http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/dicing-with-death--warning-on-
cyclists/2007/03/03/1172868811879.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
or
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AN ALARMING increase in the number of cyclists dying on the state's
roads has prompted a new warning for drivers to be more alert.
Latest Transport Accident Commission figures show one rider is killed
every month in Victoria and one seriously injured every day.
Fourteen cyclists died in crashes last year =3F more than double the
fatalities in 2005 =3F and two have died so far this year.
The state's top traffic cop, Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby, said
drivers often did not see a cyclist until it was too late.
Mr Ashby said drivers were to blame for half the 14 deaths last year.
"Without doubt, the issue for cyclists is visibility," he said.
"The majority of those killed have simply not been seen.
"It is no good drivers saying cyclists shouldn't use the roads, that's
just not going to happen. It's
a matter of sharing the roads and sharing them safely."
Mr Ashby stressed the importance of cyclists wearing helmets. "There is
a significant blase factor where people just simply don't accept they
will be involved in road trauma."
TAC senior manager for road safety David Healy said drivers should stay
at least a metre away from cyclists.
"The car driver has to understand the vulnerability of a cyclist just as
hopefully they would a child by the side of the road," Mr Healy said.
A small minority of motorists might think cyclists did not have the
right to be on the roads, but there was no evidence of any increase in
aggressive driver behaviour towards cyclists, Mr Healy said.
"From the point of view of the cyclist, it only takes one in every 1000
cars to pass too close or pass at speed to colour a perception about
their safety and the attitudes of motorists towards them," he said.
Mr Healy said some cyclists were still not wearing helmets.
"There is no doubt helmets protect you from head injury. Cyclists are
placing themselves at much greater risk by not wearing them," he said.
Bicycle Victoria president Harry Barber said a particular concern for
cyclists was drivers being distracted when using mobile phones.
"The mobile phone user is the new drink driver," Mr Barber said.
"The things that riders get wrong is that they ride at night without
lights and they go through red lights.
"But the things that drivers do to threaten riders' safety is mobile
phone use. We've had riders killed by people not just on the phone but
sending SMS text messages."
Mr Barber said there was less aggression towards riders on the roads
today because more people were out cycling and it had become more
acceptable, but some drivers continued to bully riders with their cars.
Police agreed to release details of cyclist deaths over the past 14
months to The Sunday Age to highlight the need for motorists to take
care when driving near riders.
This year's fatalities included a 31-year-old from Kew, who was hit when
riding on Heidelberg Road, Clifton Hill, at 1pm. He died a day later.
A woman, 28, from Elwood, died from injuries sustained when she fell
from her bike in front of a car at Kilsyth. She had been riding along
Canterbury Road when she hit some rough bitumen and lost her balance.
Last year's fatalities included Scott Peoples, 20, a champion cyclist
with a dream of competing in the Tour de France, who was hit on December
15 by a four-wheel-drive in central Victoria.
Peoples had just won a scholarship from the Victorian Institute of Sport
when a Nissan Patrol struck his bike on the Maroondah Highway at Merton.
The toll
Fourteen cyclists died in accidents in Victoria last year. Two have died
so far this year.
=3F January 2007: Man, 31, hit by a car in Clifton Hill. Woman, 28, dies
after falling off bike in front of a car in Kilsyth.
=3F December 2006: Competitor Scott Peoples, 20, hit by car on Maroondah
Highway at Merton. Man, 48, dies after being found in Balwyn.
=3F October: Man, 59, crashes into another rider on Princes Highway at
Little River.
=3F September: Man, 45, hit by car in St Albans. Man, 23, hit by car in
Kings Way, South Melbourne.
=3F August: Man, 73, falls from bike on Plunketts Road, Wodonga.
=3F July: Man, 39, hit on Pascoe Vale Road, Essendon. Man, 51, hit in
Springvale.
=3F June: Boy, 11, hit on Princes Way at Drouin.
=3F May: Man, 33, hit at South Morang.
=3F April: Man, 41, hit at Eagle Hawk. Woman, 29, hit in Epping.
=3F March: Man, 64, hit in Echuca. Boy, 13, hit at Braybrook.
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