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Boris Johnson yesterday announced more plans to improve cycling safety in the city but the question remains: why are women, rather than men, more likely to get killed?
Although approximately twice as many men as women cycle in London regularly, according to Transport for London, 10 out of 13 cycling fatalities last year were women.
It's a strange and disturbing statistic, especially given that the same set of figures also show that male cyclists have more collisions and crashes than women, and are also more likely to be seriously injured.
Is there anything that women cyclists can do to reduce their risk, other than waiting for Boris's new measures, which include the possibility of cyclists being allowed to turn left while the lights are still red, to become law? The short answer is yes: behave more like a man.
For there's no doubt that by and large a bloke on a bike, like everywhere else in life, is more aggressive, more confident, takes more risks and goes faster than a woman does. My advice is that, for once, it may pay to take a leaf out of his macho rulebook.
You have only to wait with a group of fellow cyclists at a light to observe the complete range of gender characteristics. It's the men who park themselves squarely out in front of the waiting traffic; it's the men who fly ahead at top speed; it's the men who get into arguments with drivers. It is also more likely to be the men who shoot the lights, ride the pavements and squeeze through potentially dangerous traffic jams. I'm not saying that women don't — but they are less likely to.
While these characteristics hardly constitute a superior moral code of behaviour, they almost certainly go some way towards asserting the rights of the cyclist to occupy the same turf as the driver. In so doing, they may also offer better protection against the lorries that have been responsible for most of last year's cycling deaths.
I only fully came to realise all this after I was fined by the police for shooting a red light, even though at the time there was not a pedestrian in sight. I didn't question or challenge the offence but I did make the decision that if I was going to be treated like a motorist, I was jolly well going to behave more like one in future. And a male one at that.
Since then I have become a veritable road hog in a fluorescent jacket, perfectly happy to pull right ahead and claim the middle section of the middle lane whenever I go round a roundabout, even if it means making the cars and lorries behind me slow down. They can honk all they want to, but the point is that they can see me.
Nor do I have any hesitation in pulling out to cross a lane, having made eye contact with the driver behind me, holding out my right arm, to slow him down with imperious confidence. I've even started rapping boldly on the car windows of drivers who drive and talk on their mobiles.
Perhaps when we can turn left on red, I might be able to return to being a little more ladylike. Until then, staying alive seems more important.
Reader views (14)
Katie Law asks, 'Is there anything that women cyclists can do to reduce their risk...'
Yes. There is one simple measure which applies equally to men. Never, never, go up the lefthand side of a large vehicle when there are metal railings to your right.
Doing so is what has killed all too many London cyclists.
- Ken Macdonald, London, 12/03/2010 09:39
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As a veteran bike messenger i must agree that cycling aggressively is the safest way to ride. This is because cyclists are vulnerable road users and motor vehicles put cyclists safety at risk. Everyone makes mistakes but the motor vehicle always kills the cyclist. As a cyclist you must take responsibility for your own safety and don't expect the road rules to protect you. You can do whatever you want in traffic, run red lights, ride the wrong way down the street without a problem, then the next thing you know you'll be riding along obeying the road rules and some complacent motorist will make a careless mistake and its all over, the cyclist always comes off 2nd best.
- Doddsy, Sydney, Australia, 12/03/2010 07:48
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How can our Mayor proclaim to have the safety of cyclists at heart when he has cut TfL road safety funding by £10m, axed the Commercial Vehicle Education Unit (CVEU), and left haulage firms to sign up to a merely voluntary Freight Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS) that they have to pay for during a recession?
I'm a girl. I'd gladly man-up and go a few rounds with the Mayor.
- Jo, London, 10/03/2010 16:06
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Robin in Cambridge, Many women in London have Cycle helmets,,,,Hanging off of their handlebars or in their twee wicker basket.
Mobile phone users. I too make a point that they shouldnt be engaged on the phone especially when they get anywhere near me. The results so far have been 100% humiliation.
- Paddy J, London, 10/03/2010 15:27
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I used to cycle to college and did cycling proficiency (way back), I have been a biker (motorised and otherwise) for many years.
I don’t have any issue with 90% of the bikers out there, the ones that I do have an issue with are probably the same car drivers that open their doors into parked cars and don’t bother to leave a note offering to pay for the damage.
I probably live in a fantasy world where everyone is accountable for their own actions, but I don’t cycle to work and I don’t have a day to day experience of what it is like to have several tons of metal ignore your existence.
I do agree that every road user should have an understanding the other vehicles so that they can better understand how to respond to them (and I don’t just mean the appropriate hand gesture). Cyclists are like bikers at higher risk then car users, as such wouldn’t it make sense for them to have to complete some kind of test before they are allowed to ride on the road in a city and not in a cycle path?
- Robin, Cambridge, 10/03/2010 14:50
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I have a friend who shouts at drivers on mobiles. She stops in front of them and screams "Are you mad!!?" She says this usually shames the driver into hanging up, especially when a crowd gathers. The law should be changed, anyone caught driving on a mobile should have the phone confiscated, no questions.
- Susan Burton, E3, 10/03/2010 14:43
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It's a common misconception by people who've never cycled that cyclists don't also own a car. Yes, cyclists should be trained in road awareness but car drivers should also have the requirement of passing a cycling proficiency test before they can drive.
I don't think any of the cyclist hate is from anyone who's ever actually tried to cycle around a city.
- Iain, Coventry, 10/03/2010 14:14
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Quite right. Drivers that are honking at you, gesticulating at you or yelling out the window at you have at least seen you. That's far more important than a few seconds delay before they accelerate off to the next traffic queue. Also claim the lane, motorists and bikes share the roads - that does not mean motorists trying to get past in the same lane.
- Givecyclistsroom, London, 10/03/2010 13:57
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Agree 100%. In cities you either need to cycle aggressively or get off and walk.
- Iain, Coventry, 10/03/2010 13:49
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It's not exclusively a female problem, but so many of my fellow cyclists seem to think the cogs and levers on their bikes are only there for decoration. Those are the gears, ladies and gents.
So they pull off from a stop in the same gear they'll use at top speed, or to get up a hill, wobbling because they aren't in full control of their bikes, and then hit a top speed that leaves faster or just fitter cyclists behind them fuming.
If you want to be in control of your bike, learn to use your gears, and if you can't work it out then you don't have any more business riding a bike than you would driving a car.
- Alex, London, 10/03/2010 13:12
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Living in Cambridge, I have noticed that more often then not the men are wearing helmets and the women aren’t. Is this the same in London? If so that might be a contributing factor.
Personally as a driver I am much happier when a cyclist actually uses the road like a car user does. But then again I have very rarely seen a cyclist indicate before turning, show due care and attention at crossings, or stop at a red light.
I have also never seen a cyclist stop after scraping their handle bars down the side of a car to exchange insurance details. maybe if a cyclist wants to use the road a universally acknowledged as dangerous place they should have to take a basic road user test have a licence that can be revoked for endangering themselves and others, and have to be insured for damages to other road users.
- Robin, Cambridge, 10/03/2010 13:02
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This makes a lot of sense. Fined by a policeman for going through a red light? I do this about 10 times on my way to work. Where was it, in the city?
- Andrew, London, 10/03/2010 12:58
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Good on you.
- Geoff, Wakefield, England., 10/03/2010 12:48
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Oh, I can't wait for the comments on this one....!
- Lecyclste, London, 10/03/2010 11:13
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