Ceri Woolsgrove from the European Cyclist Federation on the cycling culture in Europe.
so how do we make things safer for cyclists but it’s said that other parts of Europe are better in terms of improving their roads and things Kerrie wallsgrove is a Brit in cycling mad Belgium and works for the European cyclist Federation he told me a bit earlier on why some countries are already streets ahead well you can go to the uh the major cycling countries um you have uh the Dutch and the Danes um you have just some German cities some Swedish cities um the main rule of thumb I would say is that you have to where there is a motorized transport over 30 kph and in high volumes then they need to separate and then you need to provide decent infrastructure it all depends on your on your city so you’ll have some cities are um uh smaller roads and higher volume some will have broader roads and newer roads and straighter roads so it depends on on the on the city as well I’ve cycled in Bel myself and it seems that the drivers are happy to give people on bicycles the right of way is that something that Britain can learn from I think so yeah I think in in many of these countries um uh you have a culture towards cyclist and cycling which is slightly different and to do and to create this sort of culture you have to be doing little things like um uh where there is uh there’s strict liability for example around um most of Europe I think there’s only about four countries of which the UK is one where you do not have strict liability whereby the motorist is deemed to be um guilty for damages not criminal guilt but for damages where there’s been an accident between a a larger vehicle and um uh and cyclist car drivers are seen as as privileged to be allowed to use ton and a half 200 horsep machines on the road and so they have to take responsibility for them and that’s seen as more important over in in many these countries over here in Europe let’s talk about not so much the responsibility of drivers now but the responsibility of cyclists with more and more cyclists on the road in the UK surely a lot of responsibility lies with them in how they cycle yes and no to a certain extent I mean um firstly theyve taken the decision to uh to move away from those larger um Vehicles they’ve taken the decision to uh commit to an environmentally friendly form of Transport false Education and Training for cyclist is important there’s always at some stage cyclists will have to use the roads um um there’s not going to be infrastructure everywhere so training and education is also a part of that but we have to put it in perspective and see who where the actual risks are coming from just one final question krie inevitably there are groups on both sides that see the opposite as the enemy cyclists you see cars as the enemy and drivers you think cyclists are the enemy is that unique to the UK or does that occur in other parts of the European Union um it does seem reasonably um strong in the UK for some reason I don’t know why that’s that’s but that’s the case I think as you get more cyclists that will become less and less as cyclists become less of a minority and more of a majority um I really couldn’t tell you why there is such an aggression in the UK against cyclists I know there is a car culture in the UK um but um I think it’s part to do with a psychology against the minority kri thank you so much for joining us safe cycling thank you goodbye