The Department of Transport has published a report,
Improving road safety for pedestrians and cyclists in Great Britain which looks at the ways in which the number of pedestrians and cyclists who die on the UK’s roads each year can be reduced. Travelling by road is one of the riskiest things we do on a daily basis and for cyclists and pedestrians it is more dangerous still. One in twenty road deaths are people on bicycles - 136 in 2007, and more than one in four of cyclists who are killed or seriously injured are under the age of 20.
The report recommends a number of suggestions that could improve road safety figures, particularly for cyclists and pedestrians:
- The Department of Transport should more systematically identify local highway authorities that have introduced effective measures such as 20 miles per hour zones successfully, and share the lessons with other local highway authorities, including how best to secure agreement locally to such changes and to implement them.
- The Department of Transport should make more easily digestible information set in a practical context for others such as road safety charities available; for example about risks to pedestrians and cyclists when clocks change in the autumn and by making cyclists and drivers of heavy goods vehicles more aware of the specific risks posed by lorries.
The cycling team at Leigh Day & Co represents hundreds of cyclists through its work for British Cycling and the British Triathlon Federation. Penny Knight, head of the team, has also attended inquests on behalf of families whose loved ones have been killed on the roads, often after incidents involving lorries hitting cyclists. The firm has also recently represented the family of a teenager who was seriously injured when cycling home from school.
Penny Knight says:
“The figures for injuries to cyclists and pedestrians are shocking, particularly at a time when we are being encouraged to get on our bikes and/or to walk instead of drive from an environmental point of view as well as for improved levels of fitness. Any government initiative which focuses on "sharing the road" should be whole-heartedly embraced.“
For more information please contact
Penny Knight on 020 7650 1200.
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