Plans to rejig parking to improve the safety of cyclists on Dunedin's main thoroughfares have been approved after many questions and some criticism from city councillors.

The changes already supported by affected parties will be implemented pending discussions with the Southern District Health Board about an alternative location for a pick-up/drop-off zone for services on the Cumberland St side of Dunedin Hospital.

They come after councillors asked council staff and the New Zealand Transport Agency for short-term and long-term plans to improve cycle safety on the State Highway 1 one-ways through the city, following the deaths of two cyclists.

Richard Pollett, a 25-year-old musician, was crushed under the wheels of a cement truck while cycling in September 2011.

The virtuoso violinist was due to perform with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra when he was killed as the truck was overtaking him on Moggill Road, a two-lane conduit through the Brisbane suburb of Kenmore. A simple touch of the brakes would likely have spared a brilliant young man's life. The subsequent court case has prompted renewed calls for laws to protect cyclists on Australia's roads.

Under Cairns Regional Council's southern cycleway plan, another 5km of bikes-only pathway will be built from the CBD to Woree this year, adding to the existing 6km path from Aeroglen to the Esplanade.

Cyclists say the planned expansion is a significant building block in the years-long bid to have a network of bike lanes connecting the region from Gordonvale to Palm Cove.

And if approved at a council meeting on Wednesday, the new infrastructure will help soothe relationships between the council and cyclists, who are still smarting after a snap decision last year to replace a section of the Esplanade's dedicated bike path with car parks.

"We're very happy with what we're getting," Cairns Bicycle User Group spokesman Brynn Mathews said.

"Every little bit is part of a network that we can add to over time. Progressively I see new bits getting connected all the time."

Abstract

This study proposes a two-equation Bayesian modeling approach to simultaneously study cyclist injury occurrence and bicycle activity at signalized intersections as joint outcomes. This approach deals with the potential presence of endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneities and is used to identify factors associated with both cyclist injuries and volumes. Its application to identify high-risk corridors is also illustrated. Montreal, Quebec, Canada is the application environment, using an extensive inventory of a large sample of signalized intersections containing disaggregate motor-vehicle traffic volumes and bicycle flows, geometric design, traffic control and built environment characteristics in the vicinity of the intersections. Cyclist injury data for the period of 2003-2008 is used in this study. Manual bicycle counts were standardized using temporal and weather adjustment factors to obtain average annual daily volumes. Results confirm and quantify the effects of both bicycle and motor-vehicle flows on cyclist injury occurrence. Accordingly, more cyclists at an intersection translates into more cyclist injuries but lower injury rates due to the non-linear association between bicycle volume and injury occurrence. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of turning motor-vehicle movements.

The presence of bus stops and total crosswalk length increase cyclist injury occurrence whereas the presence of a raised median has the opposite effect. Bicycle activity through intersections was found to increase as employment, number of metro stations, land use mix, area of commercial land use type, length of bicycle facilities and the presence of schools within 50 to 800 metres of the intersection increase. Intersections with three approaches are expected to have fewer cyclists than those with four. Using Bayesian analysis, expected injury frequency and injury rates were estimated for each intersection and used to rank corridors. Corridors with high bicycle volumes, located mainly in the central neighbourhoods of Montreal, have lower risk of injury. These results may reflect the “safety in numbers” hypothesis or cyclist preference toward safer intersections and corridors. Despite these corridors having a lower individual risk, they are nevertheless associated with a greater number of injuries.

Cyclist Activity and Injury Risk Analysis at Signalized Intersections: A Bayesian Modeling Approach | Link to Abstract

Accident Analysis & Prevention

Available after 14 May 2013

Construction this week faced the threat of tough legislation forcing it to ensure HGVs are fitted with cycle safety equipment following the death of a cyclist last week.

Katharine Giles, an environmental scientist at University College London, was killed on Monday 7 April when she was struck by a tipper truck on Victoria Street in Westminster.

This led London mayor Boris Johnson to strengthen calls for HGVs to be fitted with safety equipment such as sidebars and cycle detection equipment or face being banned from London’s streets.”

In future we are going to be stipulating that no HGV can enter London unless it meets cycle safety standards,” he said. “One of the things that can be done is fitting of skirts to the sides of lorries and one of the big problems is that HGV drivers cannot see cyclists in the blind spot beside them.”

Michael M Dinh, Kate Curtis and Rebecca Ivers

Medical Journal of Australia

More of the transport budget should be spent on supporting cycling, at an initial rate of at least £10 per person per year, increasing as cycle levels increase, says the report by British Parliamentarians.

The report of the influential All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group inquiry ‘Get Britain Cycling’ also calls for 20mph speed limits to become standard in urban areas and lower speed limits on many rural roads. It also says that all children should be given the chance to learn the skills of road cycling, at primary and secondary school.

The group’s report, published today (24 April) follows extensive public evidence from over 100 individuals and organisations, including cycling organisations, the Automobile Association, and a wide range of government departments and ministers.