Most adults in Scotland want safer streets for walking and cycling

• Poll support for street redesign (65%) and cycle lanes (67%) strongest among 16-24 year olds
• Survey results come as Scotland goes to the polls on 5 May for local elections
• Cycling charity says councils must build high-quality safe infrastructure to increase cycling for short local journeys

Scottish adults show strong support for measures which make walking and cycling safer in their local areas.

In a poll carried out this month by YouGov on behalf of Cycling UK, 1,089 adults in Scotland were asked whether they supported redesigning streets to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Overall, 61% said they would support this, while 28% would oppose it. 10% said they didn’t know.

58% of adults surveyed also support the building of more cycle lanes physically separated from traffic in their local area, with 32% opposing.

Very few respondents think that more people cycling would make their neighbourhoods a worse place to live – the survey found that only 11% of people take this view.

In contrast, almost half (47%) of 16-24 year olds think that more people cycling would make where they live a better place.

Jim Densham, Cycling UK’s campaigns and policy manager for Scotland, said the results of the poll send a clear message to politicians that providing safer spaces for walking and cycling is a vote-winner. “It’s encouraging to see that there is strong support for reallocating space on Scotland’s streets for walking and cycling.

“The results show that support outweighs opposition regardless of age, social class or location in Scotland.”

Most Scottish councils put temporary measures in place during the Covid-19 pandemic by reallocating road space away from cars so that people could safely keep their distance while cycling and walking.

During the first year of the pandemic these measures and the quieter streets resulted in a 47% increase in people cycling in Scotland. Councils are now starting to consult people on whether to keep or remove these measures.

Following YouGov polling for Cycling UK last year, which showed that almost half (47%) of people wanted the Scottish Government to allocate 10% of the transport budget to enable cycling and walking, the Scottish Government has now committed to spending this record amount on active travel.

Mr Densham added: “It is now up to local authorities to come forward with projects to build cycle lanes and make neighbourhoods better places for people.

“Councils now have the power to build the safe cycling infrastructure that people want so that they can cycle more for short local journeys – it’s time for them to deliver.”