Resources

The aim of the study was to identify the issues in Baw Baw Shire in Gippsland, Victoria, related to the safety of on-road cyclists. Safety concerns specific to the Baw Baw Shire are identified and potential countermeasures that may improve cyclist safety are discussed.

The primary aim of this research was to investigate the behaviours of cyclists and their interactions with vehicles at signalised intersections.The results focus on the three types of behaviour at red lights. Males were more likely to continue through the red light than females and the majority of males who rode through red lights were runners. The findings are important as they differentiate between the types of red light running behaviour and highlight factors influencing cyclists risk exposure.

This report is a review of the literature on cyclists who ride in large groups or bunches on public roads. The research was conducted following the Victorian State Coroner’s investigation into the death of an elderly pedestrian, following a collision with a cyclist who was riding in a bunch. The aims of the review were to understand the behaviour of bunch riders, particularly the behaviours that may contribute to increased risk of collision and to make recommendations for effective enforcement and countermeasure strategies for this road user group.

This study identified risk factors for collisions/near-collisions involving on-road commuter cyclists and drivers. A naturalistic cycling study was conducted in Melbourne, Australia, with cyclists wearing helmet-mounted video cameras. Video recordings captured cyclists’ perspective of the road and traffic behaviours including head checks, reactions and manoeuvres.

This study evaluated cyclist and driver compliance at cycling infrastructure at signalised intersections to determine the effectiveness of the infrastructure in creating a designated space for cyclists. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted during peak travel times at six sites in Melbourne in March 2009.

The aim of this research was to investigate the behaviour of on-road commuter cyclists and their interactions with other road users in urban areas using a helmet-mounted video camera. Cycling is increasing in popularity popular in Australia; however, cyclists are physically vulnerable road users. To date, there has been little research on behavioural risk factors associated with collisions between cyclists and drivers, and much has relied on post-event data. Absent from this approach is an understanding of what contributed to collisions and near-collisions, in particular the behaviour of cyclists and drivers.

The use of bicycle helmets by cyclists is widely supported amongst the injury prevention and health promotion communities.
There is extensive research that addresses the efficacy of helmets in reducing the severity of head injuries and several researchers who dispute the need or efficacy of helmets.

Cyclists are vulnerable road users and the most severe injury outcomes for on-road cyclists are from collisions involving a motor vehicle. Research undertaken in this thesis aimed to identify contributing factors in unsafe cyclist-driver events to inform efforts to reduce the incidence of cyclist-driver crashes and cyclist injury severity outcomes.

This study determined the rate and associated factors of red light infringement among urban commuter cyclists. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a covert video camera to record cyclists at 10 sites across metropolitan Melbourne, Australia from October 2008 to April 2009.

Given the lack of participation data and the underreporting of cyclist injury crashes, it is difficult to determine the magnitude of cyclist road trauma with any precision. This lack of data highlights the neglect in Australia of cyclist-focused monitoring that is essential to understanding injury rates and factors that contribute to cyclist crashes. The Amy Gillett Foundation (AGF) has developed a systematic policy development approach that identifies two issues: safe overtaking distances and cyclist-open vehicle door crashes, explored in this paper.

Current primary data sources on mechanisms of Victorian bicycle crashes lack sufficient detail to draw clear conclusions on crash causation. Nor are these data adequate to link specific crash mechanisms to characteristic injury outcomes. The Monash Alfred Cycle Crash Study (MACCS) aimed to redress these data deficiencies through piloting an in-depth crash investigation study focused on cyclists. In-depth data were collected from 158 patients presenting to The Alfred and Sandringham Hospital Emergency Departments who were riders of bicycles involved in a crash. Information collected covered pre-crash factors pertaining to environment and cyclist/driver behaviour, crash mechanism, and injury outcomes from hospital records. Analyses of these data provide insight on crash causation and associated injury burdens which can inform the development, prioritisation and targeting of effective countermeasures.

This study investigated the behavioural, attitudinal and traffic factors contributing to red light infringement by Australian cyclists using a national online survey. The survey was conducted from February to May 2010. In total, 2061 cyclists completed the survey and 37.3% reported that they had ridden through a signalised intersection during the red light phase. The main predictive characteristics for infringement were: gender with males more likely to offend than females (OR: 1.54, CI: 1.22–1.94); age with older cyclists less likely to infringe compared to younger cyclists 18–29 years (30–49 yrs: OR: 0.71, CI: 0.52–0.96; 50+ yrs: OR: 0.51, CI: 0.35–0.74), and; crash involvement with cyclists more likely to infringe at red lights if they had not previously been involved in a bicycle–vehicle crash while riding (OR: 1.35; CI: 1.10–1.65). The main reasons given for red light infringement were: to turn left (32.0%); because the inductive loop detector did not detect their bike (24.2%); when there was no other road users present (16.6%); at a pedestrian crossing (10.7%); and ‘Other’ (16.5%). A multinomial logistic regression model was constructed to examine the associations between cyclist characteristics and reasons for infringement. Findings suggest that some cyclists are motivated to infringe by their perception that their behaviour is safe and that infrastructure factors were associated with infringement. Ways to manage this, potentially risky, behaviour including behaviour programmes, more cyclist-inclusive infrastructure and enforcement are discussed.

This study is a multi-year analysis of bicycle rider crash statistics undertaken using Victorian CrashStats. It clearly shows that there are distinct differences in the crash profiles of fatal bike rider crashes compared to non-fatal crashes.

The growing interest in cycling in Australia and New Zealand, as in other parts of the world, is underpinned by three major concerns: health and fitness, congestion and liveability, pollution and climate change.

Australasian researchers, practitioners, policy makers and community members are engaged in a global discussion on the role of cycling in addressing these concerns. Contributors to (this) book report on and extend this discussion as they explore the insights generated locally and internationally on the past, present and future of cycling.

The focus of the first half of the book is largely on the current engagement with cycling, challenges faced by existing and would-be cyclists and the issues cycling might address. The second half of the book is concerned with strategies and processes of change. Contributors working from different ontological positions reflect on changing socio-spatial relations to enable the broadest possible participation in cycling.

Cycle Aware is an Australia wide research project looking at how drivers learn to interact with cyclists. It focuses on the education and training received by people in the early stages of driving such as pre-learner, learner and probationary drivers. The ultimate aim of the project is to foster safer driver-cyclist interactions.

This research provides a number of mathematical formulas for predicting the quality of the walking environment from the perspective of the user using operational and physical variables. The formulas were derived by combining the perception data gathered from participants in the community street reviews with measurements of the walking environment.

The two main areas that were researched to enable the derivation of formulas were:

• when walking along the road (path length)
• when crossing the road (road crossing).

This research describes the process for obtaining the data and deriving the formulas, and recommends the formulas most suitable for practitioner use.

Since 2000, the benefits of walking as a mode of travel have been recognised by the New Zealand government in a raft of policy statements and strategies. However, the Ministry of Transport acknowledges that there are a number of issues to overcome to encourage more walking. This research focuses on one of the key issues: namely, the delay experienced by pedestrians at traffic signals.

Historically, New Zealand's approach to pedestrian delay has been minimal, with pedestrian issues considered primarily from the point of view of safety, rather than level of service or amenity. At traffic signals, pedestrians are often accommodated in a way that causes the least amount of interruption to motorised traffic, and signal cycle times can be long, leading to excessive pedestrian waiting times. This can lead to frustration, causing pedestrians to violate the signals and use their own judgement to cross, resulting in safety risks.

This research, which was carried out between 2007 and 2010 in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, used techniques such as pedestrian attitude surveys, micro-simulation modelling and a literature review of international best practice to identify methods of reducing pedestrian delay at signalised intersections in these cities. The recommendations developed during the course of the research provide both technical and policy mechanisms for improving pedestrian delay in New Zealand's central-city areas.

This research investigated a method for collecting data relating to walk, cycle and public transport trips to land-use activities.

A method needed to be developed that would require a short questionnaire to ensure higher sample rates, while also providing reliable and consistent results. This data could subsequently be used in calculating trip rates for walk, cycle and public transport trips, when combined with trip rate units such as floor area.

Multi-modal trip data has been collected for some time in the UK. The survey method developed in this research was simpler than the UK method by interviewing in only one direction for the vast majority of land uses, apart from residential where the recommended method was to interview in both directions.

A face-to-face questionnaire method was developed over a series of different site surveys in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch during 2010. The research also identified that collecting non-car mode trip information through purely observer methods was not sufficiently accurate and that simple questionnaire surveys were necessary with clear instructions from the survey organiser to ensure all relevant information would be collected.

Research carried out in 2008-2010 examined the quantum and causes of non-motor vehicle injuries to pedestrians through a structured interview survey. Pedestrians sustaining injuries in locations away from the road network (eg in parks) were excluded, as the emphasis was on the role of road and footpath features. The highest proportion of trips and falls (34%) was sustained while stepping over a kerb. A further 18% were caused by irregularities in the path or road surface. Factors that amplified the severity of injuries included the road or path surface, pedestrians' inattention, type of footwear worn, and whether walking or running. Two main issues were identified from the study. These were:

1. people tripped and fell more often on poorly maintained surfaces as opposed to poorly designed areas
2. the severity of the injuries is directly related to the surface.

The study recommends improving the definition of kerbing in key pedestrian areas and improving the maintenance regime of footpaths and roads used by pedestrians, eg crossings. The study also found that it is necessary to instigate research to provide improved data and analysis tools to prioritise such countermeasures vis-a-vis other uses of road safety funds and improved data for input into such analysis tools. Further, a national guide is needed for pedestrian road safety audits and inspections covering both motor vehicle and non-motor vehicle risk.

The overall research objective was to evaluate changes in pedestrian safety and traffic efficiency from installing pedestrian countdown timers. The study analysed pedestrian behaviour and safety before and after the installation of a trial countdown timer at the intersection of Queens Street, Bunny Street and Margaret Street in Lower Hutt in July 2007. The results were compared with the 2006/07 trial at the Queen Street/Victoria Street intersection in Auckland CBD and showed very different results. The Auckland city trial indicated that, if placed in suitable locations, pedestrian countdown signals were associated with pedestrian behaviour change that enhanced safety. This study in Lower Hutt demonstrated that the observed pedestrian safety decreased as the percentage of both late starters and late finishers increased, although this was likely to be due to the nature of the intersection with one particularly long diagonal crossing coupled with the allocated phase times. In contrast, perceived pedestrian safety increased with the installation of the countdown timers.

This report seeks to provide a per-kilometre value for the health benefits of active transport modes (such as walking and cycling) that is compatible with the Land Transport New Zealand Economic Evaluation Manual Volume 2 (EEM2). The first two sections of the report begin by explaining the scope of the project and the background. Section 3 investigates the evidence of the connection between physical activity and health outcomes. Section 4 clarifies the role of active transport modes as physical activity, and reports the New Zealand-specific data about active transport mode engagement. Section 5 gives a brief comparative summary of the literature review of cost-benefit analyses and valuation techniques used overseas to value the health benefits of active modes. This report uses population attributable fractions (PAF) to estimate the annual burden of mortality and morbidity costs per inactive adult. Annual estimates of the costs of inactivity are applied to the New Zealand adult population using a weighted sum to establish a per-kilometre value for each mode. The valuation presented in this report is limited by a poverty of data, but the final values are considered to be a reasonable estimate of the health benefits of active modes. While further research is recommended to obtain more precise estimates of the costs of inactivity in New Zealand, it is considered that the values presented in this report are a sound interim estimate for inclusion in the EEM2.

Conducted in 2005, this study evaluates a case-control design of contrasts between walkers and drivers to address factors influencing the uptake of walking as a mode choice. With samples drawn from Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, this research uses a 62-item survey to examine a number of factors: fear of crime; trip-chaining/car dependency; weather; distance/time; social pressure, fatigue and fitness, parking charges, enjoyment of walking, inconvenience, and geography. To avoid factors such as car dependency or the inability to walk, participants are selected because they live a short distance from public transport parking facilities. The group of drivers demonstrate an irregular break in car dependency by driving their cars to the station in order to use public transport. The results indicate that for parking facilities, convenience creates demand. Poor weather has an influence on the decision to drive, and fine weather improves the likelihood of walking. Previous studies claim decisions to walk are impeded by certain factors. While location effects are observed between the groups, these results suggest that such factors are in fact inconsequential.

In 2003, Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) and the Cancer Society of New Zealand commissioned a major social marketing survey to segment adult New Zealanders in terms of physical activity and healthy eating habits. The questionnaire included several transport-related questions. The resulting ‘Obstacles to Action’ database contains responses from over 8000 people aged 16 or over.

This report examines cyclists’ perceptions of cycle infrastructure levels of service and proposes an assessment methodology for evaluating the level of service provided by cycling facilities.