Reducing motorists' speeds 'could improve safety for cyclists'

Date: 30/11/2011

Reducing the speed at which motor vehicles travel is the easiest way to prevent accidents involving cyclists, a new TRL report has concluded.

TRL was commissioned by the Department for Transport to conduct a review into the safety of those on two wheels and how they interact with other people on the UK's roads.

Although the document said it was "problematic to draw firm conclusions from the literature," it was discovered that reducing motor speeds could be of significant benefit to cyclists and cut casualties.

Infrastructure interventions similar to those used in Europe could also be introduced in Britain, such as marking cycle lanes across junctions and fixing Trixi mirrors that enable drivers of heavy vehicles to see cyclists.

The UK's highways do appear to be getting safer however, as government statistics show the number of people killed in road accidents reported to the police declined from 2,222 in 2009 to 1,850 in 2010.

Posted by Sarah Bailey