Useful Links and Advice

See below for useful contacts and web sites for more details / information on various topics. One link you might want to store among your favourites is our Facebook page www.facebook.com/gloscitycc/

Safety

Is cycling dangerous? No, in general , cycling in Britain is a relatively safe activity. Using official police reported road casualty figures, road traffic reports, population statistics, and the National Travel Survey Cycling U calculated that, on average, over 2012-2016:

one cyclist was killed on Britain’s roads for every thirsty million miles traveled by cycle – the equivalent of well over 1,000 times around the world
there were around 9.4 million cycle trips for every cycle death
the general risk of any severity while cycling was just 0.05 per 1,000 hours of cycling.

Also:

According to a paper that looked at sports injuries, tennis is riskier than “outdoor cycling” with 5 injures per thousand hours against 3.5 for cycling. Rowing machine exercise came in at 6 injuries per thousand hours.
The health benefits of cycling far outweigh the injury risks, by between 13 and 15 to 1, according to various studies (and depending on the benefits/disbenefits considered).

A map of incidents in which road users were killed or seriously injured (KSI)

St Johns ambulance 1^st aid for cyclists app

In Case of Emergency tags

How best to call the Emergency services

A site to report close calls

Some advice on keeping your bones strong

The Definitive Guide to Safer Cycling

A Practical Guide to Road Safety

Navigational aids

On line Ordnance Survey Maps

Some tips from CUK on riding in Gloucestershire and Bristol

A crowd sourced free map with marked cycle paths Open Street Maps

A map showing where people actually ride: Strava Heat Map

An interesting wayof comapring modern and histoirc maps Know Your Place

A useful route plotting service Ridewithgps

A guide to various GPS devices

Roads and Highways

Gloucestershire County Council’s Major Projects

Where to report Potholes

Gloucester City Problem reporting

Report problems on the County’s roads County

See where road works are taking place

General issues (parking, streets, transport) in Gloucester City

Helmets

Although helmets are, and can only be, designed to withstand minor knocks and falls, not serious traffic collisions the Club’s position is that their wearing is strongly recommended, especially when groups are riding close and fast, such as in the chain gang, or when off road. However, it remains a personal decision. To help you make that decision here are some facts relating to helmet wear:

British Medical Association and Royal College of General Practitioners are against compulsory cycle helmets – overall benefits outweighed by negative effect on cycling. Noted that helmets are not designed to protect from impact with motor vehicles.These arguments are summarized by Cycling UK here
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).
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.