Great Britain’s cycling safety record poor by EU comparison

Great Britain has a below average record for EU nations for reducing cycling deaths and is the riskiest country for cyclists per kilometre travelled for those countries for which there is data in this category.

The statistics in a European Transport Safety Council report highlight that the average annual reduction in cyclist deaths achieved by EU countries over the decade to 2010 was 5%, with Great Britain only achieving half this.

The best performance was by Slovakia, with a 17% average annual reduction, although the ETSC said that this indicator does not necessarily reflect the risk associated with cycling.

Great Britain was one of only three EU countries where the data exists to calculate the number of cyclist deaths per billion kilometres. The average annual rate in Great Britain for the last three years was nearly double that of Denmark and the Netherlands: 22 deaths per  bn km compared to 12 for the other two nations.

The report also highlights that Great Britain shares common issues to tackle with other EU nations including those with a better record overall. Twenty two per cent of all cyclists killed in the EU died following collisions from goods vehicles, higher than the proportion of traffic that is goods vehicles.