Q2: Who contributes most to collisions between cyclists and drivers?

Q2: Who contributes most to collisions between cyclists and drivers?

Motor vehicles in collisions with cycles are more likely to be assigned a ‘contributory factor’ (CF)18 by police at the scene than cyclists.

From 2015-20, in fatal or serious collisions with a cycle, the police assigned:19

• 11,348 CFs for ‘Driver or rider failed to look properly’, the most common CF by far. Of these, 3,782 were allocated to cyclists, and twice as many (7,565) to the other party. • 2,558 CFs for ‘poor turn or manoeuvre’, most of which (69%) were assigned to the other party. • For the top ten CFs combined, 43% were allocated to pedal cyclists, and 57% to the other party involved. Even though the police are more likely to conclude that drivers contribute to these collisions, the cyclists involved are much more likely to be hurt. In collisions involving a car and a cycle, for instance, many cyclists but very few drivers are injured or killed20: • Over the whole period 2015–19 (pre-pandemic, ‘normal’ years):

o Killed: one car driver; 231 cyclists o Seriously injured: 61 car drivers and 15,870 cyclists.

• In 2020:

o Killed: no car drivers; 67 cyclists o Seriously injured: six car drivers; 2,966 cyclists

While cycling is safer than many think (Q1), people who ride bikes are inevitably more exposed than motor vehicles occupants, not just to injury collisions but also to near misses which, we know, are “an everyday experience for cyclists in the UK”. 21

It is vital for drivers to take particular care of all vulnerable road users – children, the elderly, people with disabilities, pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists. It’s not just Cycling UK and representatives of other non-motorised users who are saying this: the Highway Code now recognises in no uncertain terms that drivers “bear the greatest responsibility to take care and reduce the danger they pose to others”.22

18 CFs do not attribute blame – they simply reflect the opinion of a police officer at the scene, but not the result of forensic investigation or a court judgement. 19 DfT. Pedal Cycle Factsheet, 2020. September 2021. 20 DfT. Reported Road Casualties Great Britain, Table RAS40004. 21 Aldred R. Cycling Near Misses: Findings from Year One of the Near Miss Project. 2015. 22 Highway Code, Rule H1.