Do you work in a local council? The Australian Local Government Cycling Participation Survey 2012 will provide robust quantitative data about cycling in your municipality.  Participating councils will be provided with information about: % of residents that ride a bike in a typical week, month and year; bicycle riding participation by gender and age; purpose of bicycle riding;  number of bicycle trips and time spent riding, and the number of bicycles in households.
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In January 2012 the Australian Bicycle Council released the results of Local Government and Cycling Survey undertaken in July 2011. Councils responding to the survey spent more than $72 million on bicycle-related programs in 2009-10. More than two thirds of responding councils either have a bicycle strategy or are working towards one. As at June 2010, councils responding to the survey reported having constructed 11,704km of cycling infrastructure. When their cycle networks are complete the infrastructure will measure 17,842km.
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The Benchmarking Project is an on-going effort by the Alliance for Biking & Walking to collect and analyse data on bicycling and walking in all 50 US states and the 51 largest US cities. This third biennial report  includes: bicycling and walking levels and demographics; bicycle and pedestrian safety; funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects; written policies on bicycling and walking; bicycle infrastructure; bike-transit integration; bicycling and walking education and encouragement activities; public health indicators; and the economic impact of bicycling and walking.
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Active Transportation Beyond Urban Centers was published by Rails-to-Trails Conservacy in January 2012. It shows that in large and small “rural cores” of 2,500 to 50,000 residents, the share of total trips made on foot or by bike is only 20 percent below the rate for larger urban cores. Furthermore, when it comes to work trips, rural areas fall right in line with the national rates of biking and walking to work.
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The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) 2011 Bicycle Count Report was released in February 2012. The bicycle counts inform bicycle planning efforts in the city, provide the data needed to evaluate the efficacy of the bicycle network, and help identify locations where additional infrastructure improvements may be needed.
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Copenhagen’s bicycle strategy was approved by the City Council in December 2011. The strategy includes new initiatives and plans, which lay down guidelines for the longterm and overriding priorities for bicycle planning. These initiatives and plans are intended to help Copenhagen reach the goal to become the world's best bicycle city before the end of 2015.
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In January 2012 the French Government launched a national cycling strategy to encourage the French to spend more time on their bicycles. Government figures suggest that while more than half of daily trips in France are less than three kilometres, only three percent of these are made on a bicycle. The new strategy aims to increase this to 12 percent by 2020.
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This report, released in Feb 2011 by the UK's Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) provides advice and guidance on best practice in road safety education. The best practice review incorporates UK and international literature assessments, telephone surveys with UK public sector and professional judgement.
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In February 2012 the Victorian Minister for Roads, Terry Mulder, launched a VicRoads' safe cycling campaign, titled 'Road User or Abuser.' The campaign is designed to improve the relationship between Victorian drivers and bike riders and is hosted on a purposely built Facebook page.
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This public health campaign was developed by the Public Health Office at the City of Copenhagen. The poster text translated in English reads: You won’t believe it…You’re safer on the bicycle than on the sofa! Lack of daily exercise is harmful to your health, while physical activity keeps your body healthy. Cycling extends your life – daily exercise for a minimum 30 minutes extends your lifespan by up to five years.
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UK newspaper The Times launched a high profile cycle safety campaign in January 2012. The campaign was instigated when a Times journalist was hit by a lorry just metres away from her place of work. This event encouraged The Times to look into cycling culture and infrastructure in British cities, finding that 27,000 cyclists have been killed or seriously injured in the UK in the last ten years.
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This research paper by Roger L Mackett and Belinda Brown, Centre for Transport Studies, University College London was released in December 2011. It contains a review of the literature in the field of transport and physical activity. It was funded by the Department for Transport.
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Researchers from the University of Georgia reported in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in January 2012 that exercise can reduce the symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) in women. The researchers randomly assigned 30 sedentary women diagnosed with GAD to either a control group or six weeks of strength or aerobic exercise training. Exercise training consisted of two sessions a week of either weight lifting or leg cycling exercise. All exercisers demonstrated a significant reduction in worry symptoms and moderate-to-large improvements in other symptoms, such as irritability, feelings of tension, low energy and pain.
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Irish researchers Griffin ÉW, Mullally S, Foley C, Warmington SA, O'Mara SM, Kelly AM. report in the journal Physiology and Behaviour in October 2011 that physical activity improves cognitive function in men.
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