Nick O'Neill, head of Lees Bike Claims, speaks out about the UK trend
and the risks to cyclists:
"Cyclists have been using the roads in this country for a lot
longer than car drivers; yet in the UK we persist in seeing
cyclists as the interlopers. More courteous and aware driving
would help to avoid a lot of accidents involving
cyclists.
In the UK we are in love with our cars. We are dependant
on them. We cannot imagine life without them - or that there
was ever a time before our total reliance on motor vehicles.
It is hard for our generation to imagine a landscape without
motorways, before pedestrian crossings and without traffic noise
providing a constant background to the scripts of our
lives.
Yet it is only in the last 50 years or so that the car has
become king. Before that we had smaller, quieter roads. We
had communities where people got around on foot or by bike - and
stopped to chat with one another. Streets that were not lined
with cars parked bumper to bumper. Cars are a symptom of a
society in a rush. Learning to drive is a rite of passage; cars are
a status symbol.
The result of this is a society designed with the car in mind.
Decades of pro-car policies have resulted in town planning where
car access and parking have been put ahead of the needs of
pedestrians and cyclists alike.
The sharp increase in car use from the 1960s onwards was not
only experienced in Britain; all industrialised countries across
Europe experienced the same phenomenon - and as car usage
increased, bicycle usage fell. The difference between the UK and
countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany is that
these countries viewed the fall in cycling as a problem - and did
something about it.
In all three countries the main reason for a successful return
to cycle usage was due to policy. From the 1970s onwards,
policy makers reversed their previous focus of vastly expanding
road capacity and parking supply to improving their cycling
infrastructures and imposing restrictions on car use and making it
more expensive.
In the Netherlands, town planners have addressed the issue of a
car-centric society by building people centred districts. The
best example of this is a small town called Houten which was named
Bicycle Town 2008. In Houten, cyclists and pedestrians have
priority - and this has encouraged a massive growth in the town's
population from around 9,000 in the 1980s to 50,000 and still
growing in the present day. Houten is simply a pleasant place
to live.
Countries such as Spain also have a superior cycling
infrastructure to that in the UK. All Spanish highways have
wide shoulders for cyclists, separated from the traffic with a
white line, and the drivers are courteous and cyclist
aware. Switzerland also has a large number of highways that
provide cycle shoulders and there are also numerous cycle trail
networks.
The standard of cycle infrastructure in the UK remains low and
there appears to be no policy to roll out bike paths en
masse. Some of the issues of over usage of cars have started
to be addressed by a small number of town planners who have been
introducing more traffic calmed areas. Until this is a national
policy however, we are unlikely to enjoy the same safe cycling
culture that is enjoyed by many of our European cousins.
At Lees Bike Claims it is our mission to show cyclists that we
are on their side and help them get back in the saddle when they
have been injured in an accident that is not their fault."
For help and advice on all bike accidents, please Contact Us or call 0151
647 9381.
