After a fifth cyclist was killed in the space of nine days in London on Wednesday, people have been asking are Britain’s road’s safe enough?
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called for cycle superhighways to physically separate cyclists from motorists.
While major cities such as Bristol have begun to create more cycle routes to make it easier for more people to cycle to work.
Manchester meanwhile has introduced cycling hubs to encourage people to cycle to work to help ease congestion and cut down carbon emissions.
MM revealed yesterday how participants for Manchester City Council’s cycle-to-work scheme is almost 25% lower than they predicted in 2009 and nearly eight times lower than other Manchester employers.
Are people being put off cycling to work because Manchester’s roads aren’t safe enough?
MM took the streets of Piccadilly to find out what the public thought?
Are Manchester’s roads safe enough for cyclists?
|
Options |
Results |
|
Yes |
28% |
|
No |
72% |
Will Carney, 21, a student living in Rusholme, said: “I’ve tried cycling to university but I’ve decided to walk now because when I cycled down the curry mile I am tempted to ring my mum before as I fear it could be the last time I speak to her.”
Marie Clarke, 25, a sales assistant from Didsbury, said: “The roads aren’t wide enough and there is not enough cycle lanes, Manchester needs to do more to make it safer for cyclists.”
Many people such as Tom Pollitt, 32, a Branch manager from Poynton believe the city’s congested roads don’t help cyclists: “roads are fine outside the city but the heavy traffic does cause a lot of problems.”
Samantha Carroll, 21, a shop assistant from Bury agrees: “It can be quite dangerous for cyclists in town especially with the trams I’ve seen a few close incidents when I’ve travelled into work,”
Clive Walker, 49, a bank clerk from Chorlton thinks differently: “Some cyclists don’t help themselves they regularly cut up drivers at traffic lights and rarely signal where they are going.”
Jess Simmons, 32, an office assistant in Oldham agrees: “Driving into work I see many cyclists without helmets and jumping red lights they make the roads unsafe for themselves.”
While Jonny Crow, 19, a student living in Central Manchester feels cyclists cause danger for pedestrians: “on my way home last night a cyclist went straight through a red light and almost knocked me over when I tried crossing the road.”
Abbas Akthar, 45, a taxi driver from Trafford agrees the roads are unsafe but also thinks cyclists don’t do enough to protect themselves: “When I’m on nights I have come close to knocking over cyclists mainly because they’re not visible enough.”
The overriding view though is more needs to be done to help Manchester’s cyclists especially in the city centre.
Stacey Josephs, 23, a check out assistant from Gorton stressed the need for improvement: “I can’t afford to drive into work or take public transport everyday so I need to cycle and there aren’t enough cycle routes once you get to the city centre.”
However Jason Perkins 50, a shop supervisor from Heaton Chapel has a damming verdict: “When I used to ride in to work 20 years ago the roads were just as bad if not worse with all the pollution I can’t see much more improvement occurring in the next few years.”
Image courtesy of Stuart Grout, with thanks
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