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Land's End (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 licence by Tito Perez:Flickr)End to end riders urged to look after themselves after recent deaths
Cyclists taking part in rides between the two most distance points in Great Britain have been urged to look after themselves after several deaths among end-to-end riders in recent years.
Most recently, Sally Preece from Cheltenham died after being involved in a collision with a car on September 13 while riding from Land’s End to John O’Groats with the Deloitte Ride Across Britain.
On September 6, 34-year-old Anna Roots from London was killed following a collision with a lorry at Bettyhill, just 55 miles into the John O’Groats to Land’s End ride she was undertaking with a friend.
Riders tackling the trip beteen Land's End and John O'Groats are usually raising money for charity.
John Green, a former town councillor in John O'Groats, told the Herald: "It is estimated that there are around 3,000 or 4,000 end to enders every year. Most of them do try to raise money for charity as a goal."
Sadly though there is usually a fatality on the route each year.
Sandy Allan, road safety manager at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: "It is terrible when any person loses their life on our roads but it seems all the more tragic when they were undertaking a journey specifically to help others.
"Any cyclist undertaking a charity ride often puts more thought and preparation into their journey than most of us would on a normal commute to work. Unfortunately they are no less susceptible to being injured if involved in a collision..
"All road users need to show consideration to others around them and appreciate driving or riding from their perspective."
Jacqui Shannon, of the CTC said: "We receive more enquiries on the cycle route from Lands End to John O'Groats as a cycle challenge, either for a charity or as a personal endeavour, than all our other routes put together.
"Doing an unsupported or a self-initiated ride for charity on open roads is gaining popularity which is great for the charities who benefit. The rider, however, needs to remain aware of the road conditions, other users and their own abilities to ensure their own safety."
Just how risky is the end-to-end?
The CTC estimates that there is one cycling fatality for every 27 million miles ridden, and according to the BBC, Department for Transport figures show that there is one cycling death or serious injury (KSI) for roughly every million miles cycled.
If we take John Green's estimate of the number of end to enders and call the distance 1,000 miles, then we'd expect to go years between deaths.
The problem is that much of the route is on rural A and B roads with high speed limits. According to RoSPA, "the severity of injuries suffered by cyclists increases with the speed limit, meaning that riders are more likely to suffer serious or fatal injuries on higher speed roads. Almost half of cyclist deaths occur on rural roads."
As a result, the three or four annual KSIs you'd expect on the end to end are more likely to result in death than serious injury.
That's borne out by the locations of many of the fatalities in the last few years. In 2008 Graham Lees was killed on the A38 near Taunton; the following year Simon Evans died when he was hit by a car on the A30 near Tedburn St Mary. In 2010 Arthur Platt died after being hit by a car on A442 in Telford.
Last year Andrew McMenigall and Toby Wallace were killed when they were hit by a lorry on the A30 near Okehampton. Both of the recent fatalties also occurred on A roads: Anna Roots was on the A836 and Sally Preece was on the A85 close to Loch Earn.
Another factor may be that a rider on a schedule has no choice of route once under way. If you're just out for a ride you can change your mind if a road turns out to be dangerously busy, and commuter cyclists tyically tailor their routes to avoid traffic. But avoiding, say, the A30 means a hilly and winding route through Cornwall and Devon.
All in all, though, it might be better to take a bit longer over an end-to-end adventure and follow a quieter route than to dash the length of the country on A roads.
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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14 comments
The most fundamental point that keeps getting over looked:-
Drive to the conditions.
As a driver you can never be sure that around that blind corner is a herd of escaped cows, a cyclist, a car crash, flooding, etc etc etc. So yes you can legally drive at 50/60/70/etc. but that doesn't make it safe! Sooner more drivers use their head the better for all.
I took a quiet route and still got knocked off. It is the attitude of the drivers that needs to change not the route.
Hmmmm. Perhaps they should avoid wearing short skirts and revealing tops, and make sure they don't drink to the point of losing control?
Oh, no, sorry, that's the wrong kind of victim-blaming.
"All in all, though, it might be better to take a bit longer over an end-to-end adventure and follow a quieter route than to dash the length of the country on A roads."
yeah keep moving us cyclists of the main roads and onto the B roads so drivers dont have to think about us, not that they get sufficient punishment if they wipe us out anyway.
so lets keep cycling, but only on quiet B roads....
although some of the B roads up here in scotland are worse than the main A roads because of rat-run-cut-through's
so lets not cycle in rush hour then....
so when can we cycle, ok B roads on a quiet sunday morning
until we all get run down by church go-ers
will the list of excuses and reasons never end, the simple thing is, not enough money, not spent wisely.
give us safety!
Why?
Hey I have idea.
Pop out and mark it for us..
More seriously I suspect that there isn't because there has not been the need. Until recently LEJOGers have been experienced cyclists who didn't need their hands holding.
Sadly now people want things done for them.
It's frankly bonkers that it isn't a signed national route using a similar one to the traditional CTC scenic.
I'll start with the comment that it is obviously wrong that these things happen and that traffic conditions kill people.
right , now back to the real world.
Main roads are bloody dangerous. Its a fact.
Choosing to ride on them adds to the risk. If you don't want that don't ride there. Easy
To say that's its unavoidable is passing the blame. No one has to ride LEJOG. One can do it without the drag strips. Why not do such a thing?
If the detours add too much time then maybe you are doing the wrong event. cut your route to match your time if the risk appals you. It does me.
Again to stop the ranters. It is wrong that the risks exist but they do and they won't be stopped anytime soon so why not go where they are reduced.
I do wonder if many of these rides are done in circumstances where other risks are added. Eg inexperienced riders, bad weather reducing visability, mass events bringing the red mist down a bit. It all doesn't help.
Sadly
There always bits of infrastructure which are challenging to navigate, and undesirable to do so. Even in Holland they will have them. But people manage to navigate them safely or choose not to try.
A sensible approach is to try to avoid these routes as much as possible, which is part of what CTC are suggesting.
I think there is also something to be said about learning your craft before undertaking this sort of challenge. I would not advocate that anyone undertake such a challenge without serious time cycling on roads and learning to ride well and with other riders also. I've noticed that in large group events like this that individuals hide within the apparent safety of a group. While this affords some protection it doesn't mean that you switch off from your awareness of riding and stop taking responsibility for yourself - though the longer you ride the more likely your concentration will lapse - but as Malcolm Gladwell was at pains to point out, experience helps you make those decisions better.
Sad News. Is it time that we had a sensible CTC mapped route from Lands End to John O' Groats? One that would come in around 1000 miles and map out quieter roads and offroad sections?
Seems all the good work that CTC do, it would be great if their "flagship route" could be the one that is the biggest. Attracting interest nationally and internationally too.
Part of the appeal of LEJOG / JOGLE is choosing your own route. Some people like to (or are only able to) do it in the shortest possible timeframe which usually means taking quicker (and busier) routes, some people will take 3-4 weeks which means they have the time to take in all the back roads.
As usual though, the headline sort of implies "cyclists should look out, it's your own fault if you get knocked off" rather than what it should read which is "OI MOTORISTS - STOP FUCKING KILLING PEOPLE!"
That said, I was driving back from JOG on Monday afternoon and saw some cyclists, all pannier-ed up, riding down the A9 between Inverness and Perth. In the rain. Trucks thundering past mere feet away. That struck me as insane. The route we'd done to get up there was stunning - tiny little lanes through beautiful scenery with one car every half hour and these people were choosing to ride down what is essentially a 2-lane motorway?!
Your irk at the headline might be echoed in others' irk at the second bit of your comment! The people dicing with death were maybe no too happy about it themselves, missed some tiny road marking for their turn off, come from some other country where there's proper cycling provision and you don't have to plan every metre of your route but can rely on segregated paths next to all major roads, and spent the rest of their holiday saying they'll never return (maybe)!
Surely the folks riding the end to end have an idea of the route?
When I did my unsupported 11 day ride this year, I had a plan A.
After starting down a road that I then wanted off due to the busy traffic/weather or for whatever other reason, there was a plan B and C to fall back on.
I had all the accommodation booked in advance, so I had no option on where I could finish, but there are usually different options on how to get there!
Just look at the map the night before and get a good idea of possible route variations.
Plus if the risk to your life is that bad, and there are no other options, take the risk of getting a fine and cycle on the (usually deserted) footpath!
Just my £0.02 worth.
I feel bad for those that have lost their lives or been injured on what is a fantastic ride through our country.
For all those who are doing it in the future, good luck, take care and plan well!
what footpaths? The roads where these deaths are occuring are fast A roads with nothing at their sides
If only we all had weeks of holiday to spare...