This page is a draft under construction. It is a widely editable wiki page and should not be assumed to be official Cycling Embassy policy.
There are a number of reasons why people chose modes other than a bicycle for journeys in the UK. However, the main barrier to cycling in this country is the perception that our roads are too dangerous and uncomfortable, largely due to high volumes and high speeds of motor traffic. This is the so-called "subjective safety" problem. While some people try to address this problem by explaining that the absolute risk of injury and death while cycling is very low, this approach somewhat misses the point. Safety is a problem of danger while subjective safety is a problem of fear: the causes and solutions to the two problems are not necessarily exactly aligned. A roller coaster ride, for example, shows that fear is not exactly the result of danger.
Those issues are explained in more detail in other sections of the website, and in our "canards" pages. The purpose of this page is to document the evidence on barriers to cycling, particularly subjective safety.