Cycling’s advocate wants better deal for pedallers on N.Z. roads

Press, 28 August 1979, Page 17

Cycling’s advocate wants better deal for pedallers on N.Z. roads

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

The humble bicycle is fast returning to popularity and . status. At the recent New Zealand Reading Symposium in Wellington a special paper was presented on planning for bicycles. Suggestions in this paper have considerable implications for future planning of the transport network. Bicycle use for transport and recreation is increasing and demands increased efforts to improve cycling conditions, according to Mr P. D. Morrison, who has been cycling campaigner for Friends of the Earth (N.Z.). As in other relatively affluent countries, once car ownership became an attainable goal for the average New Zealander, adult use of bicycles went into a 20-year decline from which it is only now beginning to emerge. Cycl-

ing was limited to school children and sports cyclists (not a mass sport). Since the mid-1970s this trend has been reversed, particularly in built-up areas of predominantly flat land. Blenheim, Christchurch, Ashburton, and Invercargill in the South Island, and Masterton, Palmerston North, Hastings, Hutt, Napier, Rotorua, Tauranga, and Hamilton in the North, are all seeing cycling gain in popularity. Bicycle dealers report a new sales boom. A number of factors are involved. Concern for the environment is linked with rising costs of running a car, while the health benefits are luring more middle-aged and elderly back on to bicycles. None of the reasons for riding bicycles are likely to become less cogent in the immediate future.

The most commercially popular bicycles with adults are the 10-speed variety. Exact figures on the number Of adult purchases are not available, but in the United States in 1974 55 per cent of sales were of adult bicycles. With the demand for bicycles in the United States came a related demand — which New Zealand is now beginning to experience — for better conditions and facilities for cyclists based on the premise that bicycle and motor traffic are incompatible. These 10-speed bicycles enable longer trips at higher speeds than older models. This, coupled with the increasing age of the cycling population, means that cyclists no longer consist mainly of children, and that bicycles can no

longer be regarded merely as children’s toys. United States planning in recent years, which resulted in bikeways and funding at state and federal level, was based on the separation of bicycles and motor transport. But this premise has now been challenged by the cyclists. They found that bikeway and bike-lane travelling was slower and less convenient than cycling on

the ordinary roads, and also that the bikeways were not the havens of travelling safety that had been assumed. Bikeways are not necessarily safer than roads; rules relating to them are harder to enforce than road rules, and the chances of violent personal crime on them is greater than on the roads. Mr McDonald considers the first priority in planning for bicycles is to improve conditions in the road network to accommodate them there. This involves sharing the road space with motor traffic, particularly in built-up areas. He wants the plan-

ning of separate facilities for cyclists to be considered, but not to be the central aim of planning. Planning for bicycles is no simple thing. It includes road design and conditions, the behaviour of motorists and cyclists separately and in conjunction, and bicycle safety — about which very little is known. Research into these factors would then lead on to education programmes to ensure cyclists and motorists became more skilful. Mr McDonald wants the repeal of legislation which “discriminates against cyclists,” and he calls for the formation of a central authority on bicycle planning to advise and assist local authorities involved in planning for bicycles.

The picture of bicycle accidents is incomplete. Studies tend to focus on clashes between bicycles and motor vehicles, but this is not enough. Practically nothing is known about skids and falls not involving a collision; bicvcle-bicvcle collisions; and collisions with fixed objects other than motor vehicles. Nothing is known about the number of such accidents or their severity. In the United States in the mid-19705, skids and falls were thought to constitute 43 per cent and

collisions with motor ve-' hides only 18 per cent of | all bicycle accidents, and only 26 per cent of serious accidents. Bicyclebicycle collisions constituted 17 per cent of all bicycle accidents and 13 per cent of serious ones. Mr McDonald considers the accident reporting procedures for bicyclemotor vehicle collisions in New Zealand to be at fault. Little information is given on the significance of road surface conditions in collisions. As rough, broken, or slippery road surfaces can have a considerable effect on the comfort and con-

trol of cyclists — much more than for motorists — this information is needed. Age and experience reduce risk. The high proportion Of cycling accidents involving children of school age makes improving the safety for y Junger cyclists a central issue in bicycle planning. Training is probably the most effective antidote, but there are other measures that can be taken. These include proficiency tests, age limits on cycling on formed roads, and having lower speed limits on residential streets than on main roads or arterial routes.

But while the need for better safety is central to planning for bicycies, Mr McDonald says it must be balanced against the need to maintain and increase the utility and versatility of cycling as a means of transportation. , Critical areas in the road network are inters section design and control, road surface conditions, and roadway width on roads with high traffic volumes. Correction of any deficiencies could be undertaken as far as practicable. The bicycle is making a comeback. There is nothing to suggest its return is just a passing fad, so a pressing need remains for policies and programmes designed to cope with it.