The warm summer months encourage more of us to get outside and exercise, whether by shooting hoops or riding a bike. But there’s a downside: higher risk of injury.
How to change cycling’s concussion culture.
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Compulsory sport and physical education at school will improve children’s memory, attention and ability to concentrate, not just boost fitness. The evidence is in.
People use share bikes for many reasons, including health benefits and even because they like the design.
Richard Masoner/Bay Area Bike Share launch in San Jose CA/Flickr
Urban planners often hope bike-share schemes might reduce reliance on cars and help with congestion. But very few of those who use share bikes have switched from driving.
oBike was the first dockless bike sharing scheme in Australia.
DANIEL POCKETT/AAP
Dockless or stationless bike sharing is risky business, relying a bit too much on common decency. Bike sharing schemes can work, but they may need to forego user convenience for bike safety.
When cars, trucks, bikes and pedestrians come together at an intersection, design makes the difference between collisions and safety.
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Paul Salmon, University of the Sunshine Coast et Gemma Read, University of the Sunshine Coast
Collisions at intersections between motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians cause many deaths and injuries. Design that considers how each group approaches intersections improves everyone’s safety.
The settings on traffic lights make pedestrians wait longer by giving higher priority to vehicle traffic.
Abaconda Management Group/Wikimedia
Everyone doesn’t simply wait their turn at traffic lights. Signals are set up to enable a ‘green wave’ for cars and adjust to heavy traffic, making walkers wait longer no matter how many there are.
Have Australian commuters really enjoyed gains in quality of life that would justify all those billions of dollars spent on transport infrastructure?
Hayk Shalunts/Shutterstock
Children’s muscles recover rapidly from high-intensity exercise, and kids can produce repeated exercise efforts when most of us adults continue to feel exhausted.
Citibike station in midtown Manhattan.
Jim Henderson
Dozens of US cities have launched bike-share programs in the past decade. There have been bumps – critics want wider access, and cities want bikes stored out of the way – but bike sharing is on a roll.
Kathryn Mitchell broke the Commonwealth Games javelin record to claim a gold medal.
AAP
The continual breaking of World Records is the result of complex interactions between genetics, talent, equipment, training and nutrition.
Very wet weather is likely to persuade many regular cyclists and walkers to travel instead by car if they can. This is Bondi Junction after a storm hit Sydney.
David Moir/AAP
The relationship between weather and our travel choices is complicated. We can’t change the weather, but, with many other factors in play, good policy and design can reduce its impacts.
The ‘Bicycle Snake’ in Copenhagen separates pedestrians and cyclists, allowing both to navigate the city more safely.
Cycling Embassy of Denmark/DISSING+WEITLING
New analysis reveals just how little is spent on cycling and walking projects around Australia. No state’s spending on cycling is more than 1.5% of its road funding.
In both Indian and Australian cities, cyclists who deliver goods and services have to take it slow.
Malini Sur
Cycling is a low-cost and non-polluting way to make deliveries in congested cities. Slow cyclists should be recognised as good for the economy and environment, not treated like second-class citizens.
Even in cities with good public transportation, some areas can be ‘transit deserts,’ where demand exceeds supply. Living in these zones makes it hard to access good jobs, health care and other services.
Bike-sharing schemes work when users leave the bikes in safe places that don’t inconvenience others, so why doesn’t everyone do that?
David Moir/AAP
Mental short-cuts guide our everyday decision-making. Unfortunately, five biases can lead us to deny responsibility for our poor decisions and are creating problems for share-bike schemes.