Three quarters of British kids want to cycle more

Youngsters in Britain would like to cycle more with their families, according to a survey commissioned by national retailer Halfords. Three quarters would like to cycle more despite 84 per cent spending most family time watching the television.

The survey also showed that one in 10 six to nine year olds could not ride a bike, while 14 per cent of eight-11 year olds felt they couldn’t ride a bike well enough to go for family rides.

The TNS-conducted survey comes after the national retailer has announced a 22 per cent increase in the sales of children’s bikes over Christmas, compared year-on-year with 2007.

The report found that 95 per cent of the children surveyed would rather be more fit and healthy, but do not exercise with their family as much as they would like.

Cycling was the preferred means of keeping fit amongst the children, with 74 per cent preferring cycling over walking, running or playing team games. The retail chain plans to work closely with the Government initiative Bike4Life and British Cycling, and it has also launched a new website called kidscycling.co.uk that has information for families wanting to cycle more.

Youngsters on bikes has been in the news of late - last week accident and emergency doctors demanded that the government make it illegal for under 16s to cycle without a helmet to help reduce the number of children who suffer serious brain injuries.