Cycling in an Oil Crisis

I was reminded of the 1973 Oil Crisis last week when I came across an online article about a sudden spike in the sale of hybrid bikes in the UK. Evans Cycles one of the biggest online bike sellers in the UK reported a 57% increase in the sales of hybrids, that coincided with the fuel panic. Now this could have been due to the unseasonable summer like weather experienced all over the British Isles, or it could have been caused by the fuel panic.

Cycling on the German Autobahn November 1973

I suspect the fuel panic was the cause as we had equally brilliant summer like weather here in Ireland but I can find no reference to a similar surge in bike sales. It reminded me of the 1973 Oil Crisis when my father who worked about four miles from home bought a bike and started cycling to work. I suppose I remember this so well because it was the first time I had ever seen him on a bike.

Buying a bike is a creative and practical way to respond to a fuel crisis. It does not add to the panic, it helps to ease the demand for fuel and it allows life to proceed normally. The problem is that in a fuel crisis many motorists do not act in a practical way, they often act in ways that add to the crisis. They hoard fuel, they sit in their cars wasting fuel as they queue at filling stations and they waste fuel driving around looking for fuel.

Cycling becomes much safer in a fuel crisis. There are less cars on the roads, all unnecessary car journeys stop and drivers are moving much slower to conserve fuel. The next Oil Crisis will create all kinds of a problems but as a cyclist I can say I look forward to the safer cycling conditions it will produce.

Queuing for fuel 1973