Comment 93614

By Kevin Love (anonymous) | Posted October 23, 2013 at 19:45:23 in reply to Comment 93611

Thank you for the graph. This is the famous "safety in numbers" effect. Cycling has to be promoted as a safe activity for everyone. See, for example, the excellent article here:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/may/07/cycling-safety-york-calderdale

Here is an excerpt from the article:

"If you really want to have a lot of people cycling, one thing that people need is to feel safe cycling. It is the perceived safety that is so important," said Hans Voerknecht from Holland's Fiets Beraad, or bicycle council.

"It shouldn't be a fringe sub-culture, just for the cyclists you could call the urban guerrillas. You'll never have ordinary people cycling if that's the image they see."

Voerknecht points out that only a tiny minority of Dutch cyclists wear helmets, and while a few enthusiasts take to the roads in full Tour de France gear they are overwhelmingly outnumbered by people pedalling to work, school or the shops in everyday clothes, even formal business suits.

The CTC's Peck, who accompanied the MPs to the Netherlands, agrees that the image of cycling in Britain needs an overhaul.

"Helmets and things like that do give this impression that cycling is inherently dangerous, and this whole urban warrior image is not very helpful"

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