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Cycling for transportation has a range of health, environmental,
social and community benefits (Hendriksen et al., 2000;
Carlos and Phillips, 2000;Wagner et al., 2001; Kjellstrom et al.,
2003).
Use of active transport modes is low in most English
speaking countries (Pucher and Dijkstra, 2003). Countries with
low rates of utilitarian cycling also have substantial gender
differences in cycling. In Australia, the female rate of
commuter cycling is less than one third that of the male rate
(Bell et al., 2006). Substantial gender differences in cycling
participation in Australia and other English speaking countries
have led some researchers to suggest that women are not
interested in cycling (Merom et al., 2003). This is not the case
in several western European countries, where utilitarian cycling
rates are high, and women cycle more frequently than men
(Garrard, 2003).
Traffic safety concerns have been identified as a major
constraint on cycling in countries with low rates of cycling, high
rates of car use, and large gender differences in cycling (Garrard
et al., 2006; Goldsmith, 1992). These concerns appear to have a
differential impact on women, perhaps because they are more
risk averse than men (Byrnes et al., 1999).