Safety concerns main issue stopping adults from cycling – survey

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Safety concerns are the main barrier preventing more Irish people from cycling, according to a survey.

The research indicated that the vast majority of Irish adults rarely or never cycle, with just 13 per cent of Irish adults cycling weekly.

The most commonly given deterrents were the volume of traffic (66 per cent), dangerous driving (61 per cent), a lack of confidence cycling in traffic (51 per cent) and a lack of segregated cycle lanes (40 per cent).

Other reasons given were weather conditions (34 per cent), previous incidents or near-misses (21 per cent) and poor street lighting in the evening (21 per cent).

The survey was conducted by polling company IrelandThinks for insurer RedClick, a partner of the Dublinbikes scheme which is operated by JCDecaux on behalf of Dublin City Council.

The research was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,648 participants.

It indicated that 82 per cent of Irish adults rarely or never cycle and just 13 per cent of Irish adults said they cycled weekly.

This compares to 24 per cent of EU citizens who cycle weekly, 47 per cent of Danes and 42 per cent of Finnish citizens.

The research found that 56 per cent of adults in Ireland said safety concerns have stopped them from cycling, with women being over 25% more likely than men to cite safety concerns as a barrier (62 per cent vs 49 per cent).

When asked what changes would encourage them or others to cycle more, safer roads and improved driver–cyclist etiquette emerged as the top priority (56 per cent).

Other suggestions included more dedicated cycle lanes (38 per cent), more secure parking (22 per cent), greater policing of bike theft (22 per cent), and improved street lighting (17 per cent).

The survey also indicates that 35 per cent of adults own a bike, four per cent own an electric bike, one per cent own a cargo bike, and five per cent use RedClick Dublinbikes or another bike sharing service.

In Dublin, nine per cent of adults use RedClick Dublinbikes or another bike share scheme.