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Half a million pounds to reduce cycle accidents

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Lancashire County Council has agreed to spend half a million pounds to tackle cycling casualties around the county.

Improvement work will take place at 13 key junctions in a bid to reduce the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads.

The new schemes include a range of different measures such as new pedestrian crossings, off-road cycle lanes, improved cycle lanes on roundabouts and improved road markings.

County Councillor John Fillis, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “It’s really important that we prioritise this work to make cycling a much safer option for people.

“We’ve looked at the locations where there have been a high number of incidents involving cyclists and we’ve developed plans to try to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

“We want to encourage cycling as it helps to reduce congestion and pollution, and has many positive health benefits.”

Design is expected to start on the schemes from April, with public consultation in the autumn. Work on the ground is likely to take place next year.

The decision to prioritise these schemes followed a report to the county council’s Scrutiny Committee last year, which stated that there was an increase in the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured – from 68 to 100 between 2012 and 2013. In particular, there was a substantial increase in the 26-64 year-old age group.

This is in part due to the fact that the number of journeys by bike had increased substantially over this period.

These cycle safety schemes are part of a £23m package of safety and maintenance work which was agreed by the cabinet member. It includes maintenance of roads, footways, drainage, street lights and bridges – as well as road safety improvements and repairs to the public rights of way network.

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