Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have commissioned in the last three years on the causes of road traffic accidents between motor vehicles and cyclists in cities.

In 2019 the Department commissioned NatCen social research to conduct a rapid evidence review to understand the factors behind collisions in cyclists resulting from ‘failing to look properly’ and ‘look but failed to see’, and to assess possible interventions to minimise these types of collisions. This work was commissioned in response to Action 41 in the Government response to the 2018 Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) Safety Review call for evidence. This committed the Department to “commission a package of research to look into technical, physiological and behavioural issues relating to the visibility and audibility of cyclists. The research is complete and we expect to publish the report later this summer.

In 2018 the Government announced a £480,000 partnership between the police, the RAC Foundation and Highways England to trial a new approach to investigating all road collisions (The Road Collision Investigation Project – RCIP). This involves more in-depth, qualitative analysis to understand the underlying causes of crashes and road safety incidents. The latest update on this project can be found on the RAC Foundation website, under “collaborations”.