Tour de France prompts greater respect for cyclists on UK roads

The Tour de France starts this weekend with three stages in the UK. On Saturday 5th July, the race will begin in Leeds and continue in to London over three days.

It’s only the second time in the history of the race that the start or ‘Le Grand Depart’ has taken place in the UK and according to research, the hype surrounding the world’s most famous bike race is also helping to increase cycle safety awareness on UK roads.

ColinAppleyard.com surveyed 2,100 drivers and regular cyclists and found that attitudes towards cyclists had improved over the last few months.

90% of drivers surveyed said that they were more aware of cyclists as a result of the tour coming to the UK. 73% also said that they are more considerate towards cyclists now and take simple steps, such as giving cyclists more space when overtaking, as a result.

And it appears cyclists agree as the same survey found that, while 88% of the cyclists surveyed had experienced bad driving towards them in the last two years, 65% had noticed greater courtesy from other road users in the last month.

This is great news especially as the number of cycle accidents on Britain’s roads has continued to grow over the past few years. So we’re hoping that this improved courtesy towards cyclists extends far beyond the UK stages of the Tour De France which end on July 7th. Our advice to drivers is to simply be patient and give cyclists the same respect as other road users.