Tag Archives: road safety

Why schools struggle to improve safety

Children do not walk to school because cars make it unsafe to do so. To improve road safety for children around schools, we require traffic calming measures, on all sides, and the implementation of safe zones, where children can move without crossing roads and getting close to motor vehicles. Any approach will require some government expenditure and urban renewal. TCCS have named the process Local Area Traffic Management (LATM). The Lyneham Primary School Petition is a typical attempt to improve safety around the school. At the moment, the chances of any improvement, however, are low. 😦

SUVs and trucks cause more deaths

The vast majority think of themselves as better than average drivers. We judge ourselves by our intent and not the outcome. Others judge us by the outcome but rarely by our intent. We are very good at rationalising our irrational behaviour, particularly to protect our ego. The sales boom of SUVs and trucks (utes) is ongoing – even during a climate change emergency. SUVs and trucks are more likely to cause the deaths of pedestrians and cyclists – an inconvenient truth that many refuse to accept.

School in the Netherlands: traffic exam for children

Why wait until the driver’s licence? We can teach children safe cycling in school. In the Netherlands, the school children take a traffic exam on their bikes when they are just 11 years old. With a rite of passage on bicycles, are we surprised that the Netherlands is a cycling nation. The nature of a rite of passage is something to celebrate!

Submission contents

Canberra.bikes` submission for the Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services. Making Canberra a city where we can cycle safely and easily, at any time, from 8-80 years. Here is the table of contents with links to the text.

Barriers to active travel: perceptions of a safety

Active travel faces many barriers. One is our perceptions of a safety, or fear. As a society, we seem to be getting more fearful. Our perceptions of safety are important. Psychology and neuroscience has come a long way to explaining our nature. The availability cascade is a contributing factor in our perception of risk.

Vulnerable road users: Hansard 22 June 2021

Jo Clay MLA introduced an amendment to the Transport Act to encourage motorists to show more concern for vulnerable road users. The effect of the bill would be to increase the fine, but her speech was of a more general nature and sheds light on her thinking.

Vehicle occupant and cars safer: pedestrians left behind

In a society that gives priority to keeping the traffic moving at speed (time is money), little consideration is often given to the vulnerability of pedestrians and cyclists. Road safety is still mostly about the safety of vehicle occupants. Yet it is the vulnerable road users and not the vehicle occupants that mostly get hurt in a collision.

Safe Speed: promoting safe walking and cycling by reducing traffic speed

Safer walking and cycling is most easily achieved by reducing traffic speed. We have known this for over a decade but do too little to curb road speeds. A remarkable report summarises the Australian cycling problem as we find it today: Dr Jan Garrard, Safe Speed: promoting safe walking and cycling by reducing traffic speed, Heart Foundation, City of Port Phillip and City of Yarra, Victoria, November 2008.