ACCIDENTS
Accidents 2005
Accidents 2003
Crime 2003
Accidents 2002
Crime 2002
Accidents and Crime 2001
Accidents 2000
Accidents 1995 - 1999
Road and Path Reports
Research and Statistics
Australian Statistics - Easter 2002PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS
Do motorists realise that their drivers licence is not a licence to kill and injure vulnerable road users. A licence is a privelege not a right. All citizens of Australia and our visitors have a right to travel on our roads by motor vehicle, bicycle and walking and are required to obey the law. The roads are not owned by motorists or governments. Roads are public property and are owned by every citizen of Australia. Everyone has by law, freedom of movement to make their way from place to place on public space.
Too often, cyclists are not protected and defended by the law. It is too easy not to charge a motorist because the law is interpreted in the motorists favour and the conditions of the road are not taken into consideration,ie poor visibility at roundabouts. Are our laws too lenient with penalties that do not fit the crime? Are our dangerous drivers allowed back on the road? We take away the licences of elderly drivers but allow our youth to kill themselves and other motorists at an alarming rate. Good, obedient cyclists, who are injured and suffering trauma and anxiety are not getting the justice they need.
Bicycles and walking provide transport for billions of people all over the world. Bicycles and walking do not pollute the world. Riding a bike and walking is healthy. Bicycles are the most economic form of transport ever invented by man.
Funds spent on providing facilities for cycling and walking, on roads and off roads, do not always reflect the importance shown for non-motorised transport. The funds spent on cycling and walking facilities is miniscule compared with the $billions that is spent on motor traffic.
On-going driver education and testing is non-existent. When the Australian road rules were made law, people got a pamphlet in the mail. Why then don't motorists get a pamphlet in the mail every time a law in the Traffic Act is changed.
Engineering, Education, Enforcement, all work together to Encourage good road behaviour by all road users.
Governments spend more and more funds on roads for more and more motor vehicles, police are stretched to the limit in enforcing road rules and road safety education of children relies on volunteers and the schools. When are we going to get paid, trained and experienced "bike ed" instructors? Our cyclists of today are our motorists of tomorrow.
Cairns Post 18 November 2002: Police are checking vehicles for tyre conditions. This is also good for cyclists because worn down steel belt radials leave small thin bits of wire that penetrate bicycle tyres. Sweeping the roads does not help because a metal magnetic device is needed to pick these bits up. Also police are checking for overhangs - goods extending behind a utility or boot of a car.
Home