“Get off the road”: Disturbing report reveals abuse women face cycling in London

“Why aren’t there more cyclists, and why are there not more women cyclists?”

These are both legitimate and fundamental questions the cycling industry has asked at various times. This week, a startling report has revealed what many may have suspected, that to get on a bike in London (and presumably other cities) as a woman can be an unpleasant and upsetting experience.

London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Network this week published the results of a survey of over 1,000 women who cycle in London, asking their experiences. Now a report and hard-hitting video illustrate the gendered abuse women in London face while out cycling.

Some of the unsettling results in the report include:
• 93% of women surveyed said drivers had used motor vehicles to intimidate them. 77% said they experienced this at least once a month.
• 9 out of 10 said they had experienced abuse from other road users while cycling – 63% said it was at least once a month.
• The abuse was often verbal but included sexual harassment, physical threats, and physical and sexual assaults, such as groping or slapping women on their bikes while stopped at traffic lights.
• Most common verbal abuse was a variant of ‘Get off the road!’
• Over 1/5th of women said they’d given up cycling, temporarily or permanently, as a result of these experiences.
• 9 out of 10 said they would start to cycle or cycle more if they had safer cycle routes, for instance with protected cycle tracks, for their journeys.
• Over half of women said they are forced to choose between cycling on busy roads without any safe space or through isolated, quiet or dark places for their journeys

There’s plenty more alarming data gleaned by the LCC’s report, sharing specific experiences endured by women in London while cycling:
• Nevin: “We were both stopped at traffic lights. He shouted ‘You can f- off and suck your mother’. It was the way he said it.”
• Dani: “I experienced the most aggression when I was cycling with a trailer with my kids in. It was impatient drivers in residential areas getting frustrated that they couldn’t overtake me. They would yell out of their windows and once someone stopped in front of me to tell me I was a bad mother for putting my kids in danger!”
• Sara: “I was cycling on the road where I live. There are cars parked on each side so I have to cycle in primary position. A driver drove towards me at speed, then as he passed he wound down his window and shouted ‘b-‘ in my face.”

London Cycling Campaign wants London to become a place where women and girls feel safe to cycle, and for women to use cycling as transport in equal numbers to men across the city by 2030. Currently only a third of cycle trips are by women.

The LCC’s Women’s Network, a coalition which includes women from cycling groups JoyRiders and Londra Bisiklet Kulübü, is currently running a petition to the Mayor of London calling for urgent action on these issues. The petition asks the Mayor to:

1. Act on physical safety – working with TfL and boroughs to deliver high-quality safe cycling infrastructure across London, to “give women the confidence to cycle, including with children, without fear of collision with motor vehicles”
2. Act on social safety – for the Mayor and Met Police, TfL and boroughs to measure incidents associated with, and act to improve, social safety for women cycling in London.
3. Provide local cycle networks – for TfL and boroughs to “think beyond the commute” and prioritise local cycle networks, such as low traffic neighbourhoods and safe routes to amenities and schools.

LCC’s Women’s Network will hand the currently running petition to a representative from the Mayor of London at its central London, LCC Women’s Freedom Ride on Sunday 3 March.