New figures show that injuries brought about by cycling continue to rise
08 Mar 2012
New figures show that injuries brought about by cycling continue to rise
Shadow Public Health Minister Diane Abbott MP said today:
‘It is a real concern that the numbers of cyclists being killed or seriously injured is going up. It is vital that more is done to prevent cyclists being killed or seriously injured on our roads and The Times is absolutely right to raise awareness and launch a campaign for cycle safety. Cycling is good for improving health, helping the environment by cutting vehicle journeys and emissions and reduces congestion for those that need to drive. It cannot be right that people have to fear their friends and relatives getting on a bike, particularly in our cities.
‘It is not good enough for the Road Safety Minister to dismiss as ‘rubbish’ the concerns that his government’s decisions have made our roads less safe for cyclists. It was reckless of the government to cut road safety budgets and funding for speed cameras while abolishing Cycling England, allowing longer HGVs on our roads and ending national targets to cut deaths and serious injuries on our roads.’
--ENDS—
Notes to Editors:
1) http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-02-20d.94555.h&s=diane+abbott#g94555.q0
The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs), where there was a cause code relating to an accident involving a pedal cycle, for the financial years 2006-07 to 2010-11. The data includes episodes where the cyclist was injured in the accident and also episodes where someone else was injured by the cyclist.
Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector
FAEs
2010-11 16,423
2009-10 15,962
2008-09 14,013
2007-08 14,033
2006-07 13,679
Notes: 1. Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 2. Cause code A supplementary code that indicates the nature of any external cause of injury, poisoning or other adverse effects. Only the first external cause code which is coded within the episode is counted in HES. 3. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre
2)
In advance of Labour’s Cycling Summit, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle MP has backed three specific proposals that would make our roads safer for cyclists:
• Setting aside a proportion of existing government funding for roads to be spent on building new cycle ways, improving junction design and installing traffic light phasing to give cyclists a head start.
• Axing the government’s trial of longer HGVs and hypothecating the income from the proposed HGV road charging scheme to support the road haulage industry in upgrading safety measures and training.
• Reinstating the national targets, axed by the government, to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads.
For more info, please contact Gabe Trodd on 0207 219 4426
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