Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
SAFETY
North East
june 2012
Prepared by | Nolan Media and Events
Table of Contents
page number
eXeCuTIVe SummarY ................................................................................... 3-4 SURVEY METHOD ........................................................................................ 4 DemOgrapHIC maKe-up ................................................................................. 5 AGE RANGE ................................................................................................. 5 genDer OF CYCLISTS ....................................................................................... 5 ORIGIN OF CYCLISTS ................................................................................... 5 CYCLIST SKILL LeVeL........................................................................................ 6 POPULARITY OF DIFFERENT CYCLING PASTIMES ....................................... 6 prOpOrTIOn OF CYCLIng TIme SpenT On DIFFerenT paSTImeS ............ 6 RECREATIONAL CYCLING ............................................................................ 6 CYCLIng FOr COmmuTIng purpOSeS .......................................................... 7 CYCLING FOR TOURISM ............................................................................... 7 prOpOrTIOn OF CYCLIng TIme SpenT On COmpeTITIOn .......................... 7 CYCLISTS PREFERRED ROAD TYPES .......................................................... 7 FaVOurITe nOrTH eaST VICTOrIa CYCLIng area ....................................... 8 CYCLING ALONE OR IN GROUPS .................................................................. 8 TYpe OF CYCLIng grOup ................................................................................. 9 SIZE OF CYCLING GROUPS .......................................................................... 9 DISTanCeS CYCLeD In grOupS ...................................................................... 9 CYCLING ACCIDENTS ................................................................................. 10 CauSe FOr aCCIDenTS nOmInaTeD bY CYCLISTS ..................................... 10 CAUSES OF NEAR MISSES ........................................................................ 10 CYCLISTS eXperIenCe OF DrIVer aggreSSIOn ....................................... 11 TYPE OF DRIVER AGGRESSION ................................................................. 11 CauSe FOr DrIVer aggreSSIOn ................................................................. 11 REPORTING OF DRIVER AGGRESSION ...................................................... 12 mObILe pHOne uSe WHILe CYCLIng ........................................................... 12 USE OF HEADPHONES WHILE CYCLING .................................................... 12 CYCLISTS SuggeSTIOnS FOr ImprOVIng CYCLIST SaFeTY In nOrTH eaST VICTOrIa ............................................................................... 13 CYCLISTS PREFERRED FORM OF COMMUNICATION ................................. 13
executive summary
RoadSafe north east has commissioned a survey to identify perceived risks as nominated by cyclists in the north east Victoria region, along with cycling habits, experiences and suggestions for improving cycling safety in the region. however, with 43 cyclists indicating they ride in groups of 51 or more cyclists and another 51 who cycle in groups of between 35-50. So while cycling in small groups is more common, the survey responses indicate there are still cycling groups of large numbers on the north east Over a six week period from april to June 2012, 500 survey Victoria roads. more than half the cyclists forms were distributed at known cyclist locations, such surveyed had had a cycling accident in the north east as cycling stores and cafes Victoria region. Of those on cyclist routes. Surveys who had had a cycling were also made available accident in the region, the online, inviting cyclists to most frequently occurring participate. shire was the rural City of There were 302 completed Wangaratta (48, or 16 per survey forms returned by cent of the survey group). cyclists. about half were This could be reflective of the completed by men and half origin of survey participants, by women, with most of as almost one third were the cyclists indicating they from Wangaratta. The next were of intermediate or most frequently occurring experienced skill levels and shire for cycling accidents most being from the north was the alpine Shire (33, or east Victoria region. almost 11 per cent), followed by the half the survey participants Shire of benalla (33, or 11 per were aged 41-60 years. cent). albury/Wodonga had 20 responses indicated that the accidents reported, the Shire of most popular form of cycling Indigo had 12, moira Shire had in the region is recreational 12 and Towong Shire had 10. cycling, with the next most The most frequent causes of popular reason being commuting, but this was well these accidents nominated by the cyclists were road behind recreational riding, both in the number of cyclists conditions and drivers not looking. This was followed engaging in it and the time by cars overtaking too spent engaging in it. close to riders. after this, There was a fairly even split cyclists nominated their of cyclists cycling in groups own behavior as the cause, and alone. When cycling in including distractions/lack groups, the most frequent of cyclist concentration, form of group was a casual poor cyclist visibility, cycling cycling bunch and the most more than two abreast and frequent group size was excessive cyclist speed on less than five cyclists. Large downhills. For every accident cycling groups still do occur attributed to driver error, cyclists perceived they had experienced many more near misses due to the same types of driver error. Just over half the cyclists surveyed said they had experienced driver aggression. The majority of these did not report it to the police. The most common forms of driver aggression were verbal aggression and obscene gestures, with a minority of cases (eight per cent) involving physical contact and one per cent resulting in injuries to the cyclist. Cyclists believed the main cause of the driver aggression they had experienced was road sharing issues, combined with intolerant and ignorant attitudes from drivers. Cyclists rarely perceived their own behavior on the roads as being the reason for driver aggression. Cyclists were also asked about their attitude to using mobile phones and headphones while cycling. more than three quarters said they do not use a mobile phone while cycling, with a similar number saying they did not think it was safe to do so. The vast majority (80 per cent) also said they did not use headphones while cycling and 73 per cent said they did not think it was safe to do so. Cyclists were asked for suggestions to improve cyclist safety in the north east Victoria region. many of their answers focused around the need to improve road sharing issues.
education was a frequently suggested strategy and this included general education, as well as education for drivers and cyclists specifically. many people commented that this education should be focused around the need to share the road. Some suggested education should begin at schools. The call for education was accompanied by a call for strong media campaigns, across television, radio and newspapers. people commented that this campaign needed to focus on making drivers aware that cyclists are on the roads, that they are entitled to ride two abreast and that drivers need to look out for them. Several people commented on the need for an a metre matters campaign, to ensure drivers give cyclists adequate space on the roads. Several people commented that the campaigns should feature
local people, to bring home the safety message at a local level. One person commented that the campaigns should let (the) driver know it could be someone they know on that bike. another said media campaigns should use local cyclists with whom drivers can relate to e.g.: local professional / people who are well known in the community. after education and media campaigns, the most commonly suggested practical strategy for improving cyclist safety in the north east Victoria region was to improve roads to make more room for cyclists to share the roads. many people commented on the need to seal shoulders and create bike lanes, as well as widening roads to make more room for cyclists. There were also many suggestions for creating more bike paths to separate drivers and cyclists.
Signage was also a commonly suggested strategy. again, this was often commented on in relation to the need for all drivers to be aware they need to share the road with cyclists. Cyclists also suggested reminding cyclists to wear bright, high visibility clothing, to be aware on the roads and ride defensively and safely to increase their own safety on the roads. as well as the many calls for driver education, some cyclists suggested that drivers need to improve their attitude towards and tolerance of cyclists on the roads. There were also some suggestions for more police presence and enforcement of road rules, increasing cyclist numbers to increase safety and changing laws to improve cyclist safety.
Survey method
Cyclist Safety in Victorias North East | June 2012
The survey was conducted by nolan Media and events, a private company based in Wangaratta, in Victorias north-east region, for RoadSafe north east. Survey forms were designed by nolan Media and events in consultation with RoadSafe north east. Over a six week period between 16 January 2012 and 24 February 2012 nolan media and events distributed 600 survey forms to known cyclist locations, with 302 being completed and returned by cyclists for analysis. The survey forms comprised of 16 questions regarding cyclists demographic makeup, level of cycling experience, cycling habits and pastimes, group and solo cycling habits, accident history, causes of accidents, experiences of driver aggression and attitudes towards using headphones and mobile phones while cycling. Cyclists were also asked to suggest ways to make cycling safer in the north east Victoria region. please see attachment One of this report for a copy of the survey form. The results of the survey are presented in this report.
gender of cyclists
The gender split of the 302 riders who completed the survey was roughly even, with 154 (51 per cent) being male and 148 (49 per cent) female.
origin of cyclists
The 302 cyclists surveyed were from across Victoria, southern nSW and South australia. The majority (280, or 93 per cent) were from regional Victoria, as shown in Figure 2. Of the 280 regional Victorian cyclists, the vast majority (270, or 96 per cent) were from north east Victoria. The remainder were from a range of areas across the state, as shown in Figure 3. The origin of all surveyed cyclists by town is shown in Figure 4. The most common town of origin was Wangaratta (95), followed by Yarrawonga/bundalong (64). There were 28 riders from bobinawarrah and 23 from barooga. The remainder of locations represented in the survey scattered throughout regional Victoria, melbourne, southern nSW and South australia had less than 10 riders each.
oRigin of CyCliSTS
nSW (8) Sa (1) melbourne (6) regional Victoria (280) not Specified (6)
SW Vic (2) Central Vic (3) nW Vic (4) ne Vic (270) east Vic (1)
FIGURE 6: numberS WHO CYCLe FOr reCreaTIOn, COmmuTIng, COmpeTITIOn anD TOurISm rIDIng purpOSeS
It can be seen in Figure 8 that in terms of the activity in which cyclists spend more than 80 per cent of their cycling time, 96 cyclists said they spend more than 80 per cent of their cycling time on recreation. This by far exceeded the next most popular purpose at this proportion of time spent, which was commuting (27 cyclists, or 18 per cent), followed by competition (20 cyclists, or 13 per cent) and tourism (11 cyclists, or 18 per cent). a similar pattern was followed in responses to the purpose for cycling 61-80 per cent of the time and 41-60 per cent of the time. The results shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7 indicate that in the north east Victoria region, more cyclists ride for recreation than for any other purpose and that more cyclists spend more of their cycling time on recreation than any other purpose. The following graphs individually detail how cyclists spend their cycling time across each of the four nominated categories.
Recreational cycling
It can be seen below in Figure 8, that of the 216 people who cycle for recreation, most spend the majority of their cycling time doing so.
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FIGURE 7: HOW SurVeYeD CYCLISTS SpLIT THeIr CYCLIng TIme (n=534) FIGURE 8: prOpOrTIOn OF TIme SpenT rIDIng FOr reCreaTIOn (n=216)
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FIGURE 12: CYCLISTS' preFerreD rOaD TYpeS (n=570)
FIGURE 14: number anD perCenTage OF TIme SpenT CYCLIng In grOupS anD aLOne
Cycling accidents
The surveyed cyclists were asked if they had ever had a cycling accident in the north east or high country Victoria regions and if so, which shire it was in. all survey participants answered this question. more than half (169, or 56 per cent of the survey group) had had a cycling accident in the north east Victoria region. There were 133 cyclists (44 per cent of survey group) who had not had a cycling accident Of those who had had a cycling accident in the north east or high country Victoria region, the most frequently occurring shire was the rural City of Wangaratta (48, or 16 per cent of the survey group). This could be reflective of the origin of survey participants, as 95 of the total cyclists surveyed (31 per cent) were from Wangaratta. The next most frequently occurring shire for cycling accidents was the alpine Shire (33, or 11 per cent), followed by benalla (33, or 11 per cent). albury/Wodonga had 20 accidents reported, the Shire of Indigo had 12, moira Shire had 12 and Towong Shire 10. The responses to this question are shown in Figure 20.
No
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10
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FIGURE 23: number OF CYCLISTS WHO HaD eXperIenCeD DrIVer aggreSSIOn TOWarDS THem (n=302)
FIGURE 25: CauSeS FOr DrIVer aggreSSIOn InCIDenTS aS nOmInaTeD bY CYCLISTS (n=82)
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YES (53)
NO (175)
12
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s s rs ns es re op pe tio sit hu ta Sh pa eb s n g oc e W in ew Br es cl ln Pr Cy ca Lo
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SAfeTy
North East
june 2012