Bicycle Network Victoria: Behaviour

Police bosses fail on dooring death

10 November 2011. A driver responsible for the 'dooring' death of a bike rider was not charged by police after senior officers blocked any prosecution.

The unexplained decision was revealed at the inquest into the March 2010 death of James Cross, 22, of Hawthorn, who was 'doored' and propelled under the wheels of a five tonne trailer being pulled by a dump truck.

Cross, a Monash University student, died at the scene of chest and pelvic injuries.

The inquest was told that police were not able obtain a statement from the driver, Mrs Ellen Richards, 60, until some three months after the crash. The statement had already been vetted by Mrs Richards' solicitor.

Mrs Richard's told the inquest that although she looked in the mirror of her black BMW, she failed to see Mr Cross. She maintained that she only opened her door 12 centimetres although witness reported the door being opened sufficiently wide for a driver to alight from the vehicle.

The Coroner, Heather Spooner, found that Cross was riding appropriately in a shared bike and parking lane with bike markings.

Under questioning at the inquest Senior Constable Linda Kane, who prepared the Coronial Brief, acknowledged that the potential police charge of opening a vehicle door to the danger of another was not pursued.

She said she has spoken to her 'bosses' at Boroondara Station who informed her that a charge against Mrs Richards would not be authorised.

Coroner Spooner said that with cyclist numbers growing across the state, ensuring their safety was of paramount importance if cycling is to be promoted as a legitimate form of transport.

"Cyclist have a right to ride in safety and not be fearful of being hit by a car door", she said.

"Motorists need to be more aware of their responsibility to thoroughly check for cyclists before opening a car door."

She recommended that VicRoads work closely with local government to promote the reconfiguration of bicycle and parking lanes to place the bike lanes adjacent to the curb, Copenhagen-style.

She also recommended that VicRoads implement a communication campaign to educate motorists of the need to thoroughly check before opening their car door, and to increase awareness among cyclists of the need to remain vigilant when riding past car doors.

The Findings are now available here.

The Herald-Sun story is here.

More hit the door

11 August 2011. There has been a spike in car door collisions during the past year, according to the latest figures on crashes experienced by Bicycle Network Victoria members.

In the 2010-11 year to June 30, there were 43 recoded 'doorings' of members, well up from 19 in the previous 12-month period.

Until this sudden doubling, member doorings were in the low twenties each year.

The data comes from Bicycle Network Victoria's Riders Rights unit, which records members crashes for legal and insurance reasons.

The crash reports don't reveal any specific reasons for the dramatic one-year increase.

Whilst some road users behaviours appear to be on the improve, riders still report a high incidence of drivers and passengers careless opening doors into the path of riders.

During the past year the police have successfully blitzed the behaviour in a number of operations. It is understood that Police data shows a worrying level of such behaviour in some areas of Melbourne.

Also last year there was the death of a rider in Hawthorn attributed to a door opening incident.

It is possible that the Coroner investigating the death could make some findings and recommendations for action by the authorities when the report is finalised later in the year.

While it is never the rider's fault when hit by an opening door, everyone should remain aware of the risk and positions the bike so that any chance of a collision is reduced.

Helmet laws positive: new study

14 July 2011. A major study into the introduction of helmets laws in NSW in 1991 has revealed that head injuries immediately dropped 29 per cent.

The study, conducted at the University of NSW, is described as the most comprehensive analysis yet into head injury risk after mandatory helmet law introduction.

For many years there has been speculation that Australia's compulsory helmet laws made little or no difference to the risk of injury, and there have been occasional calls for the removal of the law.

But the repeal of compulsory helmet laws cannot be justified, the researches have concluded.

Bicycle-related head injuries fell significantly in the months after mandatory helmet legislation came into effect in NSW, according to hospital admissions data.

The study is titled "The impact of compulsory cycle helmet legislation on cyclist head injuries in New South Wales, Australia, by Scott R. Walter, Jake Oliviera, Tim Churches, and Raphael Grzebietaa

“We set out to perform the most comprehensive analysis possible on the subject while addressing any data limitations and possible confounding factors,” said study author Dr Jake Olivier.

“What we found provides compelling evidence that the legislation has served its purpose in reducing bike-related head injuries and any repeal of the laws would only put lives at risk,” he said.

UNSW’s Chair of Road Safety and study co-author Professor Raphael Grzebieta said the study backs up overwhelming evidence from biomechanical experiments and in-depth accident case analyses that helmets prevent head injury. “It shows what we’ve suspected for a long time — that you would be unwise to ‘hit the road’ without a helmet,” he said.

Last year, a Sydney University study found the laws had failed and should be repealed because compulsory helmet wearing could be a disincentive to cycling. The academic paper was later retracted due to serious data and arithmetic errors.

In the new UNSW study, researchers from the Injury Risk Management Research Centre and the Sax Institute examined trends in NSW hospital admissions for cyclists and pedestrians, comparing the rate of head injury relative to arm injury, and separately for head injury relative to leg injury, in the months before and after the legislation was introduced.

They found the decrease in head injury rates was significantly greater for cyclists compared to pedestrians, and cyclist head injuries decreased more than limb injuries, pointing to the positive effect of mandatory helmet wearing at the population level.

“We endeavoured to identify the effect of the legislation on head injury rates as distinct from other road safety interventions and we’ve shown that the improvements could only have come from the helmet legislation,” Dr Olivier said.

However, while the findings support the maintenance of mandatory helmet laws, the paper’s authors caution against seeing helmets as a panacea for bike safety: “Cyclist safety is a complex issue driven by a range of factors."

Evidence fractures helmet opposition

16 June 2011. A major review of the benefits and disadvantages of bike helmets commissioned by the Queensland Government has concluded that helmets have more than halved the number of head injuries experienced by Queensland cyclists.

And its finds that there is little evidence that helmets discourage bike riding, or that there is a large body of people who would take up cycling if the legislation was changed.

"A review of the most scientifically rigorous research concluded that bicycle helmets that meet national standards protect against head, brain, and facial injuries," the policy paper says.

"Helmet wearing was associated with a 69% reduction in the likelihood of head or brain injury and a 74% reduction in the likelihood of severe brain injury.

"The benefit was the same whether a motor vehicle was involved in the crash or not. Helmet wearing reduced the likelihood of injury to the upper and mid-face by 65%".

The review was conducted by the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q). The contributing authors were Narelle Haworth, Amy Schramm, Mark King, and Dale Steinhardt.

It was commissioned in response to media stories challenging the effectiveness of helmet legislation, especially in the context of the launch of the bike share scheme in Brisbane.

It examined the available evidence on the issue from around the world.

The paper says that bike riding does have significant health benefits and therefore should be encouraged in ways that reduce the risk of the most serious of injuries.

"Head injuries not only have the potential for death but that they are among the most disabling of non-fatal injuries (in some ways more than spinal injuries).

"Infrastructure and speed management approaches to improving the safety of cycling should be undertaken as part of a Safe System approach, but protection of the individual by simple and cost-effective methods such as bicycle helmets should also be part of an overall package of measures," the study concluded.

Among other findings:

• Cycling fatality and injury rates vary considerably among countries, being lowest in countries with well-developed cycling infrastructure and high cycling participation.
• Clearly-marked, bicycle-specific facilities (including cycle tracks at roundabouts, bike routes, bike lanes and bike paths) are safer than on-road cycling with traffic or off-road with pedestrians and other users.
• Australian and international research has demonstrated that introduction of bicycle helmet legislation was followed by a reduction in the number and severity of head injuries to cyclists.
• In attitudinal surveys into bike riding in Queensland compulsory helmet wearing was never provided as an unprompted response for not riding, and it was the sixth or tenth most common response when prompted. Other Australian surveys have also reported that compulsory helmet wearing ranks very low among a long list of reasons for not riding a bicycle.

Separated lanes cut injuries [updated]

10 March 2011. Bike riders in separated bike lane have a 28 per cent lower injury rate than if they were riding in with car traffic, a new study has found.

The Harvard Medical School of Public Health examined the safety profile of the urban bike lane system first set up two decades ago in Montreal, Canada.

Injury and crash rates for six cycle lanes in Montreal were compared with alternative street routes. The lanes and alternate streets (which lacked biking lanes) were characterized as posing similar "traffic dangers" to riders in terms of the type, number, and speed of cars on the road.

All the bike lanes featured two-way cycle traffic on one side of the road, from which they were separated by raised pavement, parking lanes, and/or posts. Most of the alternate streets ran parallel to the cycle track roads, and came to the same end-point intersections as the tracks.

Two way separated paths are common in Montreal, and some have been built in Sydney. The concept has been treated warily in Melbourne.

"Of course, intersections do have to be well-designed, ideally with red and green bicycle signals," Lead author Dr Anne Lusk said. "And even then, we're not suggesting that cycle tracks have zero risk. But rigorous research does show that the difference in the accident rate is real."

Dr Lusk attacked the vehicular cycling movement for holding back the the growth of bike riding by opposing separated lanes.

"For long time they have discouraged the creation of bike lane because instead they wanted to teach everyone to be assertive—including children, women, seniors, and parents with children on their bicycles—they were going to taught how to be assertive and take, meaning you pull in front of the car.

The study found that 2.5 times as many bikers used the cycle tracks compared with street routes without separated bike lanes.

[The original version of this story used an incorrect figure to compare the relative rates of injury]

Helmet cam confirms driver inattention

23 November 2010. A research project which fitted cameras to bike helmets to observe traffic has confirmed what riders have long suspected—drivers are not paying attention.

Of all the incidents recorded by the cameras drivers were at fault 87 per cent of the time, and in 83 per cent of those cases the drivers appeared oblivious of their errors. Drivers of 4WD vehicles were highly likely to failure to observe cyclists.

On the positive side the bad driving did not generally have serious consequences for riders because the videos suggested that cyclists were highly aware and could react rapidly to traffic situations and avoid collisions and near-collisions.

"Overall, on-road commuter cyclists rode in a safe and legal manner and used cycling facilities when available," the study said. "In addition, cyclists rode in a manner that was anticipatory (avoiding potential collisions) and defensive or reactive to the surrounding vehicular traffic as drivers did not appear to see them.

"Cyclists made frequent head checks throughout their commuter trips, which suggests cyclists have high situational awareness."

The study, NATURALISTIC CYCLING STUDY: IDENTIFYING RISK FACTORS FOR ON-ROAD COMMUTER CYCLISTS, was conducted by Marilyn Johnson, Judith Charlton, Jennifer Oxley, and Stuart Newstead of the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC).

It found the most frequent event in which the driver was at fault (55.5%) was where the driver manoeuvred left, including turning left and turning left across the path of the cyclist .

"There may be a role for educating or training cyclists to ride more defensively around cars and be particularly vigilant of drivers turning left across their path at intersections, particularly vehicles with poor visibility traits such as large vehicles and 4WDs," the study reported.

When the vehicle’s indicator could be observed, only 57 per cent of drivers did indicate (or signal) before they changed course. Of the drivers who did indicate, half indicated for only 1-3 seconds before changing course.

"Drivers’ lane change behaviour appeared to be motivated by a gap in the adjacent vehicle lane. At times, this resulted in a sudden lane change and often drivers did not indicate (signal), despite the Australian Road Rule that all drivers must indicate for at least 5 seconds prior to turning left or right.

"Drivers did not appear to be aware of the cyclist travelling alongside or behind them. While this behaviour did not appear to impact surrounding vehicular traffic, sudden vehicle lane change had a dramatic impact on the cyclist. Successful collision avoidance was reliant on the cyclist’s bike handling skills and reaction time," according to the study.

The study aim was to identify risk factors for collisions/near-collisions involving on-road commuter cyclists and drivers. The cyclists wore helmet-mounted video cameras capturing cyclists’ perspective of the road and traffic behaviours including head checks, reactions and manoeuvres.

The study concluded: "Lastly, it is important to consider the role of the road infrastructure and cycling facilities in cyclist safety. A bicycle lane was present in less than half of the observed events and across all event severities.

"The cycling lanes observed were disjointed and often ended abruptly, frequently where the road narrowed, without a viable option for the cyclist who then either continued in the lane along the kerbside, directly competing with vehicular traffic for space, or rode (illegally) on the footpath.

"Greater consistency in cycling facility design is needed. A review of existing cycling facilities is also required to improve continuity and provide intuitive end-point options to ensure the road space afforded to cyclists is identifiable."

Participants in the study were adult cyclists and each filmed 12 hours of commuter cycling trips over a 4-week period. In total, 127 hours and 38 minutes were analysed for 13 participants, 54 events were identified: 2 collisions, 6 near-collisions and 46 incidents.

Car safety focus a bike minus

30 September 2010. Measures which have made roads safer for cars occupants may have done little to improve cyclist safety, according to a new study into cycling injuries in Australia.

While bike riders were over-represented in injuries relative to their exposure to traffic, they appeared to be under-represented in interventions aimed at reducing crashes and injuries.

The authors suggest that the large difference between Australian rider safety and that of other wealthy nations, and the difference between rider and car occupant safety within Australia indicated 'a safety blind spot'.

In addition they say that some factors that improve the safety of motor vehicle occupants may actually increase the risk to vulnerable road users (e.g., larger and heavier vehicles, bull bars).

They say that other research has indicated that as people in cars are made to feel safer, their driving causes more problems for other road users.

The findings are in a study "Cycling injuries in Australia: Road safety's blind spot", by J. Garrard, S Greaves, and A. Ellison from Deakin and Sydney Universities.

"A key factor for cyclist safety is vehicle speed, but Australia’s urban speed limits are high by international standards", the researchers say. "And the safety of cyclists and other vulnerable road users is afforded a lower priority than the achievement of small improvements in motor vehicle travel time.

"While road conditions affect both driver and cyclist safety, road hazards can have a greater impact on cyclists because bicycles, unlike cars, are single-track vehicles.

"It is important to acknowledge these basic differences, rather than ‘blaming’ cyclists for what are often perceived to be erratic or dangerous behaviours.

"It seems that in Australia, there is a low tolerance for cyclist mistakes and relatively little protection when they occur", they stated.

The report says that international experience demonstrates that cycling safety can be improved markedly using the same sort of strategic planning that has been used to improve safety for car occupants.

Improved cycling conditions that are likely to contribute to increased cycling safety include:

• more extensive, high quality and well-maintained cycling infrastructure, including separated cycling facilities
• basing priority systems on needs of vulnerable road users (where appropriate), rather than car occupants
• improved interactions between cyclists and drivers in the form of mutual respect, courtesy and willingness to share public road space
• education and training for drivers and cyclists aimed at improving skills, attitudes and behaviours
• urban speed limits based on human tolerance to injury in collision with a motor vehicle
• placing greater responsibility for traffic safety through the legal system on those road users who have the potential to cause the most harm to others.

Riders no outlaws, says new research

15 September 2010. Media articles and surveys portraying bike riders as risk-takers who disobey traffic regulations were wrong, according to a new study which looked at all the bike crashes in Queensland over an eight year period.

In fact the analyses showed that the motor vehicle was at fault in 56 per cent of crashes which involved both a bike and a motor vehicle.

Interestingly, 85 per cent of those drivers copped a traffic violation, and most of those violations related to various forms of failing to give way to riders.

The study was undertaken by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland (CARRS-Q) and examined 6774 bicycle crashes reported to police between January 2000 and December 2008.

The Queensland figures may not be directly applicable to Victoria as other research has found that driver behaviour is different (better) in places where there are larger numbers of cyclists on the road.

When cyclists were at fault in bike-motor vehicle crashes, the contributing factors were more often rider conditions (inattention/negligence or inexperience/lack of expertise) than traffic violations (28%).

As well as being less common, the nature of the traffic violations by riders differed from those of drivers. Disobeying a traffic light was the most common for cyclists.

The researchers were unable to draw reliable conclusions from the data relating to single bike crashes. Most of these were caused by riders taking evasive action to avoid another road user, or from lack of attention to road conditions.

One pattern to emerge in research was the timing of accidents with most occurring between 6am and 7am when recreational users headed out; or from 4.30pm to 5.30pm when commuter cyclists returned home from work.

Riders under 21 years or older than 80 had contributed to a significant number of accidents by taking risks or not following traffic rules.

This research indicated the diverse ages of people cycling in Queensland where the majority of cyclists involved in crashes have reached an age where they can hold a drivers licence. However a substantial portion are younger than 16 (29.9%), with 10.5% aged 11 or younger.

The researchers said a major limitation of this study was the low reporting of bicycle crashes with almost 90% of bicycle crashes go un-reported.

The researchers were critical of the Queensland Road Safety Strategy, which they said were designed to benefit vehicle occupants rather than cyclists and vulnerable road users in general.

"This research demonstrates that to improve the safety of cyclists, several strategies could be beneficial," they said.

"Younger bicycle riders could benefit from improved education regarding the road rules, and possibly improving skills when riding with traffic.

"A greater understanding of the impact of poor road surfaces on cycling safety may also reduce the risk of injury to cyclists.

"Rigorous enforcement of minor traffic offences for all road users, such as observing stop and give way signs, may result in greater improvements in cyclist safety in on-road situations. General education campaigns for all motorists emphasising the importance of focusing on the road, and of obscure traffic regulations (the requirement to open a car door safely) could also improve the safety of cyclists, and other road users."

The report is available here

Crash statistics

One of the best and most easily accessible sources of information is the VicRoads database of all road crashes in Victoria that have been reported by police. It is called Crash Stats.

It records such details about the crashes as where, when, types of vehicles involved, crash description and more.

You can search Crash Stats to answer all sorts of questions about cycling safety. You can also produce crash maps. The picture shows a crash map of the City of Stonnington. Chapel St has the highest number of bike crashes of any road in Victoria.

Questions include:

• Where do the most cycle crashes occur in my municipality?
• What sort of cycle crashes are the most frequent in my area? 
• Are school children or adults more often in cycle-car crashes?
• Where should we build a new bike lane to have the most impact on reducing bike crashes?

For instance, on St Kilda Rd we have been counting cyclists numbers at Southbank Boulevard for six years.

We can compare these numbers against the number of crashes on St Kilda Rd between St Kilda Junction and Southbank Blvd to show that the bike lanes have encouraged more cycling while crash numbers have remained relatively static.

In general the most crashes tend to be where the most cycling is, as there can't be a cycle crash without a cyclis.

It is important to note that the VicRoads Crash Stats only records on-road crashes reported to police. That means that police attended the crash or it was reported to them later.

It is generally accepted that lesser injuries (non-hospitalisations) are vastly under-reported in crash statistics, and that only about 20% are actually reported to police.

Also, Crash Stats only reports on-road crashes and does not usually include injuries and deaths that occur outside a road reserve, eg on a railway reserve, off-road path or stunt park.

In fact most bike crashes occur off-road and the only way to track them is through coronial information and hospital admissions data.

The Monash Accident Research Centre tracks this data and we have reported on it in our 1996 and 1998 review of bicycle crashes.

Bicycle Network Victoria also takes crash reports from our members as part of insurance claims, but this information has not been properly analysed or tracked year to year.

That said, Crash Stats is a consistent source of information for crashes and is generally comparable year to year. It also shows only the tip of the iceberg, but is a good reflection of what is under the water (or goes unreported in our analogy).

Bicycle Network Victoria seeks the coroner's report on all cycle deaths in Victoria and writes to the coroner on any cycle deaths we see in the papers or that come to our knowledge.

VicRoads also has other bicycle safety information and the Traffic Accident Commission and police also report on road deaths.