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Cycling technology and data company See.Sense is inviting all cyclists in the UK to use its free app to report safety issues encountered on their rides this summer.
The company is launching the #SeeSenseReport campaign to give cyclists a voice and to provide transport planners with data to plan for cycling during COVID-19 and beyond.
In light of the pandemic and lockdown, the UK Government’s recently released statutory guidance requires local authorities to take swift action, within weeks, to implement and monitor measures to reallocate road space to people walking and cycling, both to encourage active travel and also to enable social distancing. The design and implementation of these measures would usually take an extensive period of study and public consultation, which is made more difficult under the current conditions.
To help empower the cycling public to contribute, a new feature in the See.Sense smartphone app has been released. This free to use feature allows all cyclists, and not just cyclists using See.Sense products, to easily report using the app. It will initially allow the rider to report on safety issues encountered on their rides, such as potholes, close passes, collisions, obstructions and other events.
Additional reporting capabilities will also be added soon to specifically address social distancing. This crowdsourced data will be shared on the See.Sense website which can be viewed by both the cycling community and can be accessed by local authorities over the summer period to use the data to help inform cycling infrastructure plans.
Therefore, See.Sense is calling on all cyclists to help, by riding their bikes and uploading data, opinions and suggestions to the See.Sense app as regularly as is possible throughout June.
See.Sense CEO Philip McAleese said: “This is an unprecedented opportunity for cycling in the UK. The Covid-19 crisis has been a terrible disaster that has caused an immeasurable amount of suffering, which has touched all of our hearts. What it has also highlighted is how little space we have for people in our towns and cities, with only small paths and narrow lanes allocated for cycling and walking, which has made it almost impossible to safely social distance in places.
“We are delighted that the government has made the decision that they have to improve walking and cycling facilities and by making the #SeeSenseReport data available, we are working to help to empower cyclists to influence change that will help to make cycling safer.”
See.Sense CSO Irene McAleese added: “We already have an amazing community of cyclists who share ride insights collected with See.Sense products to help improve conditions for cycling. There is a short window of opportunity to act now to embed cycling as part of our new normal and to reap the associated health, and air quality and congestion benefits.
“Improving cycling infrastructure is a big part of the change needed to sustain this change, and we are delighted to help give the cycling public a voice in this regard.”
