CYCLING ROAD SAFETY
Cycling Road Safety is SO important
At X-Speed Australia we take Cycling Road Safety very seriously. Is there a correlation between motor vehicle and bicycle accidents and good road safety practices in general?
Are our issues social, geographical, or related to modern day technology?
I don’t have all the answers but what I do know as a junior cycling coach is this: road cycling can be a tough sport to sell to parents.
When I was a kid all my classmates had a bike and we rode it everywhere. To school, down the shops, to each others houses, to the local creek. It was our freedom. We rode for hours, we rode in the dark without lights and we all arrived home in one piece for dinner.
Now, I have a group of kids on the road with lights, fly 6’s, fluorescent clothing, mobile phones, chaperones, support vehicles and pre ride safety briefings about weather conditions, likely vehicle behaviour in the area and road riding protocol. If I owned a helicopter, I’d probably use that to circle overhead as well.
There is no question that many factors influence todays bicycle/motor vehicle accident issue and there are many positive steps we can take to ensure we are contributing to safer road sharing.
I lived in Holland for a while and the Dutch have an amazing cycling infrastructure. Here is a link to an interesting report “The Dutch road to a high level of cycling safety” Proceedings International Cycling Safety Conference 2014.
The take home for us as a junior cycling club is this; let’s teach our children skills, respect and tolerance to prepare them as responsible road users and influencers of the future both on the bike and behind the wheel.
Other useful road safety links:
