Bike casualties

THE July 7 bombings may have caused a second wave of casualties as fearful Londoners switched from the Tube to bicycles.

Analysis of transport data found that 214 more cyclists were killed or injured on the capital’s streets in the second half of 2005 than expected from historical trends.

Researcher Peter Ayton, professor of psychology at City University London, said this appeared to be an example of “dread risk”.

The effect was also seen after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

Prof Ayton said: “People dread situations where many people may be harmed or killed at once, and so will avoid these situations. Instead, we’ll choose less dreaded but sometimes actually riskier alternatives in which the same or even a greater number of people are likely to be harmed or killed – but over a longer period of time.”

Four suicide bombers hit three Tube trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, killing 52 people.

Historical trends suggested there would be 1,390 cycling casualties in the second half of 2005 – but the actual figure was 1,604 due to people switching to bicycles.