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Go Bike East Dunbartonshire Newsletter Spring 2001

Safe Cycling for Adults or How to cycle in Traffic.

Regular cyclists, on average, live seven years longer than non cyclists: But the traffic on our roads looks pretty ferocious and one might be forgiven for thinking that to venture into that maelstrom would be suicidal. So what does your experienced octogenarian pedal pusher know that the rest of us have missed?
Its obvious when you think about it. If you want to drive a car you buy a highway code, and maybe, the Ministry Driving Manual (1). You take lessons. At first you practice on quiet roads, later moving on to busier ones. Then there is the written exam and a driving test, and even then, when finally let loose on the Queen's highway you still wear a green L plate to warn others that you might be prone to the occasional error.

So you want to ride to work and you haven't been on a bike for ten years. What do you do? Buy a Mountain bike, hop on and ride through town in the rush hour? Please don't. At present the ministry statistics (2) show that it is actually safer to cycle five miles than it is to walk, but it only needs a few folk to take up cycling like that to spoil the statistics.
Tackle cycling in traffic the same way as you would learn to drive a car. Buy the Ministry Manual (1). Ideally read the first two chapters before you buy a bike - It is important to get the right machine for the job - Practice somewhere quiet until you can at least look behind you without wobbling. Then after you have studied the illustrations in the manual to see where the bike should go in traffic - the text is a bit weighty but the illustrations are numerous and excellent, using the same format as in the Highway Code - then tackle traffic, beginning with short journeys on quiet roads.

Try getting into the habit of using the bike for those local journeys where you would previously taken the car; maybe posting a letter or nipping along to the corner shop to start with.
All the above applies only to reasonably sane and stable adults. Children are different. Even a ten year old has difficulty in judging speeds and distances and both children and adolescents have a very limited concept of danger.
A different approach is needed and has already been worked out. 'Safe Routes To Schools' is a well established programme for getting children riding safely, that produces excellent results. It was pioneered in Denmark where the city of Odense achieved an 80% reduction in child road traffic accidents coupled with an enormous increase in the number of children cycling to school (3). But it requires time, commitment, enthusiasm and money, which is why, presumably, East Dunbartonshire Council is dragging it's feet.

References
(1) 'Cyclecraft' By J.Franklin , The Stationery Office, ISBN 0 11 702051 6
(2) DETR quoted in 'Social Trends 28', 1998 edition, page 203
(3) Safe Routes to School Report, (1998) Odense Magistrat. 2. Afdeling.


Spring 2001 Index