Why Isn't Cycling Normal in London?

[danielrlee]

Part 2 to come....

 

[flecc]

What utter nonsense, cyclists a rare breed in London!

A third of all commuting into central London is now by bicycle and TfL say that it could be 50% within a decade on present trends. There are almost 600,000 daily commuting journeys on bikes.

Travelling at the weekend from my outer London borough to visit a friend in inner London I see numerous cyclists using their bikes at weekends and there are thousands of bikes parked and locked often two or three deep to all the stands and railings along the edges of the pavements.

In addition London has a number of very active roadie cycling clubs, many MTB clubs and a lively BMX scene. London is also the home to numerous cycling professionals, many of whom train on routes into my hilly North Downs area. Bradley Wiggins is one of those professional cyclist Londoners for example.

It's true that like the rest of the country many are scared of cycling in traffic and also like elsewhere, many parents won't allow their kids to cycle on the roads. But the overall cycling scene is by far the healthiest in the whole of the country. In support of that is that London's car ownership proportion has long been in decline and is now the lowest in the country.
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[wheeler]

The fat lassie at the end definitely needs to get on a bike.

wheeler

 

[Steve Bowles]

Easy answer: too many dead cyclists.

 

[flecc]

Easy answer: too many dead cyclists.

Untrue, London has roughly a half of the cyclist death rate of the rest of the country. It's been steadily reducing for years.
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[Steve Bowles]

I've seen the videos of London cyclists, and you have to have brass balls to get out there. There aren't many roads in England where you can cycle safely, so only having half the fatalities isn't something to write home about -- but I would like to participate in the Brooks Tweed Ride some day.

 

[flecc]

only having half the fatalities isn't something to write home about --

But reducing it over the years from a peak of over 20 per year to more like 8, while more than trebling the number cycling is something to write home about.
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[Steve Bowles]

But reducing it over the years from a peak of over 20 per year to more like 8, while more than trebling the number cycling is something to write home about.
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You win.

 

[Trevormonty]

But reducing it over the years from a peak of over 20 per year to more like 8, while more than trebling the number cycling is something to write home about.
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Most likely due to traffic going so slow.

 

[flecc]

Most likely due to traffic going so slow.

Not so. The cycling growth has been in commuting which is often over routes extending far outside the slowest central region and the traffic speeds have changed little over time. There's always been a slow central core and many road stretches with 40 mph or more commonplace. Also the highest cyclist death rates were from before the congestion charge was introduced and central traffic heavier.

The largest reductions have been during this decade in the most recent years, due to the actions taken to tackle the deaths problem. They include a combination of extensive publicity, route changes, safety additions to the vehicle types most often in collision with cyclists, education and police action.

The main credit for the reduction goes to these:

Cyclists now avoiding some of the most dangerous practices like riding into the blind zones of trucks at left turn junctions for example.

Greater driver awareness of cyclists due to publicity, the much larger presence of cyclists now and some driver education programs.

There's more planned, additional separated routes for cyclists like the current east - west route and priority traffic lights for cyclists among them, so we can expect further cyclist accident reductions.
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