§ 43. Sir George Youngasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is considering measures to encourage the use of the bicycle as a means of transport.
§ Mr. MarksMeeting the needs of cyclists is a local authorities' function. They have to decide how to share available funds among the competing needs for all kinds of movement of people and goods, and what resources to allocate to making it safer for those who wish to cycle.
Unfortunately, a cyclist is at least 10 times as likely to become a casualty as a car driver, and the accident statistics for July-September 1975 show that, while pedal-cycle mileage increased by 13 per cent., casualties were up by 23 per cent. to 6,600. But authorities are looking into ways of improving conditions for cyclists by traffic management, and the Government are associated with some experiments for this purpose.