Walk and Cycle Merseyside have published figures showing Liverpool has the worst record of any metropolitan borough in the country relating to deaths and injuries among pedestrians and cyclists.
The data shows that 106.4 (per 100,000 of population) pedestrians died or were seriously injured between 2012-2016 (a total of 501) and for cyclists the statistics are 42.7 (a total of 201) during the same period making Liverpool’s record the worst in the country.
Why is it that our city and our country doesn’t seem to know how to use data and statistics to drive policy and civic priorities. These statistics seriously shame us in Liverpool and there ought to be a well-publicised discussion about the reasons for this and the human consequences of all these deaths and injuries and their devastating impact upon family members.
There is a lot of very important and useful data on the Walk and Cycle Merseyside website about road casualty information that ought to be considered in any discussion and you can read about it HERE. Anecdotally you often hear people in Liverpool saying they would cycle more if the roads felt more safe. Cities like Copenhagen and Rotterdam have long since found a solution to this problem and it isn’t beyond the capacity of any city official to visit these places and learn from them. In fact Engage brought city officials from Copenhagen to share their experience and expertise with us in 2014 during our seminar series and you can find out more HERE.