Two weeks ago today, Arzu Baglar died while cycling in Melbourne’s inner west. She was hit by a truck turning the corner of Somerville road and Whitehall street in Yarraville. Arzu was just 36, and a married…
With Australian roads originally built and designed with only motorists in mind, drivers and cyclists are still learning to share.
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Because Australian roads were built and designed with motorists in mind, it is easy for Australian motorists to feel cyclists are using ‘their’ roads and disrespecting the natural order.
What can we do to avoid clashes between users of shared paths?
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Cycling has flatlined in Australia since 2011, with many people citing safety concerns as the main reason not to ride. Wider recognition of cyclists’ right to be on the roads would help to boost the numbers.
This is not “cycling infrastructure”, this is blue paint.
Lewis Whyld/PA
Government should budget to spend £10 per cyclist by 2020 in order to make bicycle travel safer, according to a committee of MPs. The report of the Transport Committee also called for a “change in culture…
ABC’s Media Watch program on Monday asked the important question: Is bicycle bashing in the media putting cyclists at risk? As far as I know, so far there has been no published research that has looked…
A cyclist “die-in” protest outside the offices of Transport for London to protest.
Dominic Lipinski/PA
Much has been said in recent weeks about the death toll of cyclists in London. Yet the only immediate response media coverage seems to have produced is police on street corners handing out tickets to cyclists…
Brisbane cyclists have to keep their helmets on after all, including on bike paths.
AAP/Dan Peled
For a few hours, late last week, it looked like Queensland could become the first Australian state to start relaxing its strict bicycle helmet laws. After months of careful review of the evidence, a state…
A ‘ghost bike’ at notorious Bow flyover in East London.
Dominic Lipinski/PA
It has been a grim month for cycling in London. Just days ago newspapers wrote of five deaths in nine days, and barely is the ink dry before yet another death this morning makes six in under two weeks…
We’ve got to stop seeing paint on the road as adequate for cyclists.
Flickr/crosby_cj
Between 1% and 3% of Australian commuters are out on the roads today proving cycling is often the fastest transport choice in Australian cities. Why don’t more people join them? It is not for a lack of…
The UK could be next in line to make cycling helmets mandatory.
Tejvan Pettinger
The bare-headed cycling movement has recently stirred from hibernation in the United Kingdom. Freedom to ride with the wind in their hair remains, but perhaps not for very much longer. The British Medical…
Mandatory helmets are seen as being good enough for motorcyclists, but what about pedal cyclists?
Tom Gill
For those working on the frontline of trauma care, the findings of a report into the protective effects of helmets in cyclists and motorcyclists published in the Medical Journal of Australia last week…
We all know the rules, and yet some of us seem happy to break them.
Looking Glass
You’ve probably seen it happen. You’re driving your car and you come to a stop at the traffic lights. You’re mindful of traffic infringement fines and public safety, then someone on a bike rides past you…
London bike share has proved more successful than schemes in Australia, but focusing on infrastructure could help improve sharing here.
cat1788/Flickr
Bike share programs in Melbourne and Brisbane were much heralded by the governments that installed them. But they’ve proved far less popular than schemes overseas. Is Australian bike share doomed? Since…
Sporting head injuries can be reduced through modified game rules.
flickr/Montauk Beach
Recent media and expert commentary has called for more research into brain injuries sustained by footballers. The focus has been on the need for a long-term study of the effects of concussion and chronic…
A recent NZ study which claimed helmet laws caused 53 deaths a year is flawed.
Danielle Scott
An article published in the current edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal calls for the repeal of mandatory helmet laws (MHL) for cyclists because it claims the law caused 53 premature deaths per…
It’s time to abandon Australia’s “helmet experiment”.
Tejvan Photos
There’s little doubt Australia would have healthier communities if more of us chose to cycle for transport, exercise or even relaxation. But mandatory helmet laws, introduced in Australia in the 1990s…
It needs to be easier for cyclists to safely navigate our busy city streets.
H4NUM4N
CYCLING IN AUSTRALIA: Every year, dozens of cyclists are killed and thousands are injured while riding on Australian roads. Statistics such as these, coupled with all-too-frequent horror stories about…
Professorial Fellow, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University; Emeritus Professor, Wertheim School of Public Health, University of California San Diego, University of California, San Diego