On road cycling

        

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgro ... es/2009/2758349.htm

TRAFFIC NOISE

Di Martin: Hello, Di Martin here on the edge of six lanes of peak-hour traffic. It's just one of Australia's main roads, choked full of people trying to get to work.

There's the usual array of cars, trucks and buses, but more and more these days you'll see bicycles pedalling along as well.

Whether to glide past gridlock, get fit, beat petrol prices, or go green, Australia is in the grips of a cycling boom.

Preston Forster wholesales and retails bike clothing and accessories.

Preston Forster: The increase has been dramatic. I've been cycling for more than 50 years and been involved in all aspects of cycling and all aspects of cycling are just going through the roof. Whether it be commuting, leisure and recreation, families, it is just huge.

Di Martin: But exactly how huge is anyone's guess.

Cycle groups say bike sales are probably the best indicator. This is Ben Battisson from Pedal Power in Canberra.

Ben Battisson: For the last nine years more bikes have been sold than cars.

Di Martin: I mean that's quite a stunning statistic, isn't it?

Ben Battisson: Yes. A lot of people come to that statistic and are shocked. But it's something that's been sneaking up on us for a long time.

Di Martin: 1.4-million bikes were sold in Australia last year. That's nearly 40% more than cars. Ben Battisson says his group does an annual head count of riders coming into Canberra's CBD using the roads and bike paths.

Ben Battisson: There's 48% more people riding into the city of a weekday morning than there was five years ago. So a 48% increase; we think that's a pretty soft number because you can see, there's a lot more people riding for recreation, there's a lot more people riding to other employment centres than just the city.

Di Martin: Headcounts in Melbourne show a similar increase in just the past 12 months. Police are talking about an explosion of cyclists spilling off bike paths, and on to Australia's roads.

Health specialists say there are obvious benefits to riding, but they also say Australia's roads need to be overhauled if we're to safely accommodate the newcomers.

Dr Drew Richardson is from Canberra Hospital's Emergency Department.

Drew Richardson: I think we need to support the use of cycling as a mode of transport. It's healthy, it's environmentally friendly, it's got a low carbon footprint. I am very wary about cyclists and larger, faster vehicles sharing the same space. When human beings share a space, they do tend to bump into each other, whether it's in supermarket aisles or lifts, and it's certainly true on the roads. So I would like to see infrastructure that separates the cyclists and the large, heavy and quite dangerous vehicles if possible.

Di Martin: Are you talking about paint on the road or something more substantial?

Drew Richardson: No, I'm talking about solid infrastructure. I would much rather see segregation of cyclists from motor vehicles. I think that that would be in the interests of both of them.

Di Martin: This week's Background Briefing: how to keep safe Australia's new legions of cyclists, and how we're going to have to change the way we design, govern and use our roads.

In each State, statistics show there are more cars travelling more often. In Victoria alone, half a million new light vehicles were registered in the past five years.

Federal MP for the Melbourne seat of Isaacs is Mark Dreyfus. He's commuted on bikes for much of his life, and is worried about on-road cycling safety.

Mark Dreyfus: I don't think that there's safe accommodation for Australian cyclists on the road. We've had in Melbourne in the last 30 years, something like a tripling of the number of cars on our roads, and the same road system pretty much, particularly in the inner areas of the city, are accommodating much, much larger numbers of cars. And that's made it a less safe environment for cyclists.

Di Martin: No driver has the space and convenience on roads that they used to. Even without bikes in the mix, it takes longer to get places and is more frustrating to drive. Tempers are flaring.

This is the head of Traffic Operations in Canberra, Superintendent Mark Colbran.

Mark Colbran: Unfortunately, road rage appears to be on the increase all across the country.

Di Martin: Should bikes be on roads?

Mark Colbran: Yes, bikes should be on the roads. Certainly bicycles are classed as vehicles under Motor Traffic Acts all over the country. But there is very little between the cyclist and two tonnes of metal travelling at 60 or 80 kilometres an hour. And therefore cyclists need to be aware of their surroundings all the time, because even they may be in the right, the last thing they want to put on their tombstone is 'He died with right of way'.

Di Martin: Superintendent Mark Colbran says everyone has to learn to live with each other on the roads.

Mark Colbran: Because in many cases, it's the drivers who aren't aware that the cyclist is there and they will turn across the cyclist's path or they will brake suddenly when the cyclist is behind them, or they will do something else which causes a collision. But sometimes the cyclists don't help themselves either, so they need to make sure that they are extremely visible, and it's the same with cyclists who ride along listening to their iPods. If you impair your hearing you are at that much more risk on the roads. So the drivers need to be aware of the cyclists and acknowledge they have a right to be on the road. The cyclists need to be aware of the psychology of driving, and they need to adjust their riding accordingly.

Di Martin: This message becomes more critical as the number of cyclists increase.

Government are beginning to promote cycling as a cheap and clean mode of transport. There are good reasons policymakers want you out of your car, and on a bike. Like traffic congestion, poor public health, and carbon emissions.

In Central Melbourne, bikes are already being used more than some other types of transport. Here's Harry Barber from Bicycle Victoria.

Harry Barber: We're about 10% of the trips into the city of Melbourne. Now that's a substantial part of the transport system, you know, more than buses, much more than motorcyclists.

Di Martin: Give us an example of how important this change is for those who still consider it a bit of a hobby, or something that kids do.

Harry Barber: So some people don't think of the bike as a way of getting around. But it's going to change transport, the way that the Internet has changed the way we communicate.

Di Martin: Earlier this year, Victoria released its cycling strategy. For the first time, bikes were recognised as a core part of the State's transport system. Here's Harry Barber.

Harry Barber: So that was a real watershed, and the Minister stood up and said, 'I want to put all this money into bikes because otherwise I'm going to have buy a hundred trams or nineteen train sets. He wasn't saying he loved bikes, he thought they were wonderful, he was saying they can do a job for the community and the taxpayer and the transport system. And that's a first. I think one of the people who have been clearest about this is the Lord Mayor of Sydney, and Clover Moore said 'As the City Council, we can't drill a metro and we can't change the current train system, but we can make a big difference about bikes.'

Di Martin: The pots of money are growing, to build on-road bike lanes and other bike infrastructure. But that's coming off a very low base.

Cycle-friendly Victoria has a $38-billion transport blueprint for the next decade. But less than one-third of 1% is earmarked for bikes.

Bike lanes have been built in fits and starts, confusing everyone on the roads.

Federal MP, Mark Dreyfus is former Director of the Law Council of Australia, and a veteran bike commuter.

Mark Dreyfus: I can tell you, and this is at a personal level, what cyclists hate is patchy provision of bike paths, patchy provision of bike lanes, where you can be riding along very happily and all of a sudden your bike path comes to a dead halt at an intersection, and not be picked up again on the other side of the intersection.

Di Martin: Because motorists don't know what to expect, nor do cyclists unless they're particularly familiar with the road.

Mark Dreyfus: All of us who are cyclists and all of us who are drivers, know that the safest environments are created where there is predictability, where there is consistency and where people know what they can expect.

Di Martin: Unpredictability: it's a complaint often levelled at cyclists, that they run red lights, jump on and off footpaths and weave in and out of traffic. But flag down a commuter cyclist and you'll hear complaints about drivers that are careless or aggressive.

Man: I ride with my girlfriend along St Kilda Road into town every morning. And probably once a week, one of us will have a near impact with a car where we have to swerve to avoid it, and that's often cars that will pass you on the right and then pull in to turn left, forcing you into a parked car, or whatever. They just consider that you're a bike and you're secondary.

Woman: It's really dangerous to ride on the roads at the moment. There's not enough room for cyclists and cars and pedestrians. And there's I think a real lack of public education around what it is to share the roads. So there's a lot of aggression and it's kind of scary.

Di Martin: That aggression is born of Australia's love affair with its cars. Australia's sprawling cities and long travelling distances have cemented a driver-centric road culture that's worked against local cycling.

Preston Forster is Managing Director of UNO bike clothing.

Preston Forster: You go over to Europe which is much more densely populated, but they don't seem to have anywhere near the bike accidents. You go training in Italy, I've just recently come back from Italy, and you go for a ride over there, and a truck will give you a wide berth and wait until it's safe to pass, and then pass you. Because the cyclist over there is respected, and they come from a cycling culture that's been part of their life. We've only just started that in Australia. We're not going to educate everybody straight away. But we do have to start.

Di Martin: There's going to be some tough people to convert.

Here's the Two Murrays on Sydney Radio 2UE.

2UE: Most of us I think agree that cyclists are a bit of a pain on the roads. They run red lights, take up lanes, don't pay rego, millions of dollars allocated to them for alternative bike paths, and still they want more and more.

Ban cyclists from peak hours, what do you think? Ian's joined us. Gidday Ian, good afternoon.

Di Martin: This latest suggestion to ban cyclists during peak hour traffic didn't come from a shock jock, it came from former New South Wales Transport Minister, Carl Scully.

Carl Scully: Well no-one suggests pedestrians should walk in the middle of a laneway in a morning or evening peak. I can't see much difference between a pedestrian and a pedestrian on a bike.

Cars, trucks and buses are what roads are built for. Tracks for trains, water for boats and footpaths for bikes and pedestrians.

Di Martin: Whether you think it's unsafe, or inconvenient, it's perfectly legal for cyclists to take an entire lane of traffic, riding two abreast and travelling at 20 kilometres an hour.

In fact it's probably safer for the cyclist to do that. Being sideswiped by a car is one of the most common causes of bike crashes.

It's also legal for a cyclist to cruise past a line of cars and take pole position at a traffic light. It's even technically legal for a cyclist to listen to an MP3 player while they're doing it.

If you're in New South Wales and you see a cyclist riding with no hands, texting on a mobile, that's illegal. But not because they're texting, because they're riding without holding on to the handlebars.

Laws vary from State to State, but to give you an idea we've posted the New South Wales list of bike infringements on our website.

Our laws haven't kept up with the cycling boom, and drivers are going to have to become more vigilant on the road, or risk collecting a rider.

Bikes are far more difficult to see than a car, and many drivers cut off cyclists without even knowing it.

Listen to this story on Sydney Radio 2GB. The caller's name is George.

2GB George: I'm in Sussex Street in peak hour traffic and as you can imagine it's bumper-to-bumper. Some galoot on a pushbike decides to squeeze between from the left. He stops, gives me a dirty look, gives me the finger, spits all over my windscreen, goes across the road, down the footpath and hangs a right down the footbridge at Darling Harbour.

Di Martin: Cyclists who've heard this story reckon George may have inadvertently cut off this rider.

Melbourne paramedic Marcel Lema, says while most collisions with bikes are unintentional, he's also picked up cyclists who've been deliberately run off the road.

Marcel Lema: We've attended several fatalities and hundreds of injuries, and some of them serious injuries, to cyclists from coming into contact with cars, coming into contact with car doors, being sideswiped by trucks and cars, and even people just frustrated with cyclists throwing missiles at cyclists, like beer cans, you name it. We've seen it all.

Di Martin: Marcel Lema works a section of Australia's on-road cycling mecca, called Beach Road.

Hugging the east side of Port Phillip Bay, Beach Road can carry 25,000 cyclists a weekend. It's known for its groups of lycra-clad cyclists. A bike breed apart, they train to race, or for fitness. It's known as bunch riding.

They're entitled to take a lane of traffic as long as they're only riding two abreast. But the sheer volume of riders has made for hostile relations with some drivers. Sitting beside the famous roadway, Marcel Lema describes his own brush with driver frustration on the way to this interview.

Marcel Lema: I had one incident even just coming here, where a car actually swerved from the right-hand lane onto the left-hand lane, to actually make a point that I was in the road, I was in the way. Now when you're getting a car coming at 60 ks an hour towards you, it's basically like somebody putting a putting a gun to your head and playing Russian roulette. So as Cadel Evans said, the worst places to cycle in the world are here and America because of the attitude of the general motorist population.

Di Martin: Paramedic and cyclist, Marcel Lema.

But this is not a one-way street of emotion and adrenaline.

Cyclist Michael Forbes knows Beach Road well, and is the first to acknowledge there are idiots that drive and ride.

Michael Forbes: There's a small percentage of motorists who really don't drive as they should. And there's a small percentage of cyclists, they don't ride as they should, either. They'll go through the red lights, they'll be cutting through traffic and they'll be causing chaos.

Di Martin: Beach Road hit the headlines a few years ago when a bunch cyclist ran a red and hit an elderly pedestrian called James Gould, who later died of his injuries.

The cyclist was part of what's called the Hell Ride. It was after the death of James Gould that the term 'lycra lout' became popular, and police have been monitoring Beach Road carefully ever since.

Michael Forbes says there are now only a few Beach Road cyclists who'll break the law, but he still thinks change is needed.

Michael Forbes: In my opinion, I don't think groups should be as big as the Hell Ride. I think as soon as you get beyond 20 it becomes uncontrollable, and you do end up with those small percentage of people going off the strength of the group if you like, and behaving like idiots.

Di Martin: So it's that sense of being protected by numbers?

Michael Forbes: I think so, yes, and being able to hide in a group as well, but also show off to the group, so off the strength of the group, you might have one or two that run a red light, or grab onto the wheel arch of a car, or do something really silly, that they probably wouldn't do if they were just on their own.

Di Martin: But bad cyclist behaviour is not confined to bunches.

ABC News: Police are appealing for a cyclist who bashed a Sydney bus driver at Seven Hills in Sydney's north-west, to hand himself in. Transport reporter Kylie Simmons has the story.

Kylie Simmons: The 64 year old Hills bus driver was attacked by a cyclist half his age on a T-way in the early hours of last Friday morning ...

Di Martin: What cyclists may not be aware of is the heady mix of hormones coursing through their bodies when they expose themselves to danger on the road.

This is Dr James Taylor, from Melbourne's Sandringham Hospital.

James Taylor: It'll be road rage, whether it's in a car or a bicycle. Somebody has imposed on their personal space, has either cut in front of them, or somehow meant that this young man has had to change his plans. He takes it personally, and I think it explains a lot of the behaviour that we see with adrenalin-fuelled young men.

Di Martin: We'll visit Dr Taylor's Emergency Department in a moment, to see how this adrenaline is translating into cycling injuries. And if you're keen to discuss issues in this program, Background Briefing now has an online Guest Book on our website.

Doctors who've been patching up cyclists are increasingly worried about the hidden extent of bike injuries and the wider impact on the community. Official bike injury statistics are based on police records. But police only record the worst cases, not the person falling off a bike and breaking an arm. That cyclist will, however, turn up to a hospital.

Background Briefing has an exclusive copy of a new study that matches names in police data banks with hospital records. The ACT-based report found a whopping 98% of bike injuries aren't showing up in official statistics.

Drew Richardson is an ANU Road Trauma specialist who also works at the Emergency Department at Canberra Hospital.

Drew Richardson: And in fact we found only about 2% of all cycle injuries were on the police data base.

Di Martin: Only 2%?

Drew Richardson: Only 2%. Now certainly they were the more severe 2% but nonetheless, numerically that means that the police figures about cycling injuries are really not accurate in any meaningful fashion.

Di Martin: I mean that must have huge implications for hospital budgets, if nothing else.

Drew Richardson: It does.

Di Martin: There are some surprising results, especially for middle-aged men. Drew Richardson says in this age group, there are as many hospital admissions for bike accidents as there are for car crashes.

Drew Richardson: We were quite surprised at the burden of injury, the amount of injury we get with older cyclists. In the age group 40 to 49, there's roughly the same number of bicycle admissions to hospital as there are car crash admissions to hospital and as there are heart attacks in that age group.

Di Martin: And within that overall burden of road trauma, what portion are we seeing with the cycling boom coming from bicycle crashes?

Drew Richardson: It's increasing, but we're anxiously awaiting figures from the last couple of years to prove that. Anecdotally it's certainly increasing and in terms of hospital bed days, which is one reasonable financial measure, we're talking 10% to 20%. What we have to see is that's not going to get any worse.

Di Martin: That's 10% to 20% of all hospital bed days of road trauma are actually from bicycle crashes?

Drew Richardson: Yes, the bicycle burden is significant and it's highly significant in certain age groups, for example those 40-49 year olds.

Di Martin: So this is I suppose the other side of the health picture of the cycling boom, what's being referred to as the new golf?

Drew Richardson: That's very true. There are definitely health benefits to cycling, but you have to see the whole picture.

Di Martin: Professor Richardson's study is not yet publicly released, and is now before a suite of ACT Ministers.

It's the most detailed report of its kind. Only Western Australia has tried something similar, but it's used probabilities to estimate data from around the State.

The Canberra findings will be closely scrutinised around the country.

The Report is especially important for road planners to work out how to change on-road conditions to lessen the chance of bike accidents.

Melbourne health professionals have also been calling for better information about cycling injuries.

Background Briefing visited a hospital adjacent to Beach Road, one of the busiest on-road cycling venues in the Southern Hemisphere.

James Taylor: I'm Dr James Taylor, I'm the Director of Emergency Services at Sandringham Hospital. We are the closest Emergency Department to Beach Road. We see a large number of cyclists who have had minor to major injuries in the area. So the first bit you'll see how crowded it is; this is the ambulance entrance, we go to our general cubicle area.

Di Martin: Dr Taylor says while the weekends are busiest, he sees Lycra here seven days a week.

James Taylor: Most of them are adult cyclists who have either been hit by a car or have run into a parked car, especially on Beach Road where there are a large number of cyclists and a number of obstacles on the road. Many of them will have shoulder and arm injuries, some leg injuries; a smaller number with head injuries. So a brief loss of consciousness ....

Di Martin: James Taylor says the incidence of cycling injuries has all the hallmarks of an epidemic.

James Taylor: I use the word 'epidemic' because there has been a true increase in adult cyclists having injuries. And I think it's caught many of the health authorities unawares, and what we've discovered here at Sandringham Hospital is that an increasing number of adult cyclists, mostly men in their 30s, 40s, 50s. So these are the very productive years, these years where an injury can cause a month of disability, and if a worker is off work for a month or two, that's a huge cost to them and a cost to the community. So we actually have an epidemic that has been under-recognised.

Di Martin: Dr Taylor says a simple broken arm can cost as much as $6,000 in medical bills and sick leave alone.

James Taylor: If they actually required extensive hospitalisation because of internal injuries, then you're counting tens of thousands of dollars.

Di Martin: And how many injuries are you seeing here a year?

James Taylor: We're seeing about 150 cases each year, so it's adding up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Di Martin: And you're also talking about servicing one area of Melbourne and one popular cycling road. So I suppose listeners can then start calculating around the country the kinds of costs that would be involved.

James Taylor: Look, you're exactly right there.

Di Martin: James Taylor says once Australia understands the real cost of cycling injuries, the cost of building something like a separate bike lane won't look so expensive.

Especially as cycling injuries in some States are on the rise. Remember these are the official statistics, just the most severe cases that have been reported to police.

In the ACT, while there's less accidents overall on the roads, cyclists are a steadily increasing share of those being carted off to hospital.

And in Victoria, a recent report shows that the number of cyclists at Emergency Departments rose 42% in the five years between 2001 and 2006.

What's not entirely clear is why the rise. Whether the increase in injuries is simply because of the increased numbers of cyclists on the road. Victoria's Police Bicycle Co-ordinator, Sergeant Arty Lavos says it may also be more people coming forward.

Arty Lavos: Surprisingly for the State when it comes to fatal accidents with cyclists, they're decreasing. But in saying that, injuries and serious injuries, there seems to be a steady incline in relation to that. But we're also starting to see people actually reporting their collisions and injuries. so we're starting to see our statistics spike, not that there's any more accidents, it's just the reporting mechanism's starting to catch up with cycling itself.

Di Martin: There are lots of different types of bike groups and clubs and they disagree about whether on-road cycling is becoming safer or more dangerous.

Most groups that spoke Background Briefing promote cycling, and don't want to scare off potential riders. They don't like to talk about dangers, preferring instead to talk of risks. They say studies show the more cyclists on a road, the more drivers get used to dealing with the bikes, and the safer it is. Other groups talk about roads becoming increasingly dangerous as more cars and bikes compete for space.

The true picture is unclear, mainly because we don't even know how many bikes are on the roads in the first place. Everyone agrees though, safety increases when you section off a piece of road for bikes.

Sergeant Arty Lavos says policymakers are finally starting to hear that message.

Arty Lavos: I believe that they're finally seeing the big boom in relation to cycling. And the commitment's there, but we've got to realise the cycling fraternity itself will increase quicker than we can get the infrastructure out. And that's just the way it is, unfortunately. You know, we've seen a couple of commercials which actually incorporate bicycles finally, and things like that.

Di Martin: So you've been pushing for that for some time?

Arty Lavos: Oh, absolutely, we have to. Because as you can see now, if we don't have the infrastructure out there and bike riding will increase, and then the City of Melbourne have got to plan to introduce 6,000 hire bikes into the City of Melbourne as well, similar to the French model. So there's a huge increase there, and if we don't get our infrastructure right, we will be in trouble in the future.

Di Martin: Millions of dollars are being poured into cycle paths and lanes around the country in an effort to keep cyclists safer.

But without details on where bike accidents are happening and why, the results are a bit mixed. Segregated bike lanes have been built on a couple of streets in Melbourne.

Background Briefing went to investigate at Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. This is the first cyclist we flagged down.

Cyclist: I got hit by a car here maybe the first week it opened. I was coming downhill against traffic, on the right side of the bike path of course, but someone in a car was not familiar with it and turned the corner and I went straight on their bonnet. Other than that it's all good.

Di Martin: Other cyclists had similar stories.

It's a frustrating outcome for organisations like Bicycle Victoria that have been working hard to get better bike infrastructure on the roads.

Here's Harry Barber.

Harry Barber: In the case of the ones that were built in Melbourne, the Fitzroy Street ones they've mangled the two ends of it, so it's hard to get on and off, but that's poor design, that's not the fault of that approach. So Sydney is going to do a lot of these and they're going to have to be really careful on the intersections and it's going to take time for drivers and other road users to realise that this is a two-way path.

Di Martin: You're listening to Background Briefing on ABC Radio National. I'm Di Martin with a program about the on-road cycling boom and how we need to re-think our road systems to keep everyone safe.

To try to fill in some of the blanks about on-road cycling safety, Monash University's Accident Research Centre is working closely with a group of bike commuters.

Video cameras have been attached to their helmets, filming all happens on their rides to and from work. Chief researcher is Marilyn Johnson.

Marilyn Johnson: There's eight cyclists at a time who go through, so we're hoping by the end of this summer we'll have 48 different cyclist trips, so each of them will record 12 hours. Some of the things that they're seeing ranges from a normal trip where there's no event, all the way through to cyclists being cut off by drivers who've not checked when they turn left, which is probably the most common thing that happens. Cyclists' own bad behaviour tends to kick in after they forget the camera's on their helmet, not stopping at stop signs or give-way signs, and sometimes observing other cyclists doing the same.

Di Martin: One of Marilyn Johnson's commuters is scientist James Rennie. She checks in with him about his on-road experiences.

Marilyn Johnson: How many times have you ridden this week?

James Rennie: Three times this week.

Marilyn Johnson: OK, and has anything happened while you've been riding?

James Rennie: Just this morning riding two abreast on North Road a car pulled across in front and basically started flashing his brake lights, seemed to be indicating his displeasure at us riding two abreast on North Road.

Marilyn Johnson: And so for how long did he do that?

James Rennie: 20 seconds, 30 seconds or so.

Di Martin: Is that common to have drivers showing their displeasure in some way?

James Rennie: Fairly common, yes. I try to keep out of drivers' way, and obey the road rules and things. So I have had a driver actually trying to run me off the road and get to the point where I actually had to slap the bonnet to get him to move away, and then they accelerated ahead, pulled over and jumped out. So that's when I decided to turn around and go back the other way.

Di Martin: James Rennie commutes 30 kilometres a day, mainly down a south-east arterial called North Road, that runs past Monash Uni.

To see first hand what it's like to commute on a road like this, I borrowed a bike, donned a helmet ...

Left or right?

James Rennie: We'll go right.

Di Martin: ... and followed James Rennie out onto North Road. We struck problems as soon as we tried to merge with oncoming traffic.

James Rennie: In hindsight this isn't a good move.

Di Martin: OK, so this is exciting. We're merging with major traffic and a car has just cut in front of us.

A car had accelerated to stop us from entering the flow of traffic.

So cut off before we even get onto North Road.

North Road is a 70-80 kilometre per hour commuter route. Six lanes and a bus lane, but no separate space for bikes. As we pedalled along, James Rennie talked about on-road relations.

James Rennie: I find that most drivers are actually quite good. There are a few that maybe aren't paying quite as much attention. Looking around we can probably find at least one here who's on the phone, and that's a major concern. I've seen drivers on the phone, on email, texting, including one watching television.

Di Martin: No. How can you watch television and drive?

James Rennie: I did ask myself the same question. It was an in-dash TV.

We'll just go up here to the bus lane.

Di Martin: We're now entering a bus lane, it's a different colour, presumably cars aren't allowed on this part of the road.

James Rennie: That's correct. Cars aren't allowed on this part of the road.

Di Martin: But bikes are?

James Rennie: No, in theory bikes aren't allowed on this part either.

Di Martin: Oh good, I'm breaking the law for Radio National, listeners, pointing that out very clearly.

James Rennie: One of the reasons I ride on this part of the road is riding outside of this bus lane, so out with the traffic, is incredibly dangerous and you end up getting beeped by cars, lots of cars, who basically say Move left.

Di Martin: All of which has been captured by James Rennie's helmet camera. The footage is now being processed with the report due early next year.

Report author Marilyn Johnson outlines what she's learning from this research that wasn't obvious before.

Marilyn Johnson: Because the camera is mounted on the helmet, we're getting a really good idea of where cyclists head-check as they ride along. They don't just look in front of themselves, they're looking to the left, to the right. They're actually checking at every side street, at every intersection. So situational awareness from the cyclist is really quite high. But what it does seem to be that a cyclist who's seen a driver for example to their right, they've seen them, you see them in the film, that they've actually seen the car, then the car will turn in front of them, so it would look as though the driver has not seen the cyclist. So that kind of shift away from this idea that seems to be quite popular at the moment that cyclist safety is dependent on the cyclist behaving better, is perhaps not the only case. We need to be also looking at driver behaviour.

Di Martin: Marilyn Johnson says changes need to be made to keep commuter cyclists safe on the roads.

Police agree. In Canberra, the Head of Traffic Operations says that Australia's road rules have developed around cars, and need updating.

This is Superintendent, Mark Colbran,

Mark Colbran: I think it's time to have a serious look at some of the methods that we're teaching young drivers and some of the road rules on the road. For example, at the moment we do not teach people if you're turning left from a main road, or from a road, to check to your left to see if anything's coming up on the inside. It's just not something that we teach them. But all our bike lanes are on the left-hand side of the left most traffic lane.

Di Martin: Police and cycle groups also want further speed reductions in built-up areas, and even on suburban streets.

Australia is lagging behind internationally with other road rule changes; there's still no set minimum safe distance for passing a bike.

Drivers often underestimate how much room a cyclist needs and clipping a cyclist can have catastrophic consequences.

Michael Forbes is a former triathlete and AFL umpire.

Michael Forbes: My memories are of the approach vehicle from behind. As it approached and just started to go past me, I realised we were too close, both I was too close to the truck and he was too close to me, and just as the truck got to - well it was almost past me, and it just clipped my right arm and took it off the handlebars. At that stage I only have memory of sheer right, and I do not remember the impact with the four-wheel drive. But that's where I was found.

Di Martin: Tell us about your injuries?

Michael Forbes: I broke my neck. I am now a C4 level quadriplegic and confined obviously to a wheelchair. I am unable to work at this stage, and I now need to sleep about ten hours a day and I do what I can with my family to participate and help out, but essentially my hands don't work, my arms don't work well enough to cook, to clean, to really participate in the home.

Di Martin: Michael Forbes' experience exposes some glaring holes in insurance available to cyclists. At the time of his accident Michael Forbes had full private health cover. But he has what they call in the insurance game 'catastrophic injuries'. The policy fine print says the insurer doesn't have to pay.

Michael Forbes: They won't touch it because it's just far too expensive and detrimental and too difficult to cover. So I had to go through the public health system, even though I was fully covered under private health insurance.

Di Martin: Michael Forbes now needs 24-hour care, and a raft of medical supplies that are not covered as a public patient. They cost more than $230,000 a year, and without private cover he would have to pay out of his own pocket.

There were no witnesses t Michael Forbes' accident, so he had to prove that a registered vehicle was involved to be covered by the trucks no-fault accident insurance.

Michael Forbes: Because a vehicle was involved that contributed to the accident I'm covered under that insurance.

Di Martin: But if a vehicle wasn't involved or you couldn't prove there was a vehicle involved?

Michael Forbes: At this stage there is no coverage for cyclists if they have an accident and there is no registered vehicle involved.

Di Martin: So Michael Forbes wants all cyclists to be covered with a public no-fault insurance scheme. He's come up with one suggestion, which effectively registers bikes.

Michael Forbes: Given that the vast majority of cyclists would be registered motor vehicle owners or even if they're children, their parents would be registered motor vehicle owners, I would like to see the idea where you could opt to insure your family for cycling accidents also, whether it was a $50 fee on top of your normal registration or whatever the actuaries came up with to be appropriate.

Di Martin: Bike registration: it's a lightning-rod issue in strained relations between cyclists and motorists.

Motorists often complain that they have to pay for expensive on-road cycle lanes. While cycling groups say most bike riders drive cars and pay rego already. The groups say by hopping on a bike, cyclists are saving everyone else road maintenance, parking space and road space.

Then you have people like George, the Radio 2GB caller, who wants bikes registered for a different reason.

George: He stops, gives me a dirty look, gives me finger, spits all over my windscreen, goes across the road, down the footpath and hangs a right down the footbridge at Darling Harbour. These guys have got to have rego, they've got to have some way of tracking who they are.

Di Martin: Some police have begun to come out in favour of registering bikes as well.

Superintendent Mark Colbran from the ACT is backing a free on-road scheme for Canberra.

Mark Colbran: Look, I would support from a policing perspective, a free registration system for bicycles which use the road. Here in Canberra we have a large number of cycles that do, if the cycles could be registered, with some form of identifying number that was clearly visible, I think that would have a number of positive impacts. Not the least of which it would certainly focus some cyclists' minds that they could be identified if they did the wrong thing.

Di Martin: So the idea of free registration, would that be compulsory or voluntary?

Mark Colbran: What we would support would be if you use the major arterial on-road cycle lanes here in Canberra, have a compulsory registration on your bicycle to identify you to use them.

Di Martin: ACT Police Superintendent, Mark Colbran.

There's also calls emerging to licence bike riders. But there are problems about implementation and enforcement. And as bike groups point out, most riders already pay car registration and have a licence. The group say it's simply not worth setting up an expensive and complex system to catch the few who aren't already on the grid.

I'm Di Martin and you're listening to Background Briefing on ABC Radio National, debating how to keep safe the increasing number of cyclists coming onto Australian roads. And if you're interested in talking about issues in this program, we now have an online guest book on the website.

Cyclists say there's still a frustrating and widespread misconception that bikes belong on off-road bike paths, despite the dangers of riding at speed on shared paths designed for kids, dogs and families.

Here's Magda Szubanski talking about Beach Road cyclists on a recent episode of Good News Week.

Magda Szubanski: And I don't want to be in my car and have to look at your sweaty lycra bum raised in the air when there is a bike path, taxpayer funded 1 metre away. Ride your stupid bike on the stupid bike path!

Di Martin: The skit went on for some time, with Julia Morris joining Magda Szubanski.

Julia Morris: Everybody's saying we deserve our slice of the road, it's as simple as that, but then not following any road rules and going straight through the red lights and just nearly knocking people over. I'm sorry, but it totally infuriates me.

Magda Szubanski: I agree, numberplate them, fine them.

Julia Morris: Absolutely.

Magda Szubanski: Number plate them, fine them.

Julia Morris: No, no, just drive and take 'em out.

Magda Szubanski: Open the door, open the door. (APPLAUSE)

Di Martin: Magda Szubanski has since said that the skit went too far. Severely injured Michael Forbes was watching at home.

Michael Forbes: I can honestly say I've never been so angry. My accident occurred on Beach Road, and to speak about opening car doors on cyclists and just generally make motorists that little bit more angry and almost legitimise that behaviour, for me it's right in my face.

Di Martin: Michael Forbes says it's exactly these kinds of comments that have a direct impact on the road. Before his accident, he remembers riding to work listening to AFL Footy Show host, James Brayshaw on the radio.

Michael Forbes: James Brayshaw was having a very similar rant to Magda's rant off Good News Week, and this was in peak hour as I was cycling to work, and sure enough, within the next ten minutes I had four motorists tooting their horn and behaving very aggressively towards me. So it really does have a very immediate effect.

Di Martin: On-road cycling groups agree, saying they will post website warnings to members if there's negative media about bikes.

For the Amy Gillett Foundation, set up to reduce collisions between cyclists and drivers, the Good News Week skit was simply depressing.

Amy Gillett was an elite athlete killed on a training run in Germany when she was struck by an out-of-control car.

Foundation CEO, Tony Fox, says he's invited Magda Szubanski to join the next Amy's Ride in Melbourne at the beginning of January. It's a mass ride to raise awareness of on-road cycling safety.

Tony Fox wants a broadscale education campaign to teach drivers and riders how to behave.

Tony Fox: Whether the two groups actually love each other is not necessarily the issue. Whether they're aware of each other and they try and have a level of understanding and acceptance of each other, is probably more important.

Di Martin: The Amy Gillett Foundation runs training courses for students about how to ride safely and for drivers to improve awareness of bikes on roads. The Foundation is about to release a new television ad

It's called A Metre Matters, about cars giving cyclists a wider berth.

Advertisement: Every year more than one-and-a-half-thousand bike riders are seriously injured in accidents with motor vehicles. It's not about blame, it's about the cost of complacency. and the impact on both the bike rider and the motorist. So just leave a metre. A metre matters.

Di Martin: Tell us what we saw on the screen, for our listeners?

Tony Fox: What's on the screen is in essence a cyclist riding along; the motorist is not concentrating on what they're doing and clips the cyclist and the cyclist crashes. And then that motorist in another stage, is being taken away by the police. So it's trying to get across a number of points. One is that you need to concentrate always when you're driving. Two is there's no deliberate intent to hit the cyclist, it's purely through lack of awareness or lack of concentration. And the third point there is Yes, if you do hit a cyclist and you're charged for that, it's not just the potential injury or fatality of the cyclist that's a factor here, it's the motorist, it's the motorist's family. It's the impact on everyone around them as well.

Di Martin: Tony Fox says nearly every State has a peak bicycle group busy trying to get as many cyclists on the road as possible.

Bicycle Victoria is the oldest and biggest of those groups, and has influence beyond Victoria's borders.

Tony Fox supports efforts to promote cycling, but he wishes there was more attention paid to safety issues.

Tony Fox: I think we would understand that the focus of those groups isn't as strongly on the safety of cyclists as the Amy Gillett Foundation. That is our core objective, is to decrease accidents between motorists and cyclists.

Di Martin: But Tony, you're a foundation of two people; now you do a good job and you're very visible in the community, but does a large organisation like Bicycle Victoria have to step up a bit more on the safety issue?

Tony Fox: Yes, we would love to work with them more on promoting the safety aspects.

Di Martin: That's Tony Fox.

Bicycle Victoria has been accused of spending too much time on recreational cycling and off-road bike paths and not spending enough time looking at on-road safety issues.

But CEO of Bicycle Victoria, Harry Barber says the organisation works hard to improve cycling black spots, and to change laws to make it safer for cyclists.

Harry Barber also disagrees that it's dangerous to cycle on roads.

Harry Barber: There are some risks in bike riding, and unfortunately you can die when you're bike riding. But there are a lot of things you can die from. And the risk if we talk on a population bass at the moment, the risk the Australian population faces is physical inactivity.

Di Martin: So if you are accused, as you have been by some of the cyclists that I've spoken to on the street, they say that Bicycle Victoria is encouraging people to come onto the roads without proper consideration of the safety issues out there on the roads.

Harry Barber: I really don't have much time for that opinion. I think if you're really worried, if that's how you live your life, then you need to get yourself in a very padded box and close the lid.

Di Martin: Back in Canberra, it's Ride to Work Day, and politicians and senior bureaucrats have joined a local cycling group in a ride around the inner city.

Local cycling group Pedal Power, wants a new city cycling loop to separate out the bikes from cars in Canberra's centre. There's a good chance the ACT government will back it. The Greens would only join a ruling coalition if Labor agreed to recurrent funding for bike lanes and other infrastructure.

On the ride is ACT Climate Change Minister, Simon Corbell, who describes what's worked in Canberra to improve on-road cycling and on-road relations.

Simon Corbell: It's a very heated debate here in Canberra, it's frequently in the Letters to the Editor page and on the radio talkback. Some motorists have a real antipathy towards cyclists and vice versa. It's a thing that will change slowly over time and it will change through deliberate government policies that encourage more cycling. We're seeing that happen now. Our on-road cycle lanes five years ago, there was an enormous controversy about it. Now people accept it as a normal thing on their roads and motorists and cyclists are learning to accommodate each other. So it has to come about through a deliberate intervention in terms of provision of infrastructure, and that's what we're doing right now.

Di Martin: For other States, with less bike-friendly governments, change will rely more on the strength of the cycling lobby, the number of lycra-clad bums on seats.

As bike clothing wholesaler and retailer, Preston Forster says, politicians will only fund what they think is absolutely necessary.

Preston Forster: It's very difficult to get governments to spend money unless they think they're going to get some sort of return for it. But hopefully the cycling voice is getting bigger and if the cycling voice is getting bigger and the people that are riding bikes vote, I'm sure things will happen.

Di Martin: Background Briefing's Co-ordinating Producer is Linda McGinniss. Research by Anna Whitfeld. Technical operator is Mark Don, and Executive Producer is Kirsten Garrett. I'm Di Martin and you're listening to ABC Radio National.

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