Rachel Aldred is the cycling sociologist taking on the bike gap, with a lecture later this month in London. Bob Munro finds out more
Continuing on from last month’s discussion of driver vs cyclist rights, I’d like to stress the need for a complete cultural change in public perceptions of cyclists – a cycling revolution across the country, no less.
Plainly put, schemes such as Boris Johnson’s cycle superhighway will simply not lessen the conflict until the great British public starts to support cycling as a legitimate form of transport.
Rachel Aldred, cycling sociologist and senior transport lecturer at the University of Westminster, recently got to the nub of the issue on ITV4’s The Cycle Show. Cyclists, she said, had been an ‘out group’ (bear with me!) since car ownership became more prevalent in the 50s. As a result of this shift, cycling was reclassified as a children’s or leisure pursuit – and was thus "designed out of the road system."
"There is no place for cyclists on the road, or on the pavements, so cycling is not seen as a legitimate form of transport," said Dr Aldred. "This is the root of the hostility from motorists."
Only through a widespread acceptance of cyclists as a legitimate and welcome presence on our roads will we reduce the alarming casualty rate. Only a sway in public opinion will induce the Government to take the matter as seriously as it should.
There’s a long way to go, but my hunch is that the cycling revolution has legs.
Rachel will be speaking at the Cycling, Women and the Media seminar at University of the Arts London on November 25
