A thought provoking article by Jan Garrard investigating why ordinary people don’t use bikes for transport in Australia. The article focuses on women, but I think the themes apply to all sorts of more vulnerable road users: women, children and older people.
It’s the feeling of safety that really makes the biggest impact on whether these people cycle:
Traffic safety, in particular, is a key factor for addressing gender equity in cycling. Concerns about safety are a major barrier to cycling in Australia, and a greater barrier for women than men.
While actual injury risk is important from a road safety perspective, subjective risk perceptions appear to be more important in shaping cycling behaviour, particularly for women.
In urban areas for quick trips, we in Australia need to think of bicycles as a serious and equal road user.
Countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Japan take a different approach. If you’re making a short to medium trip in an urban area, they encourage you to ride a bike.
These countries have consistently implemented a range of transport, traffic safety and urban planning measures that systematically prioritise cycling over car travel for these trips.
Measures include establishing an extensive network of high quality bicycle routes that provide:
good separation from motor vehicle traffic where appropriate
good management of interactions between bicycles and cars where complete separation is not feasible.
