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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.

Just think how you can drop the kids of at kinder or school, continue on to work or do your shopping, without having to get petrol, pay for parking or stand in traffic jams. At the same time you improve your health and fitness. For many mums and dads Cargobikes are the ideal way to unwind while doing what needs done anyway. Day to day jobs turn into fun...

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.

The average value of a loss of life is estimated by the amount the public would be willing to...

This issue is all about cycling safety.

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES
A note on the central stories of fatal and other cyclist accidents in Adelaide
- by TP Hutchinson and VL Lindsay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Piloting a Safe Cycle education program – by Eddie Wheeler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Encouraging safer cycling through the NSW BikePlan - by Lyndall Johnson and Matt Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Cycling safety in the...

Cyclists on footpaths

The arguments between Motorists and cyclists continue with no end in sight. I am moved to write this after being hit by a car last Wednesday. (Re: Bums on Bikes, Write On, August 4) I am a cyclist and I run red lights frequently and will continue to do so as well as riding on footpaths. I do this not to deliberately annoy motorists but merely get from A to B safely in one piece.

Roads are for cars and footpaths are for pedestrians therefore us cyclists are the “lepers” of the road caught in no mans land, were we’re damned if we do and...

Cycling is on the increase in New Zealand and although it is generally becoming safer, by following a few simple tips we can prevent crashes.

Most cyclist and truck or bus collisions happen when vehicles turn left at traffic lights or other intersections. 

Risk can be minimised if drivers and cyclists alike are aware of each other and behave responsibly.

Tips for cyclists

Cycle sensibly and assertively to help yourself stay safe.

Recognise that truck or bus drivers may not be able to see you Never cycle up the left side of a truck or bus stopped at a junction  Look...

Chris Rissel says the helmet laws put people off riding bikes

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A public health expert has called for laws making the wearing of bike helmets compulsory to be repealed, to encourage more people to ride bikes.

Australia became the first country to make riding without a helmet illegal in 1991.

Associate Professor Chris Rissel, from Sydney University's School of Public Health, says the greatest drop in head injuries was in the 80s - before the laws were introduced - because of road safety campaigns and...

Some of you may have heard of "ciclovia", the car-free street events that originated in Bogota, Colombia. In Portland, Oregon, they're known as "Sunday Parkways" and they've been a hit there since the first one in 2008.

Sunday Parkways take place at various locations throughout Portland about once a month, and involve closing off a loop of ~10km of streets for 5 hrs so that people can walk, ride, scoot, skate, whatever without the distraction of motor traffic (yes, if you're a local you can still access your house, although they encourage you not to drive if you can avoid it)....

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.

Sobi (Social Bicycle System) is a simpler system. CrunchGear explains that it is based on smart phone technology; instead of being attached to a fixed stand, it relies on GPS and mobile communications, and a big, secure lock that can attach to any bike rack, or any bike for that matter.

It is...

The single biggest road safety issue in New Zealand today is speed - drivers travelling too fast for the conditions.

Lower speed limits don’t just save lives – they make NZ towns and cities better places to live (source: Simon Kingham in The Conversation, 2022)

In 2008, excess or inappropriate speed was a factor in:

* 34 percent of all road deaths (127 deaths)
* 17 percent of all reported injuries from road crashes (2629 injuries).

As well as road safety, reducing speeds has many benefits for our...