near me then.
I think soem of us cyclists home in on the negative comments about cyclists and also extrapolate from the minority of idiots that drive cars to think that all motorists are like that.
It's easy to put it all in the same bag with the same label but there's a whole spectrum out there.
There are altercations between individual cyclists and individual drivers. These are just like the hooting gesturing incidents that drivers give each other. Not really to do with cycling per se
There is non-malicious carelessness by drivers.
There are misunderstandings by motorists about positioning (taking the lane etc) and a lack of knowledge on dealing with cyclists that also end up being seen as anti-cyclist behaviour.
Then there are the anticyclists drivers that actually go looking for trouble or are predisposed to taking issue.
The trouble is a lot of cyclists think all these types of attitude are synonymous with that last category. That leads them to thinking there is a lot more anticycling sentiment than there is.
As a driver and cyclists (I used to drive for a living) I can see why this happens. In my vehicle some idiot hooting or making gestures at me isn't nearlty such an emotional experience as when I am on my bike.
If most motorist were anti-cyclist or agressive towards us there would be absolute carnage. There isn't. I am 52 been cycling properly in a club since I was 12 (1973) I ride to work most days around 25 miles round trip.
I wouldn't be writing this if most drivers out there were anti-cyclist. I'd have been dead in a ditch in the mid 1970s (especially considering how I used to ride about the place as a teenager).
There are 2 protests today that are focused on pushing governments to make road networks better for people who choose to cycle...
At 1pm Stop Killing Cyclists is highlighting the results from its FOI questions put to all London Boroughs in its #WallOfDeath protest at Westminster City Hall.
See STOP THE KILLING: WALL OF DEATH
Then at 2pm the Brake charity is protesting for #GO20 at Parliament, demanding 20mph speed limits on more roads.
See BRAKE: Charity takes campaign to parliament
be nice to include a link to the actual study, no?
The issue is cants in cars not giving cyclists enough room, not looking for them properly at junctions, and not understanding roads are there for everyone to use, not just the motorised tin box brigade!
Cash...that is the issue. Who's gonna pay?
Everyone. Just like everyone pays for the roads. Driving gets about £80 per head of population from general taxation. Cycling gets a tiny amount, despite the fact that more people are able to cycle than drive.
I am glad you said CASH. Cash (as in cash flow) is an issue at the moment. Funding in itself shouldn't be an issue because cycling infrastructure saves money.
At the moment the lack of cash in capital budgets is restricting the ability to save money by investing in cycling infrastructure.
Traffic congestion costs the UK £4.3 bn a year
Road Maintenance Costs due to traffic attrition are hard to calculate in this regard because they invariably include upgrading and cyclists don't use motorways and not many use A roads but that cost is also £bns per year
Health Service Costs are reduced
Basically anything that reduces traffic, fuel usage and emissions, speeds up traffic, improves public health and reduces the negative balance of payments on imported oil (yes we need to import sweet crude to make petroleum) is going to save a whole heap of money.
But like that little old lady in a big old house we may know that we need a new efficient boiler and that it will save us a heap in the long term but if you don't actually have the cash to buy one you can't.
Cash not the financial benefits and gains is the issue.
They appear to be pretty keen to make the cash available for HS2 though on very specious cost benefit grounds as well...
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