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Cycling Casualties Soar As More Brits Swap Cars For Bikes
Mon, 09 Nov 2009

The number of cyclists killed or seriously hurt on UK roads rose by nearly a fifth in the spring of this year, according to new government figures.

A total 820 incidents of serious cycling injuries and fatalities were recorded by the Department for Transport (DfT) between April and June, up 19 per cent from the same period last year, while slight injuries to cyclists increased by 9 per cent to 4,860.

Chris Peck from UK cyclists' organisation CTC said the rise could be partly due to more inexperienced riders taking to the road and an increase in risky cycling behaviour such as red-light jumping.

Carl Christopher, spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), added that the rise could either be a temporary thing or a longer-term trend of people swapping cars for bikes because of the recession.

A spokeswoman for the DfT said the growing number of people cycling was likely to be a factor, but added that the spring increase "should not be taken in isolation" as the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured each year has dropped by 30 per cent since the mid-1990s.

According to the DfT, the overall number of people killed or badly hurt on British roads between April to June totalled 7,170 – 3 per cent less than in spring 2008.
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