Cycling to work popularity revealed
The West Midlands, once the heart of the UK car industry, is now the area where cycling to work is most popular, according to a survey.
As many as 69% of regular cyclists in the West Midlands use their bikes to get to their workplace, the poll by insurance company Cycleguard found.
In contrast, the East Midlands had a comparatively low number who chose to cycle to work, while the Scots and the Welsh were also reluctant to get their bikes out in the mornings.
The survey was based on responses from 500 regular UK cyclists and 500 adults who had not cycled for 12 months or more.
It showed that only 38% of East Midlanders cycled to work, while only 39% of Welsh workers did so, and the figure for Scots was as low as 20%.
The poll also revealed that 58% of East Midlanders and 56% of Scots felt the roads were unsafe for cyclists. Contrastingly only 22% of people in East Anglia were worried about unsafe roads.
Other areas where a high proportion of cyclists and non-cyclists were prepared to use their bikes to get to work included north west England (56%) and Yorkshire and Humber (55%).
Adrian Scott, head of Cycleguard, said: "Cyclists from the west side of England appear to be leading the pack when it comes to cycling to work and we will hopefully see more regions follow suit, particularly as the Government's Cycle to Work scheme has reported an 8% year-on-year increase in people cycling to work across the UK.
"However, safety remains a key consideration for many, with a recent report highlighting road safety as the number one reason for people not cycling to work.
"We hope that as cities across the UK benefit from the Government's recent £94 million investment in cycling, safety for cyclists will be considerably improved and more people will be encouraged to cycle to work."
