Dr Rachel Aldred joined the University of Westminster in September 2012 from the University of East London, where she lectured in sociology. Dr Aldred is interested in sustainable mobilities and in cycling in particular, and has published widely in this area.
In 2016, Rachel was awarded the ESRC (Economic and Social Research) Outstanding Impact in Public Policy Prize, and the Westminster University Prize for Research Excellence. She has also been named as one of the Progress 1000 Most Influential Londoners and was also, according to BikeBiz, one of the 100 Women of the Year 2015. Rachel is a trustee of the London Cycling Campaign and chair of its Policy Forum.
The Near Miss Project, which is the subject of Rachel’s presentation at National Conference, was named Cycling Initiative of the Year 2015 by Total Women’s Cycling.
Presentation: Why near misses matter: from research to policy and practice
Dr Rachel Aldred will talk about her pioneering ‘Near Miss Project‘ and its lessons for practice. This award-winning research ran for two years and revealed that regular cyclists in the UK experience a ‘very scary’ incident on around a weekly basis. This matters (i) because policy seeks to promote cycling as a healthy and sustainable mode, and fear of injury is a major barrier to cycling, and (ii) because some types of near misses correlate closely to injury situations, so near misses can act as an ‘early warning’.
Rachel will outline the project and its findings, and its implications for changes to policy and practice. This includes both ‘Give Space, Be Space’ campaigns increasingly run by local police services, and potential changes to road infrastructure, safety education and publicity.