A new study has found that local authorities with higher levels of Bikeability training are experiencing lower rates of serious road injuries and fatalities.
The research, conducted by TRL for the Bikeability Trust, examined data from 2013 to 2022, finding a statistical association between Level 2 training and fewer overall KSIs (killed or seriously injured) and cyclist KSIs.
The Bikeability Trust’s Level 2 training equips children in Years 5 and 6 with essential skills for riding confidently on suburban roads with moderate traffic, marking their first experience with on-road cycling education.
Before progressing to Level 2, children complete Level 1, a course in a traffic-free setting that teaches core cycle control skills.
Since the programme’s inception in 2007, more than five million children have participated in Bikeability training, a national initiative backed by record government funding to deliver over half a million placements annually.
Emily Cherry, chief executive, the Bikeability Trust, said: “Our research demonstrates how important Bikeability is an integral part of road safety measures for local authorities, along with increasing cycling rates.
“Bikeability training teaches the four key skills for cycling: observation, communication, positioning and priorities. These vital skills are key to reducing KSIs on the roads involving cyclists. Failure to look by driver or rider is the number one reason for traffic incidents and why our teaching is proven to increase safety through hazard perception and risk management.
“The government has an ambition to increase active travel for health and climate, and so Bikeability plays a vital role in keeping cyclists and other road users safe.”
For the research, TRL developed a series of collision prediction models for the Bikeability Trust, a standard approach for explaining the relationship between several different variables and collision or casualty risk.
Models were developed at local authority level and used data from a 10-year period from 2013 to 2022. L2 and L3 Bikeability training were included as potential explanatory variables.
Dr George Beard, head of new mobility, TRL, said: “Determining the causes of road traffic collisions is highly complex as there are a great number of factors which contribute to road safety, both at a national and individual level.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study which has explored the relationship between the provision of Bikeability training and KSI road traffic collisions, and The Bikeability Trust are to be commended for looking at this.
“The work provides initial indications that increased Bikeability training (Level 2) is statistically associated with fewer KSIs, alongside a number of other factors, such as deprivation and traffic levels, which we would expect to be identified in these sorts of models.
“These initial results are encouraging and suggest that Bikeability training may have a broader role in improving road safety outcomes in the long term. We encourage further detailed analysis with a larger dataset in future in order to test and strengthen these initial findings.”
Read the report here.