An Olympic Legacy

From road.cc:

Last July, British Cycling saw one of its highest ever months of new joiners, with 2,400 people signing up, but that has accelerated since then with an average of 2,800 people joining in each of the subsequent nine months. In part, that’s due to Great Britain’s success at London 2012, but interest is continuing to grow.

The governing body says that “this unprecedented growth has been achieved through the continued development of new opportunities and support for anyone to start and to stay cycling – whether that be commuting, recreation or sport – ensuring that the inspiration created by our cycling stars is transferred into more people cycling at all levels, delivering on our vision of ‘inspiration to participation’.”

From the BBC:

The number of cyclists killed on Great Britain's roads rose by 10% in 2012, as the overall number of road deaths fell to its lowest since records began in 1926, according to official figures.

The number of deaths among cyclists rose from 107 in 2011 to 118 in 2012, the Department for Transport announced. But there was a total of 1,754 deaths on British roads in accidents reported to the police in 2012, it added. This was 8% lower than the equivalent figure for 2011.

BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott said the cycling figures might be due to more people travelling by bicycle, mainly in London. It would lead to further calls for road designers to focus more on cycling safety, our correspondent added.