Cycling Scotland data shows drivers 'more at fault' than cyclists

The figures show that between 2015 and 2021, 54 people cycling were killed and a further 1836 were seriously injured in road collisions in cities and towns, as well as in rural areas and the islands.

Despite persistent tropes about people on bikes being reckless on the roads, the figures show that in nearly three quarters of all collisions between bikes and vehicles the person driving is at fault.

One of the most hard worn myths is that people wearing dark clothes at night while cycling are failing to take sufficient care - but the statistics further show "wearing dark clothing" is not a common cause of accidents.

Simon Bradshaw, Cycling Road Safety Manager of Cycling Scotland, collated the figures.

Mr Bradshaw said: "There is sometimes animosity between a minority of people who drive cars and other vehicles and people on pedal cycles, which can sometimes result in conflict.

"This clearly is unsafe, but it also perpetuates some of the myths that surround people on bikes as well: that people on cycles are unsafe, and they are the cause of collisions by going through the red light, or through junctions and not obeying the rules of the road.

"And obviously, there is a small minority of cyclists who do that, just as there is of people who drive vehicles."

However, the collated data shows the biggest risk on the roads is the presence of vehicles.

He added: "But what the data tells us is that cyclist behaviour isn't a major factor, which is causing people on bikes to be seriously injured or even killed. The biggest risk is from the presence of vehicles.

"What we're trying to demonstrate by highlighting this data is that on most occasions, where you have a collision between a person on a bike and a vehicle, it tends to be the fault of the person driving the vehicle."

As a means of dispelling the animosity between groups of road users, the charity prefers the terms "people cycling" and "people driving" to attempt to humanise each group.

Mr Bradshaw said: "A minority of people get behind the wheel of a vehicle but then tend to see people on bikes as sort of not human.

"Language is very important in these in these discussions, because there's a lot of emotive language being used in certain quarters.

"We're trying to make the point that it's generally not people on bikes who are causing the problem or the greatest risk.

"It's people in vehicles and that's where they're wanting to focus our efforts, on preventing collisions in the first place."

When a collision is reported to Police Scotland a "contributory factory" is assigned such as "rider/driver failed to look properly", "loss of control", "cyclist entering road from pavement" or others.

Depending on who they feel is at fault, officers will apply that causation factor to either the pedal cyclist or the driver of the vehicle.

New changes to the Highway Code also place priority on vulnerable road users like those walking and on bikes, and place a great burden of responsibility on drivers of a vehicle.

For both driver and cyclist, the main cause of a collision is failure to look - but of 512 incidents of "failure to look", 374 were assigned to the person driving.

In the top 10 causes of accidents where the person driving is at fault "dazzling sun" affected 57 drivers and seven cyclist.

"Aggressive driving" and "vehicle door opened or closed negligently" were also in the top 10 reasons for collisions.

Of the top 10 reasons that people cycling were deemed to be at fault in a collision "wearing dark clothing at night" came in at number nine with 19 incidents.

Mr Bradshaw said: "In terms in terms of the people riding bikes, the loss of control is the most interesting one because that doesn't feature in the drivers' list, but it's quite it's quite high up in the cyclists' lists.

"Our assessment is that it is a factor of the nature of riding a bike: there are circumstances in which you can more easily lose control over a pedal cycle than there are in a vehicle for obvious reasons such as the road surfaces or changeable Scottish weather."

Mr Bradshaw believes cycling road safety incidents are under reported due to cross checking data with hospital admission figures.

Even if someone is alone when they come off their bike and are injured, that is a reportable road traffic collision.

Close passes and near misses are also underreported and Cycling Scotland said it had been campaigning to encourage Police Scotland to introduce a new reporting mechanism, like one introduced by Welsh police, that would make recording incidents much easier.

Mr Bradshaw points to currents like Poland and Denmark where cycling is a social norm and a large proportion of people travel by bike.

The situation, he says, is "chicken and egg": we can't encourage people to cycle until the roads are safer; but the roads will be safer once the volume of people cycling increases.

Mr Bradshaw said road safety is a difficult area to make progress in due to the a lack of "consistent overall approach" from the various groups involved, such as local and national authorities, and police.

But he added: "We're trying very hard to do that in the Transport Scotland's road safety framework provides a good structure for everybody to try and work together but it takes actually drawing out the data.

"Because it's all about being evidence-led. There is no point to investing money on road safety interventions that aren't supported by the evidence and are therefore likely to be ineffective.

"So somebody highlighting the fact that wearing dark clothing at night is not supported in the data as being the cause of people on bikes being killed or seriously injured.

"And that's really important, because you would hope then that puts it to bed.

"And you can focus on the real issue, which is actually the people in vehicles posing the biggest risks.

"But it's likely to be an issue which never goes away. It'll consistently pop up and raise its head. And we just have to keep addressing it, I think."