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2014/06: Should there be severe restrictions placed on cyclists sharing roads with motorised vehicles?





Introduction to the media issue

Video clip at right:
On April 11, 2014, Channel Nine News Perth carried a report on the death of a cyclist. The report includes a number of suggestions for increasing cyclists’ safety. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.


What they said...
'Bicycles reduce traffic congestion because they use road space more efficiently than cars'
The Greens Bicycle Action Plan for Victoria

'A bit like smoking, if the idea of riding bicycles on the open road was invented today, it would be banned'
Michael Pascoe, contributing editor to The Sydney Morning Herald

The issue at a glance
On January 1, 2014, it was announced that despite record low fatality rates across the country for motorists, 2013 had seen record high rates for the number of cyclists being killed. This apparent anomaly has led commentators, lobby groups and various state governments to consider a variety of measures to increase cyclists' safety.
On January 17, 2014, Michael Pascoe, a contributing editor to The Sydney Morning Herald proposed that Australian governments might 'extend the culture of enforced safety to greater regulation of where and when people are allowed to cycle'.
The idea that severe restrictions be placed on when and where cyclists can cycle is not new. Former New South Wales Roads Minister, Carl Scully, stated in 2009, 'I believed riding a bike on a road was profoundly unsafe and that where I could I would shift them [cyclists] to off road cycle ways.'
Such a proposal has been welcomed by many motorists and some cyclists; however, it has been rejected by others as unduly limiting, unfeasible and too expensive. Others concerned with improving cyclists' safety have argued for improved driver and cyclist education and for further road rules to govern how drivers behave around cyclists.