Cycle to Work Day 2023 is taking place this week! It’s the UK’s biggest celebration of cycle commuting and the ideal chance for you to get on your bike!
Cycling offers so many health and wellbeing benefits that it’s worth giving it a try to see if it can improve not only your lifestyle but the way you travel. By cycling rather than driving or using public transport you’ll be contributing to lowering carbon emissions which is a great thing too.
Cycle to Work Day is organised by Cyclescheme, an organisation devoted to promoting cycling and all its benefits. It was founded in 2005 and meets the government’s three cycle to work objectives: CO2 emission reduction, congestion reduction, and improved public health and wellbeing.
Although the event is called Cycle to Work Day, if you are unable to cycle to work, completing a bike ride of any sort counts too. If you do take part in the day, be sure to log your ride on the Cyclescheme Love to Ride community on Cycle to Work Day for your chance to win some cycling goodies including bike rental membership, a Fitbit Charge 5 and big-name gift cards!
In 2021, there were 111 pedal cyclist fatalities in Great Britain, plus 4,353 reported as seriously injured (adjusted) and 11,994 slightly injured (adjusted). Cyclist fatalities make up around 6% of all road deaths, which is why improving cyclist safety is so important.
Road and cycle safety is always a top priority for TJ. Our fleet of lorries are frequent road users, but all of our drivers are advocates for cycle safety. As part of our commitment to managing work related road risk (WRRR), particularly regarding vulnerable road users such as cyclists, we created our Cycle Safe Campaign in 2016 to raise awareness of the issue and reduce the HGV / cyclist dangers.The initiatives implemented as part of the campaign include:
Since the introduction of the Cycle Safe campaign, we’ve won two awards. The first was a national award for leading the way with cycle safety. The accolade was awarded by CEMEX, a leader in the building materials industry.
We also won the Transport for London Award for reducing occupational road risk for the company’s drivers. Criteria for the award included showing how technology, management systems and behavioural initiatives can reduce road accidents.
We recently maintained our FORS Silver accreditation for the sixth consecutive year, confirming our status as one of the leading SME transport companies in the southern region. FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) silver accreditation is awarded to operators that maintain Bronze accreditation and have developed driver licensing verification systems.
To further meet the strict criteria, vehicles over 3.5 tonnes must be equipped with a left-turn audible warning system and fitted with blind-spot minimisation devices. We also have to provide annual evidence that we are doing a number of things including:
Find out more about Cyclescheme or about our Cycle Safe Campaign…
Sources:
brake.org.uk
gov.co.uk
