Biking is a good way to get from A to B with it providing a solution to train and transfer shortly, with out breaking the financial institution. Round 7.6 million folks actively cycle within the UK in line with information from 2022, which exhibits how standard it’s.
The scope for rising the variety of cyclists within the UK is large and it’s one thing we needs to be doing with so many environmental advantages. Nonetheless, a greater biking tradition is required in Nice Britain earlier than extra folks will hop on the pedals.
Luckily, there are many methods to do that and our information provides a number of the issues that authorities our bodies and biking charities might be doing to assist.
Why do we have to foster a greater biking tradition within the UK?
With biking being already standard within the UK, you might be questioning why the tradition must be higher. The primary purpose is security. Experiences from 2023 highlighted that 83 cyclists had been killed final 12 months, exhibiting that this can be a downside that must be resolved.
One different purpose biking needs to be inspired is due to the environmental advantages it provides. Extra cyclists commuting to work, the outlets or different areas of their lives ought to scale back congestion on roads, which will probably be a optimistic transfer to make the UK greener.
What are the alternative ways we will do it?
To maintain our cyclists free from hazard whereas reaping the rewards of biking participation within the UK, the next strategies needs to be accomplished:
Enhance security for cyclists
Selecting up a dependable highway bike is step one to bettering security. Good bikes provide responsive driving to assist riders keep away from harmful conditions.
Different safety gear can scale back hazard too however the Freeway Code at the moment states that it’s solely suggested that highway cyclists ought to put on a helmet. We imagine that this needs to be a authorized requirement and different gear needs to be inspired too. This consists of elbow pads and lights.
Improve consciousness of biking legal guidelines for drivers
Autos are a serious fear for cyclists and lots of drivers discover themselves getting pissed off by highway bike customers. That is largely resulting from a lack of expertise of the foundations of the highway.
Cyclists are inspired to trip within the centre of the lane for his or her security and have precedence over automobile customers. If drivers knew this, it might scale back frustrations, which might result in fewer dangerous manoeuvres to overhaul them.
Guarantee our biking infrastructure is enough
Whereas the UK is taking nice strides to enhance the infrastructure of biking within the UK, there’s nonetheless a protracted solution to go. A few of the fundamental methods this may be improved is by doing the next:
- Improve the variety of bike storage areas
- Create extra cycle lanes
- Make biking extra accessible with grants or reductions