• Want to make the streets safer for women? Start with cycling | Cycling | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2021/mar/26/want-to-make-the-streets-safer-for-women-start-with-cycling?CMP=Share_A
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    Cycling does not eliminate the risk of harassment or violence for women, but it at least gives more personal control over route, speed and time of travel, and removes some of the vulnerability that comes with walking or being trapped in a dangerous situation on public transport or in a taxi. As cycling and urban design expert Tiffany Lam says, “When I ‘became a cyclist’ in 2013, I felt liberated from street harassment. I was never still long enough for someone to try to harass me and even if I were, I could get away so much more quickly on two wheels.”

    Evidence from other countries shows that women are more likely to cycle than men when there is supportive cycling infrastructure in place, such as bike lanes that are well-lit and fully separated from traffic, and safe routes that facilitate diverse journeys (not simply commuting from the outer to inner city). In the Netherlands and Copenhagen for example, 55% of journeys by bike are made by women. In Paris and Lisbon, the number of female cyclists has increased with recent investment in protected bike lanes and other measures.

    Yet too many women in the UK feel that cycling is “not for them”. The 2019 Sustrans Bike Life survey found that 76% of women in the UK never cycle and only 9% of women cycle regularly, compared to 21% of men, with women from ethnic minorities the least likely to cycle. The survey also found that 36% of women who do not cycle would like to start. While concern about danger from traffic was the main reason for non-participation given by all respondents who don’t cycle, it was disproportionately a concern for women. This is hardly surprising: research has found that female cyclists in the UK are twice as likely as men to have faced “near misses” or harassment by drivers, while a US study found that drivers are 3.8 times more likely to pass female cyclists too closely than male cyclists.