.cycling too dangerous for parents
Actually, to be a bit more precise, it would appear that a lot of parents in England think that cycling is simply too dangerous a pastime to be indulged in by their offspring. Cycling England recently carried out a poll of 1,079 parents, and 80% of respondents admitted that they actually banned their children from cycling to school.
It also transpires that 35% of respondents cycled to school when they were kids, and only 3% actually knew someone who had been involved in a cycling accident. Cycling, it would seem, is the new paedophile lurking round the corner with a pocket full of sweeties.
Strangely 75% of those parents allowed their children to cycle in leisure time, but recreational cycling is seen as inherently more safe than cycling as a way of getting form A to B. No, we're missing the logic in that leap as well. Although maybe getting from A to B uses roads more, while 'playing' avoids them (not really the case in our childhoods, but bear with us), because the danger of the roads was cited as the biggest reason for the fear.
And more cycle training was something which would alleviate that fear - something which advocates of cycling have long been pushing for more of, but something which seems to be way down the list of priorities when it comes to increasing road safety.
What is particularly barmy about all of this is that most respondents would know someone who had been involved in an 'incident' in a car; a lot drove their kids to school because, ironically, there were so many cars; and the long term health issues involved in not exercising regularly would surely outweigh the vague potential for harm on the bike. Too logical?
