HAMPSHIRE has been revealed as the most dangerous place in the UK for cyclists.

In data published by Uswitch.com at the end of 2020, roads in Hampshire were revealed as being the worst in the country for cyclists, with 652 casualties reported since 2015.

The second worst area was Surrey, with 611 cyclist casualties, followed by Lancashire at 485.

On the other end of the scale, the safest roads for cyclists can reportedly be found in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, with just three casualties recorded since 2015, followed by joint second palace at seven casualties, between East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and Torfaen, Wales.

Councillor Rob Humby, Deputy Leader of Hampshire County Council and Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, said: “Any death on Hampshire’s roads is one too many and we are always striving to ensure our roads are safe for all users, including cyclists. If you break these figures down further, they show that 11 cyclists were sadly killed on Hampshire’s roads between 2015-2019. Whilst the figures quoted for pedal cycle killed and seriously injured casualties are obviously a concern, they must be taken in context; including the length of our road network, which at more than 5,500 miles is one of the longest in the country, and that Hampshire has one of the highest traffic levels as well as being the third largest Shire authority in the UK.  Therefore, in any league table based simply on raw numbers we will always be near the top, whereas on the normal comparison data used relating to accident rates, Hampshire is nowhere near the top of the table for road casualties.

“In recent years we have prioritised County Council resources on both road safety education and engineering safety measures where we have evidence that they will reduce casualties. This focus has historically served Hampshire well, with a generally declining trend in the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the County’s roads in recent decades.

“We will never be complacent though, and we continue to prioritise highway safety with our resources targeted to where they will be most effective in reducing casualties. Our road safety engineers undertake comprehensive analysis of all accident data and produce detailed statistics of sites, routes and areas. This information is used to identify locations where safety can most effectively be improved through casualty reduction measures, with a sharp focus on specific measures needed for the safety of cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.

“Cyclists is a priority for Hampshire County Council’s road safety team and our safety education programme includes, Bikeability cycle training to over 7000 children, assemblies and workshops aimed at secondary students travelling independently.  Our cycle publicity campaign on social media, radio and outdoor media reminds drivers to look out for cyclists particularly on right turn junctions and to give cyclists extra space and encourages cyclists to take extra care at junctions and make themselves seen to cyclists: hants.gov.uk/lookout.  We have also carried out a series of pop up schemes to encourage and support more cycling under the Government’s active travel fund, and we will be doing more of this work with the further funding award of £3.25M recently announced for Hampshire.”

The data, taken from the Department for Transport and analysed by Uswitch, looked at all casualties on UK roads over the last five years.

There were 131,369 reported casualties on UK roads over the past 5 years. Splitting this out by road users, car drivers and passengers were the largest group, with 48,963 casualties, followed by pedestrians with 29,517.

Meanwhile, there were 28,671 reported casualties involving motorcyclists and 18,237 involving cyclists.

The majority of road accidents were found to involve people aged between 24 and 55 years old, with 60,119 casualties reported over the past 5 years – 46 per cent of all recorded casualties.

There was also quite a significant gender split in the data, with 69 per cent of all reported accidents involving men, compared to just 31 per cent involving women.