This week is Bike Week 2024! With sustainability at the forefront of everyone’s minds and transport being one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, there’s never been a better time to take to the road on two wheels!
Bike Week is delivered by Cycling UK, a national cycling charity dedicated to promoting and advocating cycling as a means of transportation, recreation and sport. This year’s event is celebrating the power of active travel for businesses and us all.
Using cycling as an alternative to other forms of transport is not only beneficial to the environment, but it’s also great for mental wellbeing too. Cycling gets us outdoors in the fresh air, exercising and letting off a bit of steam. Other benefits include:
Road safety has never been more important. In 2022, 4,056 cyclists were reported as seriously injured and a further 91 cyclists died on UK roads, meaning they make up around 5.4% of all road deaths. This is why it is imperative that as motorists, we are vigilant whilst driving and keep an extra eye out for those on bikes.
Road and cycle safety is always a top priority for TJ. Our fleet of lorries are frequent road users, but all of our drivers are advocates for cycle safety. As part of our commitment to managing work related road risk (WRRR), particularly regarding vulnerable road users such as cyclists, we created our Cycle Safe Campaign in 2016 to raise awareness of the issue and reduce the HGV / cyclist dangers.
The initiatives implemented as part of the campaign are:
Since the introduction of the Cycle Safe Campaign, TJ has won two awards. The first was a national award for leading the way with cycle safety. The accolade was awarded by CEMEX, a leader in the building materials industry.
We also won the Transport for London Award for reducing occupational road risk for the company’s drivers. Criteria for the award included showing how technology, management systems and behavioural initiatives can reduce road accidents.
We recently maintained our FORS Silver accreditation for the seventh consecutive year, confirming our status as one of the leading SME transport companies in the southern region. FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) silver accreditation is awarded to operators that maintain Bronze accreditation and have developed driver licensing verification systems.
To further meet the strict criteria, vehicles over 3.5 tonnes must be equipped with a left-turn audible warning system and fitted with blind-spot minimisation devices. We also have to provide annual evidence that we are doing a number of things including:
Find out more about our Cycle Safe Campaign and get involved in Bike Week 2024!
