Why Not Cycle?
I have been keeping to my plan of going for a walk every day. Yesterday, a friend and her son joined my son and I for a walk. They live just under two miles from my house – a perfect distance to cycle. Yet they drove over. Why did they not cycle?
There are lots of reasons why people don’t cycle, and many of them are valid. But I think it is vital to understand why this mum and her accompanying eight year old did not cycle, because the real reason is at the heart of what is wrong with our transport system.
All The Wrong Reasons
Here are some of the reasons why you might imagine they did not cycle – and why those reasons are not the right ones:
- They don’t want to. Nope. This is a family who all ride bikes and enjoy a family cycle. They would not describe themselves as ‘cyclists’ and I suspect the only cycle-specific clothing they own is bike helmets, but they like to ride bikes.
- It’s January and it’s bloomin’ cold. While this is true, still nope. We were heading out for a walk so they were perfectly well equipped for the cold. While icy paths could have been a very good reason not to cycle, yesterday was not icy.
- It’s too far and would take too long. Nope. They are a fit, healthy and active family and a four mile cycle (there and back) is well within their capabilities. Google maps (which I find surprisingly accurate when it comes to travel times) suggests 10 minutes to cycle between our houses….or 8 minutes to drive.
- Nowhere to store the bikes. Nope. Plenty of space for bikes at my house.
- They’re Too Lazy. Nope. This is a family who love to be active.
Let’s Cycle!
We are very fortunate in having a mini woodland opposite our house – perfect for children to play. As the first lockdown eased last summer, this same family came over. The children would play up the hill while the mum and I sat on the front lawn, drinking coffee on deckchairs carefully spaced 2m apart.
Back then they cycled over.
They were an enthusiastic part of the mass take up of cycling amongst families during lockdown. They were all – Mum, Dad, eight year old and six year old – loving cycling most days. They had enjoyed cycling occasionally before the pandemic changed all our lives, but with lockdown in full swing, cycling was becoming a daily part of their lives.
As they came to love cycling for leisure, they came to realise that cycling for transport was also a pleasure.
They were leaving the car at home and using bikes for short, local journeys. Exactly what campaigners have been trying to encourage for years. This is exactly the change we need to see to improve public health, to reduce pollution, to ease congestion, to make our streets safer. For so many reasons, the change this family – and hundreds of others just like them – were making were a cause for huge celebrations.
A Time Like No Other
I don’t think I realised just how unique a situation we were living through back in April and May 2020. I was too caught up in crippling anxiety and home learning with two children to appreciate it at the time.
For a while back then I only cycled indoors on my turbo trainer. I didn’t have anywhere to go to and I was worried about crashing and ending up in hospital at a time when I really didn’t want to be going to hospital.
Once I got over that and got out on the roads again, I found road cycling was all of a sudden completely transformed. I hadn’t changed, my bike hadn’t changed, but the roads had massively changed…because the roads were all but empty. I no longer had to plan convoluted routes to avoid busy junctions or un-crossable roads. I cycled roads and roundabouts which I would never have braved under normal circumstances. Some of the traffic-free paths were so busy that I frequently took the road instead, taking the view that it was best to leave the completely traffic-free routes to the less confident and those who had children with them.
Within all the fear and uncertainty of a pandemic, this was an incredible silver lining. Cycling on roads was a pleasure. Seeing so many people out enjoying cycling was a pleasure. Amidst all that despondency, there was this huge glimmer of hope that our society was going to come out of this changed for the better.
Why Not Cycle?
But that was then and this is now. Why did this mum and her son not cycle over yesterday?
They didn’t cycle because the mum is afraid of the traffic on the roads.
Even though we are back in lockdown again, it’s not like it was the first time around. The roads are busy. Maybe not quite as busy as they might be without a lockdown, but there is a significant amount of motorised traffic out there on the roads.
It’s not just that they are busy. As someone who has cycled for transport and leisure for a very long time, I think that there has been a marked deterioration in the attitude of some drivers in the past few months.
Drivers seem angry. Really angry.
When the schools re-opened in August, I went back to daily cycling on the school run. There has always been a minority of drivers who pass cyclists dangerously, who feel the need to shout abuse, and who seem to have a deeply ingrained hatred of those with whom they have to share the roads, and who seem to feel that people on bikes do not have any right to use the roads. In my opinion, this has got much worse.
It’s not just on a bike that I feel this. I feel the same aggression from other drivers when I am driving. Tailgating, dangerous overtaking, beeping horns and yelling at others all seem to be standard driving practise at the moment.
So, Find A Better Route?
The route that this mum and her son would have taken on their bikes to my house is pretty much the route we take to school (when school is open) so it’s one I know well.
Here’s the thing about that route – it’s almost entirely a designated cycle route.
It is supposed to be the safe route to cycle. Yet this mum does not feel safe to cycle on it with her son. We’re not talking about school run time or rush hour here – this is a Saturday afternoon.
There is no better route. Trust me, I’ve looked.
One For All
So what does it matter that this one mum and son chose to use a car yesterday?
Because this is a normal, everyday family making normal, everyday choices. Just like every other normal, everyday family. This is why people are still driving distances which are ideal for cycling – because of fear for their safety and that of their children. This is why there are too many cars on the roads. This is why we are stuck in an eternal loop of people who don’t cycle because it’s not safe because there are too many cars, so they drive…so there are too many cars.
It matters because it’s not a choice. Not really. It is deeply wrong that people feel that they have no choice but to drive because it is not safe to do otherwise. With so many benefits proved over and over again for cycling – better physical and mental health, cleaner air, reduced congestion – it is deeply unfair that people cannot access this because they are afraid.
It is not just about the choices which adults make in order to keep their children safe. It is about the lifelong habit of physical activity which we must ingrain into our children. Parents must be enabled to teach their children to be physically active in their daily lives and transport choices where possible – and right now it is not possible enough.
Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway?
So how do we fix this?
I run free led-rides for women as part of the British Cycling / Scottish Cycling Breeze network of volunteers. This is something I absolutely love, not least because of the number of women who I have seen grow in confidence on their bikes. It is possible to educate and support people to cycle safely on the roads despite the traffic.
But that is not enough to get people cycling with their children. You do not feel the fear and do it anyway when your children are involved. You do not put your children at risk – whether that risk is perceived or real.
Children do not have the sense of fear that adults have usually developed when it comes to using roads. They can be unpredictable and impulsive. They can obviously learn to cycle safely on the roads, and this is something I am working on with my son as he cycles to and from school. But, I am a lifelong cyclist. I am confident on my bike. I am a qualified Ride Leader and I know how to use road positioning to keep myself and others safe. I am the minority.
Build It and They Will Come
The ONLY way to fix this. The ONLY way to enable normal, everyday families to cycle those short distances is to build better infrastructure.
I have said this before. Many, many, many people have said this before but it seems that the message is still not getting through to the right places, so it’s worth shouting…
WE NEED FULLY-SEGREGATED CYCLE ROUTES WHICH GO TO THE PLACES PEOPLE WANT TO GET TO.
NOT ‘quiet routes’ on roads. It only takes one car to knock you off your bike so what does it matter that there are less cars there? In my experience these are also heavily parked rat runs and more dangerous than the main roads.
NOT painted lines on a road. Utterly, utterly, utterly pointless.
NOT a segregated section of a route which then dumps you back on a road.
NOT a route which turns a two mile cycle into a five mile wiggle around the back streets.
I’ve said this before too. Many, many, many people have also said this before, but again it’s worth shouting…
IF A FIVE YEAR OLD CANNOT RIDE IT ON THEIR OWN BIKE, THEN IT’S NOT A CYCLE ROUTE.
If a route has a road, then it is somewhere people want to get to. If it’s somewhere people want to get to then it should have a cycle route. A proper cycle route. Not a token gesture.
Car Is King?
‘This cannot be done,’ people say, ‘There’s not enough space.’
There is plenty of space.
It’s our priorities which are wrong.
There is still a prevailing attitude that ‘car is king’
This road is a main route to school for a huge amount of children in our primary school catchment. It is also the route to school for many children at the local High School. It has no provision whatsoever for cycling. There is a cycle route around the back way through the park. Through the park is great, but it dumps you out on ‘quiet routes’ which I can assure you are anything but at school run times. That is the route my friend does not feel safe to cycle with her son.
For years, campaigners have been asking for a segregated cycle route along this road. For years, they have been told that it cannot be done because there is not enough space to add a segregated cycle route.
Erm…
There are four lanes plus a lane each side of the road for parking, on a street where the vast majority of the houses also have private drives. How can there not be enough space? Even then drivers regularly feel the need to park on the pavement here. How can this be right?
Yes, this road grinds to a standstill at busy times of the day. But this is not because there is not enough space for motorists – it’s because there are too many people driving. I am willing to bet that some of those people are driving because they do not feel safe to cycle.
Our whole attitude to land use, space allocation and transport needs to change.
It is common in our society to see cars parked on the pavement, and in the cycle lane, and on double yellow lines. To see signs meant for drivers put out on the pavement so as not to obstruct drivers. To see people struggling to get prams or wheelchairs along tiny narrow pavements beside wide roads. To see nursery classes out wearing fluorescent jackets to make them ‘more visible’ to drivers as they walk to the park.
Somehow this has come to be seen as entirely acceptable, yet allocating space to other road users is not.
The car is not king. It is just one form of transport. It is not the most important mode of transport.
Carrots, Sticks and Conversations
We have to get better at allocating space.
We have to take some space from motorists to provide viable opportunities for active travel – not just cycling but walking too. But this is not the stick – this is the carrot. This is what will enable people to really choose their mode of transport, A huge number of people already know they enjoy cycling – they learned that in the first half of 2020 – they just need to feel safe to cycle like they did then. The simple genius of this is that there will then be fewer motorists.
My area was proposed for one of Edinburgh’s first Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) not so long ago. This was going to involve closing a number of roads to drivers. This was the stick. The proposal didn’t go down well. Nothing which restricts drivers ever goes down well it seems. In this particular case, I have some sympathy with those who object to it. Not because I do not think drivers should be restricted, but because we do not have the infrastructure to offer a viable alternative to driving at the moment. The proposal was all stick with very little carrot. Without proper (see above) active travel infrastructure, restricting cars is likely to be seen as taking away the only choice people have.
While I do have some degree of sympathy with those objecting to the proposed LTN, I have absolutely no sympathy with the tactics taken by some of the objectors. The hatred-filled rants and personal attacks on social media were at best childish and at worst terrifying in their vitriol.
There is a conversation to be had with communities about changing transport choices, and this is not on social media. Those who are planning and proposing transport change schemes need to link with the people who are currently not choosing active transport, including cycling. They need to have conversations with people like my friend who drove over. The trouble is accessing these people. If you do not consider yourself ‘a cyclist’ and you do not use a bike for transport at the moment, why would you take the time and energy to respond to consultations about cycling infrastructure?
I would love to see these consultations being taken to every school playground where people in the school catchment are going to be affected (or not affected enough) by the proposals. My area is also part of the West Edinburgh Link project which is supposed to improve active travel in the area. I lost all faith in this project some time ago since it has completely failed to appreciate school catchments and the impact of infrastructure on school travel.
That is two big projects aimed at improving opportunities for active travel in my area, from which I see no benefit to myself as a cyclist in any of the ways in which I cycle. There is something wrong with that.
What is wrong is the failure to appreciate that…
WE NEED FULLY-SEGREGATED CYCLE ROUTES WHICH GO TO THE PLACES PEOPLE WANT TO GET TO.
and…
IF A FIVE YEAR OLD CANNOT RIDE IT ON THEIR OWN BIKE, THEN IT’S NOT A CYCLE ROUTE.
I think these things might need to be shouted for a little longer yet.
This is so well written. I have suggested before make a network of inter connecting roads across every town and city, in plan like a spiders Web, making exiting roads one way, half a two way cycle route, segregation down the centre and motor vehicles the other half. This practice of putting a pedestrian/cycle lane doesn’t work, they don’t mix, it is just local authorities box ticking
I’d agree, a very well written article. Completely agree with your points. I’m braving getting my 5 year old to ride with me on roads which as you say were great to ride on last spring, not so mich now. My daughter is the only girl cycling to her college out of 2000 students (a 5 mile ride on wide pavements mainly as too dangerous on the roads)
We’ve also had two, week long cycling holidays in Holland where my whole family feels like we’re In heaven. So safe, so enjoyable, so mich like we’d love things here to start being properly modelled after.
Thanks for voicing the concerns and frustrations so many of us share. We can only hope, pray and. SHOUT loud until those who need and can make changes, do so. Like what happened in Holland!
Great post, definitely resonates with all the challenges I face here in London. I’ve been trying to pressure our local council to explain their plan for creating a network of cycle routes across the borough. Currently their approach is pretty random, painting a picture of a bicycle on streets where there is nothing contentious about it. However, many of these patchwork cycle lanes are a road to nowhere, e.g. leading onto a busy high street where cycle lanes are actually being removed because the road is too narrow. So far I haven’t got very much response but I think it’s entirely reasonable that every council should have a strategic plan of joined up cycle routes that they work towards.
Hi, this is such a good blog that gets to the heart of the issue. It really is about giving people choices about how they want to get about, and to choose cycling instead of driving means feeling safe on a bike. Cycling whilst sharing a road with moving vehicles does not feel 100% safe, so the Government targets for increasing the number of everyday journeys done by bike are never going to be met. It certainly feels that they don’t get it, otherwise there would be much more investment in segregated cycling infrastructure. I wrote a blog about similar issues, in Edinburgh, with regards to using a bicycle for everyday trips to the supermarket. If roads and housing continue to be planned in a way that makes the only safest and convenient transport option to get a pint of milk the private car then the congestion, climate change and health issues will continue. This is the link to my blog: https://bit.ly/2Lnc9R3
An excellent article and I can fully understand the points made here. I live in Leeds, I’m a very confident cyclist, and to be fair the council has done great work in installing segregated cycle lanes in the city centre, but some of the outlying roads are white lines or painted areas, some now do have these 2 foot high posts to segregate the traffic which do help but on one particular road I often travel the cycle lane with posts is so wide cars actually park in it. The issue with painted cycle lanes too is that many drivers seem to think that the white line at the edge of the lane is the safe passing distance and some drivers idea of 1.5 metres beggars belief, only yesterday I was going quite slowly up a hill towards some traffic lights when the mirror of a Jaguar caught my handlebar the driver totally oblivious until I banged on his window, things like this are the reason I have CCTV cameras on my bike and upload footage of dangerous driving on a regular basis to West Yorkshire Police reporting web site. It has to be said I could easily inundate the police web site with footage every time I go out on my bike and until some drivers attitudes change we are always going to at risk on the roads.
I can’t cope with social media anymore I only popped on to check my groups-as you said. happy cycling