Tanya Roneberg, killed on the Cook Hwy just north of Cairns, 11/05/13, 12 months ago today. Hit from behind while cycling on a straight flat stretch of highway, early in the morning.

More than a thousand cyclists rode in memory of Tanya today.

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We need real action to improve cyclist safety on our roads.

The 1 and 1.5 metres mandatory gaps don’t cut it at all.

The vast majority of cyclists get killed by being hit from behind, by drivers who just don’t see them.

One thing that would really help cyclists, and improve road safety in general, would be for the government to instruct our police to deal with tailgaters, and to get this particular element of bad driving behaviour practically eliminated.

This could be done easily. I am completely at a loss to understand why the police don’t deal with it, or why they and politicians and their expert advisors, don’t see the significance in doing this.

Tailgaters or drivers who follow too closely just can’t see from the driver’s position on the right side of the car, out to the left where cyclists ride.

Tailgating is deadly for cyclists!

A driver’s vision across to the left edge of the road where cyclists ride, is compromised even if they are hanging well back from the vehicle in front. But at least if they hang back, and uphold the recommended minimum 2 second gap between vehicles, they will have a reasonable chance of swerving away from the edge of the road if they encounter a cyclist.

I call on the Qld Govt (actually, it should be national campaign) to attack tailgating with a vengeance forthwith!

Luddy,

Perhaps, when in a line of traffic (or even just following one vehicle), there is a natural tendency to keep to the left-hand edge of the road - right where a cyclist may be travelling, or stopped.

So, it would be in the interest of the safety of cyclists (and pedestrians) if all vehicles kept more towards the centre-line whenever their forward vision is obscured.
A 2-second 'gap' is hardly enough to react appropriately.

And a half-second of inattention can ruin a whole lot of lives.

Everyone really needs to exercise more care, be more aware of possibilities, and be more courteous generally, if there is to be any hope of reducing the road toll.

I think it may be an attitude thing, where too many get their 'jollies' when behind the wheel, forgetting that they are in charge of a dangerous 'missile' - which is just as capable of killing them as it is of killing others.

Also, we have to pull over to use or answer a mobile phone, but I feel the same should apply to these inbuilt hands-free devices the manufacturers are so proud of advertising to attract customers.
One law, one attitude, one onus of responsibility.

And, better driver-education would be a very good thing - including the staging of multi-vehicle situations replicating common accident conditions - for better awareness and attitude development - particularly for high school students eager to attain the new-found 'freedom' of a licence.
Trainee pilots have to negotiate a veritable 'maze' of practical and theoretical 'hoops', why not trainee drivers?

A half-second is all it takes. What a pity so many don't realise.

Saltpetre where I live most of the good roads are not wide enough for small trucks or utes to pass by an oncoming ute, without at least one putting wheels off into the dirt. I have lost a rear view mirror to a city lady in a medium 4WD wagon, who could not bring herself to get as close as necessary to the edge of the narrow strip of bitumen. She was utterly horrified by my suggestion that she should have put 2 wheels off into the dirt as I had.

On many however 2 cars have both to put 2 wheels well off into the dirt to get by an oncoming small car, let alone a large one.

Very few of the locals are silly enough to ride bikes on these roads, & none let their kids out on them on bikes. Fortunately we are a bit far from the city to get too many dills in lycra.

However I think it is entirely unreasonable for bike riders to expect to tie up our transportation corridors with their weekend recreation activities.

Say hullo to Queensland,
Pushbike riders should(and will soon be in QLD) registered and insured just the same as cars and trucks.
They should(and soon will) display registration that identifies them for safety and prosecution purposes.
Children under twelve must not ride on public roads.
Bike riders should (and soon will in QLD) wear high visibility jackets.
A green line will be painted down the center or to the left on pushbike lanes and riders will be required to ride on that line thus assisting to maintain the required distance between rider and vehicle,
Failure to follow this rule will result in hefty fines and/or imprisonment with bike confiscation and crushing.
All bikes will undergo a six monthly (at the riders expense) safety check and there will be random compliance checks by police on the roads.
Failure to wear helmets and/or safety clothing will be a serious road transport offense with prison as a sentencing option.

<< …when in a line of traffic (or even just following one vehicle), there is a natural tendency to keep to the left-hand edge of the road - right where a cyclist may be travelling… >>

YES indeed Salty!

<< So, it would be in the interest of the safety of cyclists (and pedestrians) if all vehicles kept more towards the centre-line whenever their forward vision is obscured. >>

Definitely. However I would prefer to travel more to the edge of the road in order to make sure that there is a safe gap between me and vehicles coming the other way.

If we implored people to drive closer to the centre line, we’d have vehicles travelling in both directions close to the centre line and thus passing very close, at twice the speed limit.

Most roads are just not wide enough for even cars, let alone trucks and busses, to travel outside of the cyclist zone without being very close to if on or over the centre line.

So unfortunately I don’t think we can really ask drivers to drive more towards the centre of the road, outside of the cyclist zone.

<< A 2-second 'gap' is hardly enough to react appropriately. >>

Agreed. We really should be requiring a minimum four second gap, I reckon. That would be about 12 car-lengths at 60kmh, 16 at 80 and 20 at 100.

But I can't imagine it would work given that the most drivers, even complete non-tailgaters or follow-too-closers, don’t hang back anywhere near as far as the 2 second gap.

continued

<< Everyone really needs to exercise more care, be more aware of possibilities, and be more courteous generally, if there is to be any hope of reducing the road toll. >>

Absolutely! But that isn’t going to happen without both a comprehensive driver education and awareness program, and a vastly improved policing regime.

As part of the discussion leading up to the new bicycle safety gap laws in Qld, there was talk about cyclists having video cameras attached to their bikes or helmets to record their rides and any accidents or near-misses. This hard evidence would then be taken to the police.

The police seem to be ok with this. So… what we need is a campaign encouraging drivers to install cameras, facing at least front and back, if not on both sides as well, to record tailgaters and anything else untoward.

This would empower the public to assist in the road-safety effort. And I reckon it would only take a small portion drivers to do this to make all the difference in the world regarding bad driving practices.

It would lead to an increased workload for the police initially. But once it is bedded in, very few people are going to drive in a manner that could get them videoed and reported to the cops. And the overall police workload regarding road safety would decrease considerably, below the level that it is now at.

It is such a simple solution to greatly improving driver behaviour and road safety, for cyclists and all road-users.