The number of cycling casualties in the most deprived rural areas of England last year outweighed those in less deprived areas by almost 10 to one.

The new Road casualties Great Britain report reveals that nearly 120 cycling casualties per 100,000 population occurred in the most deprived rural areas – those with an index of multiple deprivation (IMD) score of one, with 10 representing the least deprived.

However, the casualty rate plummets to less than 25 per 100,000 population in areas with an IMD score of just four, before dropping to an average of about 20 in the least deprived rural areas.

In urban areas, the cycling casualty rate is consistent – at less than 25 per 100,000 population – across all levels of deprivation.

But Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator of Cycling Touring Club (CTC), said the ‘casualty rate per 100,000 of the population’ metric was misleading because the levels of cycling participation varied widely. ‘We would prefer a cycle casualty rate per mile travelled,’ he added. ‘The evidence appears to show that where cycle usage is high, cycle casualty rates per mile travelled tend to be low, and where cycle usage is low, casualty rates tend to be higher.’

The RCGB report also shows cyclists’ casualties have actually fallen faster in rural areas than urban areas since 1994-98. The number of fatal or serious accidents on non-built up B-roads fell from 105 to 51 from the baseline period to 2007, and from 391 to 186 on non-built up A-roads. For all other non-built up roads, the cyclist casualty rate almost halved to 115. ‘But the figures are still far too high – particularly on rural A-roads,’ Peck said.