I would guess some of the rise in %age terms is attributable to so many new riders hitting the roads without the required road-skills. While I absolutely encourage people to take up cycling, I would want them to do so with knowledge of their rights, responsibilities and some sense of defensive riding. It's not a bike shop's job to give them that, and while TfL are doing a good job of investing in these areas, more could be done - but the responsibility to learn falls to the rider - not everyone else.

There may also be some added aggression from other road-users who not only fail to treat cyclists with respect, but go out of their way to "teach them a lesson".

I think the commentary is pretty balanced here, there's faster flowing traffic, more cyclists and (and this is purely our responsibility) more cyclists breaking the law. If we act on the last one then we can start asking the councils to help tackle the first one and encourage the second. However as long as there are a significant proportion (and significant in this case means less than 5%) of riders who regularly ignore stop lights / ride on pavements / ride without lights etc then there will always be a sector of the non-cycling public who are unconcerned / actively anti-cycling.

Every day I see cyclists do stupid things, I'm not surprised by the figures. I've been riding on the roads from dark country roads to busy floodlit city centres for 12 years to commute to and from college, university and now work. In that time I've only ever once been hit by a car and that was a car driving too close on a country road and his wingmirror hit my elbow, I didn't fall off and it didn't hurt.

Rider common sense is fairly low, lots of riders being stupid trying to beat the red lights or totally ignoring red lights, pulling out in front of cars, undertaking, riding down the centre of the road in busy traffic etc... the list is endless.

Perhaps cyclist should be made more aware of the law in regards to their cycling?

I have no idea how this could be approached though, other than having either a Highway Code type pamphlet supplied with every bike purchase or compulsory training, which I'm sure would put off a significant number of possible future cyclists.

"Rider common sense is fairly low, lots of riders being stupid trying to beat the red lights or totally ignoring red lights, pulling out in front of cars, undertaking, riding down the centre of the road in busy traffic etc... the list is endless."

I wonder how much of this is down to the 'Where there's blame there's a claim" culture that seems to have developed in the UK over recent years? The general attitude these days is that it's always someone elses fault.

I live in Dublin and since the start of the bike hire scheme I've never seen more cyclists on the roads or more cyclists doing incredibly stupid things. The most common is the "no look, signal and swerve" method of changing lanes. Riding the wrong way up heavily trafficed one way streets, riding on the footpath. Accidents are also on the rise.

If it's of any comfort, these bad cyclist behaviors are not limited to the UK. I'm in Montreal and see this everyday when commuting. I'm a very responsible cyclist, stop at all red lights, stops, pedestrian crosswalks, etc. But I feel so alone, because I can't remember the last time I saw someone stop behind me (unless there are so many cars that it would suicide).

How often am I stopped at a red light, to get passed by some other big-headed cyclist, just so I can pass him 2 minutes later. Repeat at the next light... Hell I've even been called a moron for stopping at a light after another b*tch on a bike ran straight into me because she didn't feel like stopping for the light.

I've had only 1 car/bike encounter in multiple years, it aws 2 weeks ago. A women slammed her door open 1-2 feet in front of me and she found a way to blame me for it. "You weren't visible enough, you we're too close to my door". Yeah, these days, it's always some else's fault. People have become so irresponsible, I blame our governments for nursering us so much that we lost our sense of responsibility and common sense.

Bear in mind concerns over some aspects of cyclist behaviour are mostly urban concerns. In our village, most of the kids ride on the pavement and frankly I would not have it any other way. Much safer for them and the pavements are largely empty. I would also rather see some people old enough to know better ride on the pavement than on the road after dark without lights which strikes me as madness.

Excellent - and accurate - piece.

Most of the papers (Mail / Groaniad / Indy / Metro) are running "surge in cycling deaths" headlines.

Have any such figures been published? I can't find any broken down more than into KSI.

I ,like most of us I guess, am cyclist who also drives.

Becasue of this I am always shocked at the way that cyclists behave towards other road users especailly when it comes to traffic lights. That said where my cycle path route home crossess a road a pelcian crossing I am equally shocked at the numbers of drivers who drive through on red and how some drivers seem to beleive that the courtesies offered to other car users do no apply to cyclists. This week I have been almost been forced against wall three times as cars try and squeeze past me as their side of the road is lined with parked cars.

I am left with the view that firstly we all occasionally make mistakes whether we are on a car or bike. Second that inconsiderate drivers/riders probably occur in the same proportions its just that there are more cars so more bad drivers in absolute terms.

Here we go again:

"However, we take road safety extremely seriously and are working to improve safety for cyclists in a number of ways, including investing in the provision of cycle training and planning to encourage local authorities to introduce more 20mph zones in residential areas and around schools."

Cycle training is a sound idea but taking road safety seriously means putting the single biggest factor at the top of the list: the skills and attitudes of drivers. Yeh, keep reducing the speed limit, that'll do it. Er no, you actually have to teach people to drive properly, vet drivers properly and continue to coach them in a structured way. Rather give me room at 35mph than run me over at 25mph thank you very much. And what the hell does a 20mph speed limit do to stop cars pulling out in front of bikes - SMIDSY? How does that relate to 20mph speed limits? It doesn't in any way. SMIDSY is a massive causation factor when compared with 'speeding'.

Also just read Roger St Pierre's piece in Cycling Plus. What a page of nonsense. But dangerous nonsense and I was fuming over that more than our Celebrity Chef friend because at least the latter was just an ill-informed attempt at humour. Until we all take our responsibilities seriously, particularly drivers, there will be no reduction in death and injury on the road and this is bourne out by the last decade of accident causation and "safety" camera stats.

I think the Pinkster's idea of supplying a Highway code leaflet is a good idea, many people including myself are not sure of all the can's and can't do's on the road. I also agree with aeroplaneblue's summary.

While I agree that running a red light is dangerous, wrong and not something I would do, i'm not sure cyclists should be frowned upon for making progress through slow moving or queuing traffic. I ride socially and to commute, I do this for a number of reasons, one being to save time. If I waited in queues of traffic because I didn't overtake traffic at a stand still or keep pedalling up the inside when traffic flow is slow it would take a lot longer and defeats the object of cycling to work in the first place.

Whilst I concede there is an element of risk doing this and i'm aware that everyone's commute or ride is different, you might think well I wouldn't do that, your route may be a whole lot different and in different circumstances I might not either.

Cycling is a great sport and a fun way to get from A to B, unfortunately cyclists share the same roads as lumps of metal that can go fast and are controlled by humans who unfortunately make mistakes intentionally or not. The cyclist is always going to lose that battle. With more cars and more bikes on the road I only see more people getting hurt. I guess thats life.

Woke up to the Radio 4 "Today" coverage of this, this morning and immediately thought, "Here we go, rant about dangerous cycling coming up". However, a woman from RoSPA came on and said that cycling was wonderful and good for you and that more people should do it but that all road users needed to take responsibility for each other better. Good for her.

I read the article in the Guardian, and one thing it mentioned, which I didn't notice here, was that there were proportionally more deaths among women cyclists (killed by lorries, I seem to remember) It was suggested they were more likely to be cautious and wait at lights and be trapped by turning lorries. That seems in contrast to this report, which suggests the opposite by saying that the jump could be due to cyclists jumping lights.

I'm not getting into the rights and wrongs of light jumping. It's just interesting the differing interpretations of the statistics.

Well I am touring cyclist, a TT race cyclist, and tri-athlete. By heck do I see some awful driving attitude towards cyclists by car drivers. Oh by the way I am a cycle cop, each day five days a week I ride in full police rig, do I get beaten up by motorists? Hell no, they are so shallow, and perfectly aware of me on the road. I am sorry to say it is just thr rudeness and lack of respect by of motorists that keeps many cyclists off the road. Now we move on to the lycra louts, I stop dozens every week, shout at lots, warn others, and prosecute a few. Kids on the road, no way, I have been to a couple of child funerals, killed riding bikes on roads, and they are not pleasant .

I don't know what the Utopian answer is, but please cyclists obey the law, particularly traffic lights.

PS if you are in Hereford call in to South Wye police station, loads of cycle cops there, a hot drink and cake will always be there for a cyclist.

Do you *really* stop dozens of lycra louts every week... in Hereford?!?

Good post, though.

On the back of a bus a sign ,"watch out for cyclists" as it pulls out taken out two passing cyclists doing nothing wrong , which didn't even stop . please wake up and smell the coffee they don't care .

whats a 'lycra lout'? from my experience the cyclists in lycra who ride a lot are better behaved and obey the rules more so than other types of cyclists