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Getting Serious About On-Road Bicycle Use & Safety

by A/Prof George RechnitzerMonday 25 November 2019

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Note

This presentation is the professional

opinion of Dr George Rechnitzer

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Short Bio - A/Prof George Rechnitzer

• Professional Engineer for almost 50 years.

• Civil / Structural design engineer 1971-1989, major projects.

• Forensic & Safety Engineering for 30 years (1989 - present).

• Expert reports and expert evidence for hundreds of cases over 30 years.

• Major safety projects in transport and workplace safety.

George Rechnitzer & Associates Pty LtdTARS Research Centre, UNSW | VIFM, Monash University

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• Cycling is being heavily promoted, but -

• Serious injuries to cyclists are increasing –How can we ensure their safety? (Beck et al, 2017)

• Our road safety strategies are underpinned bySafe System Approach / Vision Zero

• Current measures don’t follow this.

Why a change is needed

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Why a change is neededHow? Getting serious about on-road

bicycle use and safety, will need:

1) Formalised training

2) Licensing

3) Registration

4) Insurance

Just as other mobile road users require!

Why exclude cyclists?

The Safe System needs Safe Drivers

It also needs Safe Cyclists!

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Shock! Horror! Extremist!

• Won’t work! Its not needed! People know how to ride!

• Too expensive to run

• Will discourage cycling

• NANNY STATE!

• Some have tried it and dropped it (eg licensing).

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Some fair points, but…

• We can’t promote cycling without addressing the increasing injury risks.

• Can you imagine drivers not trained, licencedand registered and uninsured? What a mess!

• Shouldn’t cyclists also have a minimum standard of capability and responsibility?

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Severe Injury Risk Issues

•Cyclists can collide with:

• motor vehicles

• other cyclists

• pedestrians -

• who are then injured by cyclists!

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The Safe System Approach to Road Safety

The Safe System Approach

(Towards Zero / Vision Zero) is the

accepted foundational principles

for the Australian national and

state road safety strategies.

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Key Findings (from the Review June 2019)

Strong commitment across all levels of government to reduce road trauma.

Current National Road Safety Strategy 2011–2020 (the NRSS) and Australia’s National Road Safety Action Plan 2018–2020 (NRSAP) are firmly based on Safe System principles and framed by guiding vision that no person should be killed or seriously injured on Australia’s roads.

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Safe System Diagram

Note: Safe system diagram adapted from Safer Roads, Safer Queensland: Queensland's Road

Safety Strategy 2015–21

From NRSS 2011–2020 The Safe System

approach, website:https://www.roadsafety.

gov.au/nrss/safe-system.aspx

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2017 Study: Bicyclist’s injuries (Beck et al)

“Road safety: serious injuries remain a

major unsolved problem”

Reviewed road traffic-related deaths

(pre- and in-hospital) and major trauma cases in

Victoria 2007-2015 – over 9 yearsBen Beck, Peter A Cameron, Mark C Fitzgerald, Rodney T Judson, Warwick Teague, Ronan A Lyons, Belinda J Gabbe.

Med J Aust 2017; 207 (6): 244-249. || doi: 10.5694/ mja17.00015 Published online: 11 September 2017.

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Pedal cyclists injuries increasing (Beck et al)

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Conclusions:

As serious injury rates have not declined, current

road safety targets will be difficult to meet.

Greater attention to preventing serious injury is

needed, as is further investment in road safety,

particularly for pedal cyclists.

Pedal cyclists injuries increasing (Beck et al)

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Beck et al - bicyclists DALYs increasing

Total disability-adjusted life-years

(DALYs) linked with road traffic-related

injuries - for motorcyclists,

pedal cyclists and pedestrians.

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“Pedal cyclist deaths and hospitalisations 1999–00 to 2015–1”

R Kreisfeld & JE Harrison 2019 Injury research and statistics series no. 123.

Cat. no. INJCAT 203. Canberra: AIHW.

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“Pedal cyclist deaths and hospitalisations”

1999–00 to 2015–16:

• 651 cyclists died - average 38 deaths / year

• Nearly 160,000 cyclists hospitalised,

average > 9,000 /year

• Across all ages, hospitalisation rate rose by

average 1.5% / year

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“Pedal cyclist deaths and hospitalisations”

2015–16:

• About 12,000 cyclists hospitalised

from crash injuries = 1 in 5 of 60,000 people

hospitalised land transport crash injuries

• Nearly 6 in 10 hospitalised cyclists were injured

in an on-road crash (6,900 or 58%), (rest injured off-road)

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Pedestrian-Cyclist Collisions: Issues and Risk

Paper presented at the

Australasian College of

Road Safety National

Conference – Melbourne

1-2 September, 2011

Grzebieta R.H, McIntosh

A.M and Chong S.

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• Overview of issues of shared

cycling-pedestrian pathways

• Results of studies quantifying

deaths in Australia and injuries

in NSW from cyclist-pedestrian

conflicts.

Pedestrian-Cyclist Collisions: Issues and Risk

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• Only 4 fatalities identified (NCIS) specifically from

a cyclist/pedestrian collision for 2001 to 2006.

• Pedestrian died from the impact in all 4.

• No cyclist fatality has been recorded from

crashing into a pedestrian.

Pedestrian-Cyclist Collisions: Issues and Risk

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Pedestrian-Cyclist Collisions: Conclusions

• Risk of pedestrian fatality from cyclist collision very

rare for whole of Australia (2001 to 2005 data).

• NSW: approx 33 people admitted to hospital / year

• Australia wide: Hospitalisation injuries likely > 100

people / year. (Non-serious to serious injuries)

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The Safe System ApproachNational Road Safety Strategy 2011–2020

(Australian Transport Council 20 May 2011)

Guiding Principles (p34):

1. People make mistakes – and always will - transport system must accommodate them and errors should not result in death or serious injury.

2. Human physical frailty - Recognise the known physical limits to amount of force our bodies can take before we are injured.

3. A ‘forgiving’ road transport system - A Safe System ensures that collision forces do not exceed the limits of human tolerance i.e: System designers focus on maintaining roads, vehicles and speeds to not exceed our limits.

4. Shared responsibility - Responsibility for road safety is shared by all.

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The Safe System Approach - NRSS 2011–2020 (p41)

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The Safe System Approach - NRSS 2011–2020

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What do cyclists need under the Safe System: Safe Road Users?

Safe Road Users > Resulting Requirement

1. Well-informed, educated, know the road rules

Rider training, testing & licencing

2. Enforcement and sanctionsRegistration -for identification and licencing

3. Shared responsibility - costs: Post-crash care and funding improvements to road system

Insurance(bicycle rider and third party)

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Conclusions: Safe Drivers. Safe Cyclists.

• The Safe System requires Safe Drivers -so we also clearly need “Safe Cyclists”

• Why exempt cyclists from their safety responsibility when using the transport system? It’s illogical and negligent!

• Vision Zero: arguments for increased cycling (on-road) should not trade personal serious injury against claimed overall improved “societal health”. This is immoral!

• This initiative supports the Vision Zero philosophy.

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Recommendations

Promote injury prevention (with cycling)!We must thoughtfully devise and implement effective measures

that are serious about on-road bicycle use and safety:

1) Formalised training 2) Licensing

3) Registration 4) Insurance

Just like other mobile road users. Why exclude cyclists?

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Questions?

Forensic and Safety Engineering PO BOX 2120, Blackburn South, Victoria, 3130

Mobile: 0418 884 174Email: george@georgerechnitzer.com.au

Website: http://www.georgerechnitzer.com.au