Rhiannon is motivated by the need to create cycleways that are safe for all. Driven by this passion, she has retrained as an engineering technician in order to design cycling infrastructure which prioritises accessibility and safety. She endeavours to design cycleways which are safe for all users, particularly children. She uses her own experiences as a keen cyclist to identify unsafe conditions and eliminate conflict with other traffic.

Rhiannon said...

"I first started cycling as a kid, and enjoyed playing around with my bike at the local park with my brothers. I started using my bike to get around as a poor student when I was 18, and loved the freedom and independence it gave me.

"When I was 20, I studied abroad in Italy for a year and was ecstatic to see that the bike was a popular way of getting around the historic city of Padova. Deliciously flat, I loved winding my way around the historic streets and was amused by the proliferation of the bicycle; everyone used their bike to get everywhere, including to get home from the nightclub at 3am.

"In the UK, however, I had been one of a handful of the weird die-hards who used to cycle up Church Lane to get to lectures at the University of Southampton. Since my student years, I have always used my bike to get around and love the way that you can intimately learn the geography of your local area and not be at the whim of a bus timetable to travel around.

"After a Languages degree, a few stints abroad and analysing car shampoo sales, I decided to retrain to be a Civil Engineer. I am now involved with cycleway design in my day job, and love that I can change cycling provision in our cities and make cycling accessible for everyone. I am an advocate for cycling by ensuring that our designs prioritise bicycle travel and inspire others to experience the joy of cycling."

Nominated by...

Rhiannon Evans was nominated for the 100 Women in Cycling by Polly Osborne who said: "Rhiannon is motivated by the need to create cycleways that are safe for all. Driven by this passion, she has retrained as an engineering technician in order to design cycling infrastructure which prioritises accessibility and safety.

She endeavours to design cycleways which are safe for all users, with a particular focus on making them safe enough for children to use. She uses her own experience as a keen cyclist to identify unsafe conditions and eliminate conflict with other traffic.

Polly Osborne

"Rhiannon takes inspiration from the Dutch design standards and strives to emulate those principles in the design of British cycleways. She endeavours to design cycleways which are safe for all users, with a particular focus on making them safe enough for children to use. She uses her own experience as a keen cyclist to identify unsafe conditions and eliminate conflict with other traffic. It is key the engineers ride the route which they are designing, and Rhiannon has helped colleagues build cycling confidence to enable them to perform inspection rides. As well as engineering cycleways at work, Rhiannon also spends a lot of her free time cycling and training for, and competing in, triathlons."