GLOUCESTER CITY CYCLING CLUB
CAMPAIGN CORNER

The Club plays an active role in the City and County - attending meetings, responding to Council letters and promoting our own ideas on a pro-active basis. If you would like to get involved then contact Toby (e-mail address below), Alastair Goldie,  or Paul Brookes.  The more ideas / suggestions the better - but do not leave it to us, you too can get involved by writing letters / sending e-mails. We have the contacts, which will be added to this page over the coming months.  Also a number of useful web sites for more details / information on various topics.

Contacts:

Useful web sites:

Useful facts to quote:

Environmental:
US dept of Energy - more economical to cut the engine if waiting for more than 30 seconds.

In 1998 the UK emitted 2.0% pf Global CO2. 21% of this came from 'private and commercial vehicles' - up from 20% in 1996.

Rail Safety:
54 people died on trains between 1995 and 1999 - compared to 17,662 in road crashes.

Road Safety facts:
A pedestrian hit at 35mph is twice as likely to be killed as one hit at 30mph.

Road deaths : 1996 = 3,600 (Road Accidents, GB, 1996, DoETR)
Road injuries : 1996 = 330,000 (as above)

1998 : 3,421 killed on the roads, 30% the direct result of speeding.

Pedestrian injuries whilst on pavement (as above) 1996 to 1998 :
Fatal 164 ; Serious 1845 ; Slight 8940 ; Total = 10,949

95% of road accidents are the result of human error - speed is the single biggest factor (Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, 1995)

Pedestrian hit by a car at 40mph has a 15% survival chance ;
Pedestrian hit by a car at 30mph has a 50% survival chance ;
Pedestrian hit by a car at 20mph has a 95% survival chance ;

Rural roads :
2,000 killed, 15,000 injured. 70% of fatal car crashes, 50% of cycle deaths.

Journeys:
''Every week 33 million car journeys of under a mile are made - 1.7 billion of unnecessary car journeys a year.''  DETR newsletter 2000.Car journeys average 8.5 miles.
20% of car journeys are under 1 mile.
(DETR UK travel survey (A to B 11/99))

Cycling Facilities - Policy Guidlines:

Provision for cycling should be of good quality, to both attract and retain users. The conversion of footways and footpaths to shared use by cyclists and pedestrians should be regarded as a last resort measure, where there is no opportunity to improve conditions on the carriageway.
(Guidance on Provisional Local Transport Plans, DETR 4/99)

''Provision for cycling should be of good quality, to both attract and retain users. The conversion of footways and footpaths to shared use by cyclists and pedestrians should be regarded as a last resort, where there is no opportunity to improve conditions on the carriageway.''  DETR, 2000.

 Helmets : British Medical Association and Royal College of General Practitioners are against compulsory cycle helmits – overall benefits outweighed by negative effect on cycling. Noted that helmets are not designed to protect from impact with motor vehicles.

* Cyclists account for less than one per cent of head injury admissions to hospital. There are 4.8 times more car occupants who die of head injuries than cyclists, 4.6 times more pedestrians and 1.5 times more motorcyclists (Thornhill et al, British Medical Journal, 2000; Mayer Hillman, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, 1993).

* The countries with the lowest risk of any injury when cycling are those where helmet use is minimal (eg the Netherlands). The most effective way to reduce the likelihood of injury when cycling is to increase the number of people who cycle (Wardlaw, M, Cycle Campaign Network, 2001, Leden et al, Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2000).

* Helmet use in the UK has risen from close to zero to 22 per cent from 1985 to 1999 but there has been no detectable change in trends for fatalities, serious injuries or the average severity of injury to cyclists (DfT, 2001).

* Helmet use in London has increased from zero to 50 per cent since 1985. The average severity of injuries has also increased both absolutely and relative to pedestrians (Transport for London, Pedal Cyclists Casualties in Greater London, 1999).

* From 1991 to 2001, helmet use in USA increased from 18 per cent to 50 per cent but cycle use declined by 21 per cent. Those who continued to cycle in 2001 were 51 per cent more likely to suffer head injury than in 1991 (US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2001).

* Helmet laws caused cycling levels to drop by 30 per cent in Australia while head injuries fell by only 11 per cent. The injury risk for those who continue to cycle has risen and in some parts of Australia, injury rates are at an all time high (Australian Road Accident Prevention Research Unit, 1999).

* It takes 3,700 years of average cycling to suffer a serious injury, let alone one to the head or one that might be mitigated by a helmet.

* Helmets are designed to protect in falls not crashes with vehicles. More than 90 per cent of serious injuries and fatalities involve impacts with vehicles. Helmets are not designed to protect areas of the head which account for more than half the figures for injuries to cyclists.

* The government wants to increase cycling levels from two to eight per cent of journeys by 2012.

* Regular cyclists typically enjoy a fitness level equivalent to people ten years younger.

* Regular cycling - that means just 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week -halves the risk of heart attack by reducing risk factors such as weight gain, high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.

* In 2000, 46,250 people died from coronary heart disease related to physical inactivity. In the same year, 125 cyclists died in road crashes.

* If one third of all short car journeys were made by bike, national heart disease rates would fall by between 5% and 10%.

Pavement Cycling : The Home Office has advised police forces to issue Fixed Penalty Notices only to those ‘recklessly or irresponsibly using the footway’.

Traffic Calming – under 10p per person spent in UK ; £1.60 in Holland.

Return to the HOME page here.