Safe and direct cycleways are “absolutely key” to encouraging more children to cycle to school.
CSO figures reveal that in 2016, just 2.1% of secondary school students were cycling to school every day – down from 15.3% in 1986
The 2016 census revealed that boys were more likely to get in the saddle than girls – with just 694 girls around the country cycling to school every day.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Martina Callanan from the Galway Cycling Campaign said the only way to encourage more girls to cycle is to “create road environments and school environments where they feel safe.”
“The number one thing parents will say is that they don’t want their children sharing the road with HGVs, trucks, buses and other cars,” she said.
“Particularly when we look at school routes, a lot of the traffic around the school area is parents dropping their kids off to school.
“They are doing that out of the love and kindness in their hearts. They want to keep their children safe.
“So, networks of connected cycleways that are safe and separate from motor traffic are absolutely key to enabling young people and particularly girls to hop on their bikes and be independent in making their way to and from school and other school activities.”
Children practice safe cycling at the youth traffic school in Mannheim, Germany, 14-03-2015. Image: UWE ANSPACH/dpaMs Callanan said there are two essential things needed to make our roads safer for cyclists – more space and less speed.
She said the €1m per day the Government has earmarked for cycling and walking infrastructure will “hopefully transform the environment in which we live for people cycling and walking.”
“We need connected routes that are safe, direct, convenient and are nice to cycle from your front door to your school,” she said.
“We know that, in urban areas, most primary school children live within a kilometre of their local school.
“So that is about a 12 to 15-minute walk and we need to make it safe and easy for children to get to school safely.”
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