Concern as Scottish cycling casualties hit five-year high
news story to accompany yesterday's data release and debate on here.
Thanks to all the CCE-ers who dragged this up news agenda yesterday.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
Concern as Scottish cycling casualties hit five-year high
(15 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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And from the pen of Sallyhinch:
"While they have an overall target to reduce deaths and injuries, particularly for children, there are no targets specifically to cut deaths and casualties for the most vulnerable road users like pedestrians or cyclists."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/scotland-blog/2013/jun/26/scotland-cycling-casualties
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Neil Greig, director of policy and research for the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said the figures were likely to increase further in the years ahead unless cyclists were better accommodated on the country's roads"
Who are you and what have you done with the real Neil Greig?
"... -profile cases such as the death of pensioner Audrey Fyfe – killed when a motorist clipped the back wheel of her bike as she rode in Edinburgh – have highlighted the dangers of cycling"
Erm, surely what it actually highlights are the dangers of poor driving?
Posted 12 years ago # -
you could argue that, given we have to mix with traffic, poor driving is one of the dangers of cycling ... (I'm not going to though, because I know better than to get into a discussion about semantics on this forum.)
Posted 12 years ago # -
It's definitely a semantic point. But if a pedestrian was to be hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing (as happens) I don't think we'd say that that was one of the dangers of using a pedestrian crossing.
Sorry, that's the dsemantics discussion.
The other is the 'message' discussion. By calling bad driving a 'danger of cycling' it's basically saying that, yes, cycling is dangerous, so maybe you shouldn't do it. Essentially a mild level of victim blaming, which can in turn lead to people like the sheriff in the Audrey Fyfe case take into account that she wasn't wearing a helmet when deciding on a driver's culpability.
Though I do still think 'accident' is a fine term to use until more facts are known... :P
*blue touch paper*
Posted 12 years ago # -
Or to put it another way, despite representing less than 1% of the traffic, cyclists account for 8% of the people killed or seriously injured on the roads. We're 12 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured than our presence on the road would suggest.
Reflecting the fact that cycling has not gained from the Scottish Government's casualty reduction targets, cyclists' share of the people killed or seriously injured on Scotland's roads has risen every year since 2004, having steadily fallen since 1994.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Great article, although the quote from Keith Brown seems to be detached from reality. Was he actually asked to quote on the story?
"the number of pedestrians killed was up by 11 to 54... Keith Brown said: `While the numbers of fatal accidents have fallen again...'"
Posted 12 years ago # -
I've not double-checked, but I suspect all the quotes are from the original press release. you know, the one entitled 'stats moving in the right direction'
Posted 12 years ago # -
Transport Minister Keith Brown said:
"While the numbers of fatal accidents have fallen again, one death on Scotland's roads is simply one too many, and our focus continues to be ensuring we drive the numbers down further."
Sure thing, Keith. You're the daddy.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@Dave - as SRD said, those quotes are all from the original press release.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Thanks to all the CCE-ers who dragged this up news agenda yesterday"
That'll be our Expert Panel who look at details and understand stats!
I suspect that some CCEers are reluctant to be (or seen to be) 'campaigners'.
But highlighting 'anomalies', discussing on here, 'signposting' via Twitter etc. is all useful.
Doesn't matter if it conforms to anyone's 'strict' idea of "campaigning"!
Keep it up.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Since 2004, when the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on Scotland's roads started increasing again, the relative risk of cycling has gone from being 13 times more dangerous than driving to being 23 times more dangerous in 2011.
In 2004, the number of drivers killed or seriously injured was 43.2 per billion km (/BKm). By 2011, this had fallen to 23.5/BKm.
In 2004, the risk for cyclists was 552 deaths or serious injuries per BKm. In 2011, it stood at 534/BKm - a very slight fall (-3%) but lagging behind the reduced risk for car users.
Keith Brown used the excuse that increasing cyclist casualties reflected increased levels of cycling. But do falling motorist casualties reflect falling levels of motoring? Not at all. The risk of being killed or seriously injured in a car has fallen by 46% since 2004 while motoring miles have only fallen by 0.3%.
Posted 12 years ago # -
insto - you really should pop that onto the discussion thread under sally's blog.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Off-topic but connected to this thread and I couldnt see it posted elsewhere: More on the ctc site. Dont get me started on Keith Brown and cycling...
"Date set for appeal of Gary McCourt's lenient sentence
The driver who killed Audrey Fyfe, Gary McCourt, will have the appeal of his lenient sentence heard on the 6th August, the Crown Office has announced.
The appeal will be heard in front of 2 or 3 judges at the High Court, in the Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. It will be open to the public and CTC will be attending.@
Posted 12 years ago # -
A piece in the Herald on conviction stats for the past 7 years.
Posted 11 years ago #
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