Press Release: Urgent changes needed after another cyclist fatality

Cyclist death shows need for safer infrastructure and motorist education


After the tragic death on Pleasant Point Highway of a young cyclist out training the local cycling advocates group, Squeaky Wheel South Canterbury is calling for urgent improvements in roading design and motorist education.

Squeaky Wheel spokesperson, Jon Harris says that the death of this outstanding young member of our community shows that rapid progress must be made towards making our roads safer for cyclists.

Alice Baker was out training on her cycle when she was struck from behind by an even younger driver.

"The crash is a terrible blow for both families. It should be a wake-up call to all roading authorities and road users in South Canterbury. With the drive towards more sustainable transport, unless changes are made to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists on our roads, we are going to lose more valued and outstanding members of our society in needless accidents."

Squeaky Wheel member and regular cycle commuter on the Pleasant Point Highway, Liz Cutler said, "The accident is a real tragedy- a wonderful family with wonderful kids making the most of life and I'm sure many of us thinking 'And There but for the grace of god go I'-could have been our kids ... Or could have been us killed."

"Urgent changes to driver licensing and driver education are needed to
make drivers more aware of how to take care around cyclists", said Jon.

"How many fatalities will it take before something is finally done? We
need action on cyclist safety now."


For further information, contact Jon Harris, Squeaky Wheel spokesperson,
03-614 8777
, jon.jan@xnet.co.nz

Comments

well written jon.

just another thought on this.what about dedicating a critical mass ride to her and riding out the accident site and placing flowers.

It had occurred to me too, Wally.
What do others think...Ron? Wendy? Liz? Daniel? Jane?

Cheers - Jon

Wally that is a fantastic idea.

Yep- I couldn't agree more - what a great idea

I have just figured out something - if we cliick the reply link with a comment, our reply appears as a comment below the one we are replying to.
If we post a new comment, even if it is replying to a comment, it appears above the comment we are replying to. hmm...

Cheers - Jon

This is the Press release as amended by the reporter:

The tragic death of a cyclist on the Pleasant Point Highway has a local cycling advocates group calling for urgent improvements in roading design and motorist education.
Squeaky Wheel South Canterbury spokesperson Jon Harris said the death of this "outstanding young member of the community" showed that rapid progress must be made towards making roads safer for cyclists.
"Alice Baker was out training on her cycle when she was struck from behind by an even younger driver.
"The crash is a terrible blow for both families. It should be a wake-up call to all roading authorities and road users in South Canterbury."
Mr Harris said Squeaky Wheel advocated more sustainable transport and encouraged people to commute on bikes.
"Unless changes are made to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists on our roads, we are going to lose more valued and outstanding members of our society in needless accidents."
Squeaky Wheel member and regular cycle commuter on the Pleasant Point Highway, Liz Cutler said the accident was a real tragedy.
"A wonderful family with wonderful kids making the most of life.
"I'm sure many of us are thinking it could have been our kids ... or could have been us killed."
In another cycling accident recently a 28-year-old Geraldine woman was seriously injured when she hit a parked car on the Hilton Highway at Washdyke.
South Canterbury Road Safety coordinator Daniel Naude said the ``Share the Road'' campaign, which started in February this year, was aimed at giving cyclists more room.
However, he said on the rural roads and open highways there was higher speed involvement and motorists needed to give a cyclist about 1.5 metres to pass safely.
Mr Harris said from Pleasant Point to Timaru, and Temuka to Timaru, there was a lot of reserve room on either side of the road.
"Some of that space could be used to widen the road for a cycle lane, or there could be some sort of off-road facility."
New Zealand Transport Agency regional transportation manager Mike Blyleven said they did not have anything programmed for improvements in the rural areas of the highway but they would look at any change of circumstance.
"We look at any fatality and consider what circumstances were behind it. But that doesn't automatically mean we can go out there and implement improvements as it has to go through the whole process and funding considerations."

Cheers - Jon

Well done Jon. I liked the original and don't feel the reporters version is really better but I am not that good on papeer style.
The idea of somehow noting Alice's death in the Critical Mass ride is a good one. It wouldn't necessarily mean we would HAVE to go along Hilton Highway but I will do some "time trialing" to see if it can be worked in. We will have to make sure we don't scare people off with too steep a hills which might happen if we make them go up Old North Road.
Ron.

Great article bringing up good points and couldn't be missed on the front page!-well done Jon

Great article bringing up good points and couldn't be missed on the front page!-well done Jon

Response to yesterday's article in Herald: Letter to Editor

This is the text of the letter that appeared today. I thought "here we go!"

Cycle safety
In reference to the article about the death of the cyclist on the Pleasant Point Highway (October 24), 1 am surprised there haven't been more deaths on New Zealand roads from cyclists getting hit.
Cyclists clearly think they own the road and they don't know the road rules, especially tourists. They are shocking. They simply don't know how to keep to the left side of that white line, so instead of spending millions of dollars widening the roads, perhaps we should use a bit of common sense and keep to the left.
Michelle Dellow Invercargill

Thank you Michael!

Cheers - Jon

In my experience this sort of reactions comes from people that haven't ride a bike in a long time and lost any other perspective but the car perspective.

Yes, you are right "here we go".

Clearly to Ms Dellow cyclist fatalities are cut-and-dried: if a cyclist is hit by a vehicle it was their own fault. She holds a common belief in New Zealand, that roads are for vehicles; any other road users need to keep out of the way.

Many experienced road cyclists use the Pleasant Point Highway. All agree they should keep left. Many recall considerate drivers who took extra care and slowed down. However, many also have stories of careless or aggressive actions by motorists, and of the lack of room when being passed by the frequent trucks. School bus drivers see motorists who pass their stationary bus at 100 km/hr despite the widely publicized 20 km/hr speed restriction (from either direction).

Perhaps Ms Dellow can enlighten readers about the road rule saying cyclists must keep to the left of the white line? Does she believe the white line on the shoulder of the road is an unofficial cycle lane? Maybe she could examine the often narrow space on the left of the white line, try riding her road bike on the rough surface, get pushed off into the gravel by the draught of a truck, and then think for a moment about whether cyclists are really being catered for on this highway.

Instead of generalizing about cyclists, lets have an informed debate about how we can Share the Road for all road users, a concept supported by Timaru District’s Road Safety Coordinator, by CAN, (Cycling Advocate’s Network NZ), and by the Central Otago District Council: (http://www.codc.govt.nz/assets/pdfs/documents2007/share_the_road.pdf).

Before we jump to conclusions and point fingers at the driver or the cyclist we need to get all the facts. Was she cycling correctly ie not quickly turning? Was it dark and did she have lights, reflectors? Was the young driver licensed? Why did her helmet not protect her from fatal injuries and so on. Before we create new laws or amend old ones or throw money around we must have the facts!

Thanks for the comment, Graeme.
The fatality on the Pleasant Point Highway is a tragedy for all concerned - it is not for us to determine who is at fault.
Squeaky Wheel South Canterbury, as a cycling advocates group, is trying not to focus on the details of this crash. We want to raise awareness in the district of the large number of cyclists using our rural roads, the lack of provision for them, and the need for drivers to give them room, so that all users can safely share the road. These are problems that are widely accepted and reported by cycling users of this road and will not be influenced by the fine detail of this particular case.

My point is that if for example she had no lights and it was dark then in this case the debate is over.

We have a similar problem up in Christchurch in the Heathcote Valley where we live. That is, narrow roads and bad driving making life hard for cyclists.

We'll try and get an article up on our website at Heathcote Valley Online about our latest campaign to get better roading. I'll try and post back when it's up.