Cycling Up (a bit)

Based on an article in CTC Cycle Campaign News

The latest figures on England’s travel habits suggest a small revival in cycle trips may be under way, even though overall travel is declining. The average person made more cycle trips in 2014 than in 2013, as well as cycling more miles. Specifically, the average person in England last year cycled: 18 trips (14 in 2013) and 58 miles (49 in 2013, more than the 46 they rode in 1995/97).

The figures come from the National Travel Survey (NTS), which is based on travel diary surveys from individuals, rather than roadside counts. NTS therefore provides information not just about total traffic volumes for each transport mode, but also who is making journeys and for what purposes.

Overall travel demand has been declining steadily for several years. However the number of trips, stages and mileage travelled by car or van showed small increases in 2014 over 2013, though they are still below their 1995/97 levels.

As for cycling, NTS data have in recent years suggested increases in trips by young to middle-aged males, and for commuting and recreational purposes, while shopping and school trips have been declining.

So the fact that the average cycle trip length dropped slightly last year from 3.3 to 3.1 miles isn't necessarily bad news. On the contrary, there seems to have been a small increase in cycling for school journeys. People seem to be making more cycle commute trips too.

The increase in cycle mileage is particularly interesting in road safety terms. If the number of miles cycled rises more steeply than the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured, it suggests that the risk of cycling per mile is decreasing. This does seem to be the case for 2014: the number of miles cycled per person on average went up by 18% from the year before, whereas the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured (KSI) went up by much less at 8%.

Happily, people do seem to have spent more time out on their bikes last year: seven hours on average in 2014 - it’s been either five or six hours since 1995. Also, 8% of people - or about 4.3 million - cycled three or more times a week (7% in 2013).

One in five cycling injuries caused by 'dooring'

Up to 20% of cyclist injury incidents are due to careless 'dooring' - motorists opening their doors before looking. Everyone is recommended to cycle "a door and a bit more" away from parked cars but there are situations where this is difficult or cyclists feel intimidated. Unfortunately many painted cycle lanes encourage cyclists to cycle into the door zone and danger.

Mapping website launched

CPRE has launched a new interactive mapping microsite at maps.cpre.org.uk. It enables users to find out environmental information. One map shows tranquillity, electricity transmission lines and nationally designated landscapes.

Keeping Little Ones Warm, Dry and Safe in the Winter

I have been having a bit of a clear-out, and discovered the following items long outgrown by our two daughters and in need of new homes:

1. Neoprene overshoes, 'Outback' brand, purple/black, toe-to-heel 24cm, heel-to-ankle 21cm.
2. Neoprene overshoes, 'Rush' brand, grey/black with reinforced toe, toe-to-heel 27cm, heel-to-ankle 17cm.

   Please note for the two items above that the child's foot length should be shorter than the toe-to-heel dimension given, to allow for its width!

3. Yellow reflective waterproof jacket, 'Chain Gang' brand, front zip 50cm (longer at back), neck circumference 38cm, across shoulders 34cm, sleeve length (from shoulder seam) 53cm.
4. Yellow reflective vest, bib design, shoulder to hem 37cm, across shoulders 30cm.
5. Yellow reflective vest, 3M branded, waistcoat design, back 48cm, across shoulders 37cm.
6. Cape, orange, suit child on back of tandem, front 90cm, neck circumference 46cm, across shoulders 40cm approx.
7. Cape, yellow, specially made for use with our trailerbike, having velcro all down the front so that it can be secured above and below the frame tube. If it can be reunited with the machine for which it was intended as an accessory, this would be the ideal situation! front 56cm, neck circumference 42cm, across shoulders 32cm approx.

If you are interested in any of these items, please contact me ariadne@ldcuc.org.uk.

Boardman teaches overtaking

Based on an article in CTC Cycle Campaign News

While a good number of drivers are considerate when overtaking cyclists, there are still far too many who either don’t care, simply don’t know how or have no idea how intimidating a close shave is. Olympian cyclist Chris Boardman – advocate of better conditions for ordinary cycling too – explains all in a new video by Carlton Reid that can be viewed at http://is.gd/wdpNiZ .

CTC/Cyclenation campaigns conference 24 October (Liverpool)

The CTC and Cyclenation's annual cycle campaigners' conference 2015 is being hosted in Liverpool by Merseyside Cycle Campaign on Saturday 24 October.

• 11am - 5pm (lunch and refreshments included)
• £20 Early bird ticket (pre-register now until 20/09/2015; £25 thereafter) from http://goo.gl/wbZhqn
• The venue will be Blackburne House, right in heart of the world-renowned Georgian Quarter of Liverpool

Key speakers and workshop sessions will provide a forum to discuss recent developments and new opportunities for local cycle campaigning. Topics on the agenda include:

• Political leadership
• The role of public health
• Cycle-friendly planning and design
• Inclusive cycling
• Effective local campaigning
• Business engagement and funding

Loughborough University spearheads EU project

based on a Road Safety GB web page

Road safety experts at Loughborough University are leading a €5.8m European project designed to help halve road deaths in Europe by 2020. Almost 26,000 fatalities occurred on Europe’s roads in 2012, more than half of which were vulnerable road users. The European Commission (EC) has set ambitious targets to halve this figure by 2020.

Funded by the EC’s Horizon 2020 Programme, the SafetyCube project is the first systematic pan-European in-depth study of accident causation. As well as providing data on existing technologies, it will also enable predictive estimates to be made of the effectiveness of new technologies which may only be on the road in small numbers or not yet in use.

The project brings together 18 partners from 15 European countries and spans all elements of road safety from infrastructure and speed limits, to vehicles, road users, and driver behaviour.

The project will be led by Professor Pete Thomas of the Safe and Smart Mobility Research Cluster in the Loughborough Design School who said: “Road safety records for countries in the European Union vary considerably. If all Member States had the road safety levels of the best performing countries it is estimated deaths would have been reduced by over 10,000 in 2012.

“Countries that perform best in road safety are those which uniformly have a strong evidence base and a systematic approach to policy making that starts by identifying causes and key risk factors. This has not been adopted by most EU Member States with the consequence that road safety policies may be erratic and not results-focussed.

“But even the best performing countries do not have available an evidence-base of the breadth and depth to which SafetyCube will work, so all can expect to have opportunities to further reduce casualties.”

Active City conference in Leicester 2016

Jon Orcutt, who was responsible for organising the USA’s largest-ever bike share system will be coming to Leicester next year to take part in a ground-breaking ‘Cycle City, Active City’ Conference to be held at Curve in Leicester from 18-20 May 2016.

The conference will gather more than 500 delegates and expert speakers from around the world to share ideas about promoting cycling, walking and active lifestyles in cities, making them more ‘people-friendly’ places to live.

As well as attracting transport planning professionals, the conference will bring together experts in regeneration, health, tourism and technology. There are also plans for exciting public and school events to highlight the ongoing transformation of Leicester.

The two-day conference and exhibition will feature international speakers – not only from the USA but also from Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. They will join more than 100 speakers from the UK and Ireland who will discuss making cities easier to get around.

EuroVelo

The EuroVelo bicycle routes, a project of the European Cyclists' Federation (ECF), are a network of (currently 14) long-distance cycling routes criss-crossing Europe in various stages of completion.

More than 45,000 km of routes are already in place and it is envisaged that the network will be substantially complete by 2020. When finished, the network's total length will exceed 70,000 km.

EuroVelo routes can be used for bicycle touring across the continent, as well as by local people making short journeys. The routes are made of both existing national bike routes - such as the Dutch LF-Routes, the German D-Routes, and the British National Cycle Network - and existing general purpose roads, together with new stretches of cycle routes to connect them.

Full details of the routes can be found at www.eurovelo.com/en.