Spatial Modality and Abuse: Why Women Cyclists Die in London (Pt. 1/5)

How do culturally constructed female roles and external threats in public space play a part in the disproportionate number of female cyclist deaths from large vehicles in London from 1999 to 2014?

Introduction

The disproportionate number of female road deaths from large vehicles can be attributed to the way in which feminine spatial modality and the threat of abuse transforms their road experience, leaving them unlikely to perform the highly visible road positioning required to avoid this danger, nor to ride at night or traverse the quiet, less populated streets and alleys that would physically separate them from this particular danger. This essay addresses the three key concerns surrounding this discourse, as follows. Firstly, that feminine spatial modality sees women physically occupy less public space than men, socially conditioning them out of the behavior recommended to avoid such incidents. Secondly, that women’s reluctance to travel alone in dark or unpopulated areas because of fear of harassment or assault leaves women traversing heavily trafficked road routes. And thirdly, that public discussion and education around these incidents actively perpetuates such injuries by constructing women as an Other that absolves authorities from the responsibility to take measures to protect all road users.

Background Information

Contemporary discourse around London as a cycling city as part of its functional centrality in European urban projects (economically, if not culturally or geographically), has led to complicated discussions of an aberrant statistic that haunted its public transportation network for over 15 years: the hugely disproportionate number of women cyclists involved in fatal conflicts with Transport for London operated buses and privately-operated heavy goods vehicles (referred to collectively as “long vehicles”) on London’s streets. While female and male cycling casualties broadly reflect the participation levels of the respective groups, with female cyclists occupying 28% of urban cyclists and only 20% of the road casualties (Gov.uk, 2013; News.bbc.co.uk, 2015), fatal collisions between female cyclists and long vehicles are massive outliers in these statistics. Lack of transparency about many of these statistics makes it difficult to ascertain the full extent of the problem, yet even lowest estimates place women at 55% of these fatalities, meaning that, in conjunction with participation statistics, this threat is twice as likely to affect women (Urwin, 2015). It is important to note that these figures are relatively low, yet the year on year trend continues.

This aberrant statistic became the site of some soul-searching for the media, the Metropolitan Police, and Transport for London. The number of cycling deaths and the conditions from which they arise challenge London’s image as a cycling city, but, this paper argues, this statistic and the number of female road deaths in general are used in such a way as to protect this image, not challenge it. It is curious that even leaked Transport for London memos imply that behavior of female cyclists, rather than urban planning and hazardous road environments, is the cause of this disparity (Rudi.net, 2015).

On Sept 1, 2015, Transport for London implemented the Safer Lorry Scheme in conjunction with London’s borough councils and London Heathrow Airport in order to combine the “powers held by these bodies to deliver a simple, quick and complete solution across all roads in London” (Transport for London, 2015; the Guardian, 2015). The scheme mandates safety provisions on all long vehicles using London’s roads, and reflects the dual concerns of the London Cycling Campaign (which will be discussed at length later): a) fitting trucks with two additional sets of mirrors to increase visibility of cyclists; and b) fitting trucks with side guards that protect cyclists in the event of a collision. While this is an incomplete solution to road danger in general, it nonetheless represents a non-gendered solution to what this paper will argue is a gendered problem, in turn highlighting a way in which a hostile environment, rather than individual behavior, was the root cause of this particular danger.

Finally, in keeping with London’s function as a “cognitive model for all of us,” (Robins 2001, p. 488) I would like to provide a grounding for this topic that expands its usefulness beyond London’s streets. As contemporary American urban planning discourse shifts to accommodate “complete streets,” this paper highlights a clear problem that has cofounded London’s attempts to manage the shared use of its streets. In August 2015, a female cyclist was killed by a turning truck in similar conditions in Boston, Massachusetts (Boston.cbslocal.com, 2015), named in the same year as one of the United States’ best cycling cities (Boston.com, 2015). The city’s response was different to London’s, yet the event and its discussion highlight that the challenges of dealing with the urban road as a site of gender-specific danger remain a consistent obstacle on an international scale.

More parts next month.

Introduction

Background Information

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