London's Cycle Safety Action Plan

Transport for London published their Cycle Safety Action Plan last week and it makes interesting reading.

Other interesting reading of course was the publication of Sustrans Call to Action, and the first draft of the West of England Joint Local Transport Plan that will shape the future of cycling in the region. More on those in a later post.

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London’s Transport Advisor says "Cycling in the capital is getting safer; and that this is being accompanied by ever increasing numbers of people taking to two wheels.  We must make sure that every person who gets on a bicycle feels and most importantly is as safe as possible."

While the following statement is about London I reckon the same is true in Bristol. "The safety of cycling is a major cause of public concern and is the reason most often given by non-cyclists to explain why they do not intend to take up cycling (27%). Less than a half of Londoners (46%) agree with the statement that 'Cycling is a safe way of getting about’ and 86% of all Londoners believe that traffic makes people afraid of cycling. Safety is an issue even amongst those who already cycle, with 10% of current cyclists stating that they did not ride more in 2009 than 2008 because of their concerns about safety. One of the most effective strategies to increase the safety of cycling may be to encourage more cycling and more cyclists."

There's a website to go with the campaign aiming to get people to be more aware of what's around them by short films. Some I'd seen before and I still like this one: