Yorkshire and Humber Pedal Cycle Project (evaluation report)

This evaluation report concludes that a multi strand cycling project developed by road safety teams in the Yorkshire and Humber region met its objectives. The evaluation was carried out in accordance with the E-Valu-It toolkit.

At the outset of the project an in-depth report was produced to give the teams in Yorkshire and Humber detailed information about where, when and with whom cyclists were crashing.

The campaign that was developed focused on adult cyclists and had two main messages.

The first encouraged cyclists to increase their conspicuity and ride in an appropriate way. They were also encouraged to up-skill by taking further training or by viewing two on-line resources – the “Urban Cycling Guide” which is aimed at urban cyclists, and the “Cycle Yorkshire – Ride the Routes” mobile app for rural cyclists.

The second message sets out to raise drivers’ awareness of the risks faced by riders when cycling in traffic, predominantly in urban areas.

The project team used the RoSPA Eval-u-it toolkit framework to identify some very clearly defined objectives which, in turn, enabled them to evaluate its effectiveness.

The objectives, all of which were achieved, included: getting as many drivers as possible to hear the radio campaign; distributing 20,000 copies of the Urban Cycling Guide DVD; achieving a minimum of 1,000 online views of the Urban Cycling Guide; and getting 1,000 riders to download the “Cycle Yorkshire – Ride the Routes” app.

The evaluation shows that the radio commercial was heard by at least 610,000 listeners, more than 2,500 people viewed the Urban Cycling Guide, and there have been more than 4,000 downloads of the Cycle Yorkshire app.