Transport for London's new cycling adverts may have been expensive at nearly half a million pounds, but it's the advertising execs' vision of cycling that's rubbed me up the wrong way.

Dutch Cargo Bike is the Australia & New Zealand arm of the popular Dutch “Bakfiets” brand. Our company brings the solid reputation of the inventor of the 2-wheel “Bakfiets” Cargo Bike to the Southern hemisphere.

In 46 years of bike riding, Sue Abbott has never worn a helmet. So when the highway patrol pulled her over in country Scone and fined her for a no-helmet offence, she decided to fight.

The 50-year old mother of four has never been in trouble with the law, has never fallen from her bike, and thought it ridiculous she could not ride at 15km/h on a dedicated cycleway with an uncovered head.

A police video of the incident last year records the sergeant surmising ''it's a hair thing'', a view shared by many people when they first meet her.

Cars make you fat. That's more or less the message noted researcher John Pucher has tirelessly delivered, making the case for cycling and walking - "active transportation" - as a way for cities to deal with creeping obesity rates and climbing health costs.

Road crashes are costing Canterbury $1.4 million a day, figures show.

The New Zealand Transport Agency's Canterbury Road Safety Report estimates the social cost of fatal, serious and minor road crashes last year at a staggering $4.3 billion nationally, with Canterbury's share amounting to $509.6m, or about $1.4m a day.

The social cost combines the loss of life and life quality with the loss of output due to injuries, medical costs, legal costs and property damage.

TNO Quality of Life, Leiden, The Netherlands. ingrid [dot] hendriksen [at] tno [dot] nl

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between commuter cycling and all-cause sickness absence, and the possible dose-response relationship between absenteeism and the distance, frequency and speed of commuter cycling.

Sami recently wrote about the new Sobi bike system; It is a wonderful concept, and very different from bike sharing systems we have seen in Paris, Montreal and other cities. Urban systems like Velib in Paris or Bixi in Montreal are expensive to set up and maintain.

A new campaign calls for transport firms to send their HGV drivers on cycle-awareness courses and fit their vehicles with cameras

The risk to cyclists from large lorries is a problem in all urban areas. Thankfully crashes are rare – on average about eight cyclists per year are killed by lorries in London, accounting for about half the cyclist deaths in the capital. Across the UK, about 28 are killed by lorries each year, with 70% of these in urban areas.

It's here and it's exciting: the new London Barclays Cycle Hire is open for business. Everywhere there are stands of shiny new bicycles just waiting to be ridden. And there are perplexed looking tourists and Londoners wondering how on earth they can get one.