Professor Rachel Aldred’s influential research is energising the race to decarbonise our cities by helping to build a safer, more inclusive cycling culture in the UK.
Cycling is one of the most sustainable modes of transport available, yet – compared to cycling havens like Holland and Denmark – it remains a minority choice for British commuters. For over a decade, Professor Aldred has devoted her research to finding out why that is, and how we can bring cycling into the mainstream.
Risk takers?
Professor Aldred’s national survey (2014–16) found cyclist commuters could experience “very scary” near misses – non-injury incidents like close passes – on a weekly basis.
Yet her earlier ESRC funded Cycling Cultures project (2010-12) had revealed that local and national policy guidance reinforced a stereotype of cyclists as ‘fast commuters’, comfortable with risk.
This can be seen, for example, on the cover of Cycle Infrastructure Design (October 2008), which depicts a cyclist sharing an ‘advisory cycle lane’ with motor traffic on a busy road.
Images like this, not only scare off risk-averse commuters but also reinforce poor practice in transport planning and design, causing cyclists to have a poor experience on the roads.
Reimagining our roads
Professor Aldred has focused on changing the tone of transport policy, through direct engagement with government stakeholders.
Her success was reflected, for example, by Transport for London's (TfL) adoption of more inclusive images, language, and engineering specifications in its 2018 Cycling Action Plan.
The plan directly references Aldred’s work on challenging cycling stereotypes to justify the change, stating:
“We can all work to normalise cycling, making it clear that it is something that everyone can do, with no special equipment or clothing required.”
It continues: “A key part of this plan is developing a more inclusive branding for London's cycle network, to make it appealing to more people.”
Aldred’s critique of cycling’s exclusive image also fed into the development of TfL’s nearly-£1 billion 10-year infrastructure programme, designed to “put London’s cycling facilities on a par with those in the best cycling cities in the world”.
The connections she has drawn between culture and infrastructure have encouraged us, as London policy-makers, to see infrastructural change as a way of enabling cultural change, creating a virtuous feedback circle in which a more inclusive infrastructure helps shift perceptions of what it means to be 'a cyclist'.
London’s former Deputy Mayor for Transport
Professor Aldred also sat on the steering group of experts who helped develop the new Cycle Infrastructure Design (July 2020) guidance document, which focuses on creating a step change in design and safety.
Supporting investment
In March 2013, TfL launched the £100m mini-Holland scheme to transform three outer London boroughs into cycling and walking hubs with the aim of reducing short car trips.
Since 2016, Professor Aldred has measured the mini-Hollands’ impact via her People and Places study, producing annual reports for TfL, which funds it.
TfL cited Aldred’s findings that mini-Holland increased cycling by 18% and walking by 13% in a single year as justification for its 2020 decision to extend the mini-Holland scheme to 12 non-London local authority areas.
Professor Aldred has also played a central role in developing the Department for Transport (DfT) funded Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT) and, as Policy and Practice Lead for the project, in persuading English and Welsh planning authorities to use it.
The PCT is an open access planning tool, which helps authorities to identify routes with the most ‘cycling potential’, helping them to target infrastructure investment.
In their key planning guidance, the DfT "strongly recommended" that authorities use the PCT and by July 2020, 81 public or voluntary sector authorities - including major regional bodies – had done so.
For instance, Transport for Greater Manchester has used the PCT to identify 13 routes with the greatest ‘cycling potential’ for its £1.5 billion Bee Network, a 1,800-mile network of walking and cycling routes.
Tackling “Near Misses”
To ensure gains in sustainable transport continue, it’s important that cyclists feel safe on the roads.
Professor Aldred’s Near Misses study inspired the UK’s first Close Pass Operation, by West Midlands Police (WMP) in 2016, which aimed to reduce ‘close passes’, where vehicles closely overtake cyclists.
WMP explained Aldred’s work on the subject “gave us an evidence base to change driver behaviour around cyclists”.
The operation entails plain-clothed officers on bikes reporting close pass incidents, so fellow officers can stop the drivers to educate or enforce.
In its first year, WMP reported a 20% drop in the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured.
The local operation was so successful that, in June 2018, the Department for Transport followed up with a UK-wide initiative to help other police forces crackdown on close passing.
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