Cycle trips and Government casualty statistics 2010

Here’s is a digest of some of the Department for Transport’s statistics for 2010, which were published in July 2011.

The figures deal with casualties but to give perspective, there were close to 2,000 road casualties in 2010, 111 of which were cyclists. It’s not particularly dangerous being a cyclist: previous statistics show that a person is more likely to be killed in a mile of walking than a mile of cycling.

The annual number of cyclist casualties does not appear to be reducing, even though the number of cycling trips remains similar to the levels seen during 2009. In fact it was slightly higher.

The risk of cycling is based on the number of road deaths (111 in 2010) per mile cycled (5 billion kms in 2010).
Cycle use in 2010 was 5 billion kms, a little higher than 2009, taking it to its highest level for 20 years. The likelihood of being killed while cycling is 54% lower than it was in 1990.

Small increases in cycling

In part, the severe winter months of January, February, November and December may have contributed to there being only a small increase in cycling overall, while motor vehicle traffic fell substantially.

Similar figures have also been published for London, where cycling increased by 15% during 2010. Injuries in London rose by 9% but remain 18% lower than in the mid-1990s.

View Road traffic data 2011 on www.dft.gov.uk

View Road casualty data 2011 on www.dft.gov.uk

Cycle use grew just 0.5% in 2010 but remains higher than at any time since 1991.

Motor traffic fell by 8.1 billion kms (-1.6%) and has been attributed to the severe winter weather at the start and end of 2010.

View Data relating to cycling with CTC comment and their press release. The CTC is the national cyclists’ organisation.

View Transport for London’s casualty figures 2010-201 (PDF 112kb)

Latest data on cycle usage in London can be found on p. 16 of the Transport for London Commissioners Report (PDF) from a board meeting held July 2011.

(Alexander Bailey, CTC)