Road safety charity Brake has claimed the development of safer roads across the UK is integral to the future hopes of the British Olympic cycling team.

According to Julie Townsend, Brake's deputy chief executive, parents fear allowing their children to ride their bicycles on the country's roads due to the increased levels of traffic that have been witnessed over recent years, but creating more widespread 20 mph zones and segregated cycle paths connecting homes could be the answer.

She added: "We need the government to provide more funding for safety features like these, and we need more local authorities to make safe cycling and walking a priority."

The news follows recent comments from Ms Townsend in which she responded to the publication of the latest figures highlighting an increase in road deaths across the UK in the last year.

She argued the government must now invest in boosting road safety or face the possibility that the good work that has taken place in improving safety in recent years could be undone.

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Posted by Clare Lafferty