What can a floating roundabout teach us about cycling in the UK?

The UK government wants 60% of English children to walk or cycle to school by 2035.

That figure, as of 2023, was at 47%.

Ministers also want over half of all short trips (55%) to be active by this time, which currently sit at 48%.

So how if the government going to close these gaps?

It puts forward a £4.5bn investment strategy that would see around 5,000 walking, wheeling and cycling routes built by 2030, alongside 10,000 safer crossings.

The aim is to make these journeys "more achievable and in line with the way people travel every day".

So perhaps there's a thing or two for the UK to learn from countries where active travel, particularly cycling, is part of everyday life.

The cycling capital of the world

The Netherlands, home of Van Gogh, Stroopwafels and bicycles.

While bikes weren’t invented in the Netherlands, there are more of them than people.

It’s the second most common form of transport in the country, with people making roughly 27% of all journeys on a bicycle. In the UK, that figure is a measly 2%.

Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

It’s incredibly safe to do so.

It boasts 25 superhighways for cycling that are currently in use or under construction.

Public safety is a priority, so they sit alongside but separate from roads, have their own traffic light systems and are wide enough to allow ample space for everyone.

Cycling routes are a key consideration when designing, building or updating infrastructure.

For example, the Driebergen-Zeist train station has dedicated cycle lanes built below the station.

A few other cycling infrastructure highlights include:

• The Hovenring in Eindhoven: a suspended cycling roundabout designed to increase safety as the roads below get too busy
• The ‘bicycle apple’ in Alphen aan den Rijn: a unique parking facility that can hold over 2,800 bikes
• The Pieter Smit Bridge in Groningen: at 800m, it’s one of the longest walking and cycling bridges in the world

Aside from infrastructure, employers may also pay people to cycle to work via a tax-free milage allowance, capping at €0.19 per kilometre travelled.

France’s Covid cycle lanes

When public transport use dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic, France was concerned that its sustainability goals would be put at risk by having more cars on the road.

To prevent this, it repurposed road space to create temporary ‘Covid cycle lanes’ across the country.

It also set up a training course on urban cycling known as ‘getting back in the saddle’.

And, it helped individuals service their bikes by providing €50 vouchers. More than 1.7 million bicycles were repaired.

Bike use in France rose immediately. Paris saw a 27% increase compared to the previous year.

This trend continued in the years following the pandemic.

A lack of safety is holding the UK back

The UK isn’t the most accessible place for cyclists, and often, it can be dangerous.

According to the Department for Transport (DfT), in 2023, 87 pedal cyclists were killed in Great Britain, 3,942 were reported to be seriously injured and 10,970 slightly injured.

The most common cause for fatal or serious collisions was: “driver or rider failed to look properly”.

Motorists must be held accountable

Given the number of drivers on our roads, people may sometimes forget that they’re behind the wheel of a potentially lethal machine.

“[Driving] must be seen as a privilege, not a right,” says Dame Sarah Storey OBE, cycling Paralympian.

“The safety of vulnerable road users and those out walking must be prioritised by authorities who are not afraid to tackle the greatest threat of harm,” she says.

The role of the construction industry

The highest proportion of fatal casualties occur in two vehicle collisions that involve a heavy-goods vehicle (HGV), which are commonplace in construction.

“Some of these vehicles have blind spots so big, that up to 17 cyclists could be nearby, but not visible to the driver,” explains engineering consultant, Kate Cairns.

“Like we would do onsite, we need to identify and apply risk management processes,” she says.

Supporting this is the Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) standard, which requires all stakeholders in construction to take responsibility for health and safety beyond site.

Cairns played a role overseeing the evolution and progression of the standard.

She explains: “Implementing CLOCS requires forethought to include planning for resource and vehicle movements for a construction site in order to reduce its impact on the road network and local community.”

Progress has been made.

In London, the Direct Vision Standard, which rates how well lorry drivers can see the road around them, led to the city banning the most dangerous lorries from the city.

This led to a 62% reduction in fatal collisions.

The UK isn’t designed with cycling in mind

More generally, the lack of walking and cycling infrastructure in and outside of major cities is keeping people off cycles.

But the low number of people choosing this mode of transport means less demand for better infrastructure, explains Phil Jones, chair of transport planning practice, PJA.

The view was: “No one cycles around here so why should we spend any money on it?”

The numbers back this up. In 2023, the average person spent just six minutes per week on a bike, and cycling only covered 1% of all distance travelled.

Could it be a case of following the old adage, “if you build it, they will come”?

This new investment seems to suggest that's the plan.

Paving the way

The record £4.5bn investment put forward in the third cycling and walking strategy (CWIS3) supports three objectives:

1. Enabling more people to benefit from physical activity through active travel
2. Make active travel the easy and integrated choice
3. Improve safety for people walking, wheeling and cycling

It also builds on existing programmes, bringing together local cycling and infrastructure plans, which account for 20,000mi of planned routes, and almost 7,000 new or improved miles across the National Cycle Network.

Active Travel England

The UK government launched Active Travel England in 2022. Its main objective is to create schemes that will enable more people to walk, wheel and cycle safely.

Over the course of the strategy, it will provide £135m of funding to support schools and community programmes to enable millions of children to walk, wheel and cycle to school. It will also help schools to develop their travel plans and support people to start cycling or riding again.

Getting more hands on handlebars

The UK can definitely learn from its European neighbours.

To really get more hands on handlebars, we need safer, more innovative and accessible infrastructure.