How to help women feel safe cycling

How to help women feel safe cycling

From Streets Ahead by Streets Ahead Podcast

March 3, 2026 · 35 min · Season 2 · Episode 38

About this episode

Laura discusses women's safety while cycling in London with female guests during a mass ride.

In this episode Laura joins a host of (almost entirely female) guests, out on the road in London to talk about how cycle routes deliver - or not - for women’s safety.  In early 2025 Laura interviewed women on the London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Freedom Ride, a mass ride, after dark, to highlight the safety concerns women face when cycling in London - and how some of the capital’s routes just don’t feel that safe at night. At the time the Women's Network had just launched a report that showed almost a quarter, 24%, of the city’s cycle routes did not feel safe at night. This meant routes that were isolated, and in some cases poorly lit. The Network’s previous research found that a third of women stop cycling in winter because of safety issues. It also revealed the shocking levels of harassment some women experience on the streets. Unfortunately some of the audio from that ride was unusable because of the challenges of cycling while recording - so undeterred, a year later Laura went out to gather more recordings and find out what has happened for women's safety in the last year.  In January 2026, Laura went along to the opening of an almost-finished cycle lane and…

People in this episode

Host: Laura

Topics covered

  • women's safety
  • cycling
  • urban planning
  • harassment
  • London

Keywords

  • cycling safety
  • women cyclists
  • London Cycling Campaign
  • harassment
  • cycle routes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: London Cycling Campaign

Places: London, Lambeth Bridge

More episodes of Streets Ahead

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Streets Ahead podcast page.