Do you think it’s always raining in Belfast? Think again.
With one in five people in Northern Ireland declaring that bad weather is the main barrier for discouraging them from cycling short distances, Andrew Grieve, head of the Department for Infrastructure’s Cycling Unit, decided to take matters into his own hands in an attempt to find out just how wet it actually is.
Logging the actual conditions during his 15 – 20 minute cycle commute in and out of Belfast for over a year, the results from Andrew’s record are surprising to say the least.
His record shows that it rained on just one in six of his journeys, meaning that around 85% of the time, while it may have rained earlier and the ground may have been wet, he was able to carry out his journey without getting rained on.
Even more remarkably, around half of the wet days recorded were days when it was only ‘spitting’ or intermittently raining.
Andrew’s record of the weather was noted each working morning (usually between8am and 9am and in the evening (between 5pm and 6pm) during 2015 and even he was surprised by the results.
“I decided to conduct the report as I was constantly hearing about how the weather was to blame for people not wanting to take up cycling in Northern Ireland,” said Andrew.
“I cycle every day and I began to wonder just how wet it actually is. People have a habit of looking outside and seeing the wet ground and assuming that it will rain. This may well be the case but it probably won’t rain on your short journey to and from work.
“I’m not trying to encourage people to cycle miles and miles, I’m encouraging them to cycle when it’s convenient and when they have short journeys to make – it would certainly go a long way in helping with the congestion problems drivers in Belfast face on a weekly basis.”
[pdf-embedder url=”https://lovebelfast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/commuter-cycling-weather-in-belfast-summary-report-2015.pdf”]
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