Pushing Pedals: Stop the Cycling Culture War and Admit We are Addicted to the Car

Published on: 13 Mar, 2023
Updated on: 17 Mar, 2023

This is the regular column on local cycling by the Guildford Bicycle User Group (G-BUG). Its vision is to make cycling in Guildford safer, more convenient and fun. Members share a passion for making the borough more accessible through increased cycling.

By Cameron Allan

The UK has an motoring obsession creating a culture war against cycling. Suggest a cycling improvement and you can guarantee a cry something like “bloody lycra-clad cyclists, holding up traffic, riding like idiots, breaking the highway code”.

Cycling on the London Road. It is “intimidating” for cyclists on some roads in Guildford.

There are some like that but that is a distraction. The issue is we need a safe cycle infrastructure so everyone can cycle if they want and not have to drive.

People claim we don’t need cycle paths in Guildford because nobody cycles. Engineers do not build a bridge over a river based on the number swimming across. They build it because, once it is built, people use it.

Cycle paths allow regular people to get about, not just the lycra-clad but children, elderly and women who are more likely to be put off by intimidating roads.

G-BUG member, Cameron Allan said we should “admit that maybe we are addicted to the car”.

On new cycle lanes on the Chiswick Road in London, you see children cycling to school, women cycling to work and, dare I say, the odd workman peddling a cargo bike with tools for his next job.

These are not cyclists, just people previously put off riding a bike but now safely cycling as the best way to get around town.

Parents struggle with the school run dealing with Guildford traffic perils. It can take an hour before you are home again. They don’t dare let their child make their own way home because it’s too far to walk and too dangerous to cycle.

But in the not-too-distant future, with a Guildford equipped with safe cycle infrastructure, parents will be able to rest assured that bang on 4pm their son or daughter will walk in the door having cycled home.

They can be relieved of many of the daily stresses by giving their children the freedom to travel independently. Children like being able to travel without the need to rely on parents, going shopping in town with friends or to Spectrum for bowling.

The UK government say walking and cycling provide benefits from reduced NHS spend of between 13 to 35 times the cost of the cycling infrastructure. New Zealand found the benefits outweighed the costs by 10 to 1.

So it is cheaper to build cycle infrastructure than it is not to.

It’s not surprising the Netherlands, where 27 per cent of all trips are done by bike (in the UK it’s just 2 per cent), has the second lowest obesity rates of the developed world at 20.4 per cent only overtaken by Denmark where 16 per cent of all trips are cycled.

Guildford is not Amsterdam. But we are also not Copenhagen, nor Antwerp, nor Oslo, nor Paris, nor Seville, nor Berlin, nor Cambridge, nor London and all these places have invested in cycling and, unsurprisingly, more people now ride bikes.

Guildford could be a cycling paradise but we haven’t tried yet.

It is time to admit that maybe we are wrongly addicted to the car and to give the humble bicycle a go.

If you would like to see Guildford become a cycle-friendly town then join G-Bug, the Guildford cycle campaign group and join our mailing list.

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