The objective of this research report is to support the development of the forthcoming Cycle Safety Action Plan being prepared by Transport for London to be published in 2014. TfL wished to improve the understanding of the factors which lead to collisions involving fatally injured cyclists and those with life-changing injuries. The research focussed on an in-depth analysis of collisions that occurred between 2007 – 2011 when there were 79 fatal and life threatening collisions involving cyclists of which 53 were available for analysis.
The numbers of pedal cyclist fatalities in London have varied over the years from 1986 to 2006; averaging 18 per year, the maximum was 33 in 1989 and the minimum was 8 in 2004. There has been a substantial increase in cycling, particularly in central and inner London. The London Travel Report 2007 (Transport for London, 2007a) reported that in 2006 the cycle flows on London’s major roads were almost twice as many as in 2000. During the period January 2001 to December 2006 a total of 108 pedal cyclists were killed in London.
