Study: A Staggering Percentage of Women Are Verbally Abused and Threatened While Riding
While most cyclists will face abuse from drivers at some point in their riding careers, for women, the abuse from motorists, fellow cyclists and pedestrians is arguably even more apparent. And the high rate of threats, abusive slurs and far-too-close encounters make it pretty obvious why women don’t ride as frequently as men. A new survey recently highlighted this disturbing fact, bringing the issue of violence facing women cyclists out into the open.
In a recent survey done by the London Cycling Campaign—and later published under the aptly-and-distressingly titled “GET OFF THE ROAD, B*TCH!” headline, 93 percent of women reported being threatened by a driver of a motorized vehicle. Of that 93 percent, 77 percent reported that this happened on a monthly basis. That’s right: Not a one time, or very occasional thing. This is simply a fact of life for many women who opt to ride in cities.
No wonder men in the UK are three times more likely to commute by bike.
“I was cycling on the road where I live,” one woman cyclist said in the survey. “There are cars parked on each side so I have to cycle in primary position. A driver drove towards me at speed, then as he passed he wound down his window and shouted ‘bitch’ in my face.”
According to the report on the survey, the abuse directed at women riders was often verbal but did sexual harassment, physical threats, and physical and sexual assaults, such as groping or slapping women on their bikes while stopped at traffic lights. Seriously.
Over 1,000 women cyclists in London were surveyed, and the results were presented on January 16, 2023. But this sentiment is clearly not London-centric.
When Strava published their year end report, they noted that out of all cyclists, women were nine percent more likely than men to cite a lack of safe places to exercise. Even a simple commute to work can feel more dangerous for a woman on a bike. The London survey actually had similar findings, and 9 out of 10 women reported that they “would start to cycle or cycle more if they had safer cycle routes, for instance with protected cycle tracks, for their journeys.”
Many women noted that they were forced to choose between dark and unattended alleys or back roads that felt unsafe versus higher-traffic roadways that were more dangerous due to cars but felt safer thanks to more people in sight.
In December, another survey by ebike rental company Lime reported that only one in five women felt safe riding at night. The findings also noted that women particularly wanted the bike share hubs to be better lit, and positioned so that they weren’t forced to walk in the dark to parking garages or public transit after docking their bikes.
Perhaps this old headline from The Guardian sums up the plight of us women cyclists best: “Women shun cycling because of safety, not helmet hair.” It’s clear that to get more women on bikes—and bring in more cyclists in general!—better, safer cycling infrastructure, from protected lanes to better lit paths and parking spots, is the most important factor.
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