[bikeqld] Fwd: Crikey today: "Footpaths are danger zones for
pedestrians"
Michael Yeates
michael at yeatesit.biz
Thu Oct 1 00:36:45 CDT 2009
Gee Crikey ...
This following (and correct argument BTW) might
stir some thought ... hopefully useful thought ..
given it seems BCC and MR (no longer sure where
QT stands or sits in relation to cyclists and
motorists "Share the Road" campaigns) is
determined to build off-road paths and even build
bike lanes where arguably unnecessary ... in
order to at least imply that cyclists should
comply with the following edict (and I quote)
"... responsible cycling is to use bike paths
where possible and if it’s not possible, to be
extra careful on the roads ..." completely
ignoring the fact that cyclists are legitimate
road users under Australian road rules and in
most cases, it is the motorist that is not complying with the law aka ARRs.
It is clear that pedestrians don't enjoy cyclists
overtaking or coming in the opposite direction at
20, 30 or 40 or more km/h ...far too close ...
yet "shared paths" by design, permit this.
Clearly there should be NO shared paths and
footpath cycling should be banned ... as in most
of the rest of Oz or subject to a condition that places the onus on cyclists.
For Queensland, perhaps the solution is a "10km/h
speed limit within 20m of a pedestrian on a
shared or any other footpath" such that in the
event of an injury collision, the onus is on the
cyclist ... so the cyclist can try to explain how
a collision occurred and could not be avoided.
MY...................
Subject: Crikey today: "Footpaths are danger zones for pedestrians"
>Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 13:45:03 +1000
>
>
>15 . Footpaths are danger zones for pedestrians
>
>Ava Hubble writes:
>
>It's Walk to Work and Walk to School Day
>tomorrow and no doubt politicians will be out
>and about supporting the enterprise.
>
>Yet the authorities have allowed Australia's
>footpaths to become danger zones for
>pedestrians. Despite a law that prohibits anyone
>over the age of 12 from riding a bike on a
>footpath, that law is blatantly and increasingly
>flouted by many cyclists. Meanwhile, despite
>this law, the chairman of the Pedestrian
>Council, Harold Scruby, reports that local
>councils are converting more and more footpaths
>into "shared pathways" for the use of cyclists
>and pedestrians. The trouble is many cyclists
>seem to ignore the "Give way to pedestrians"
>signs and proceed at speed, dodging and weaving
>along shared pathways as though they were ahead
>and nearing the finish line in the Tour de
>France. Scruby says that pedestrians are losing
>a sacred right that dates back to Roman times:
>the right to the exclusive use of the footpath.
>
>Despite the growing concern about the
>environment and obesity, intolerant, menacing
>motorists are believed to have been primarily
>responsible for the retreat by many cyclists
>from the roads to the footpaths. Why, when it
>became obvious a decade or more ago, that
>Australians were taking up cycling in huge
>numbers, was so lixÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb ttle,
>apparently, done by the authorities to protect
>cyclists from the intimidating, life-threatening
>behaviour of thuggish drivers? As Scruby notes,
>the authorities can "spot an illegally parked
>car from Mars". So why, given 21st-century
>detection/deterrent techniques, did our
>politicians and bureaucrats fail so miserably to
>ensure a fair go for cyclists on our roads?
>
>Now, of course, it's the pedestrians who are
>complaining about being the victims of
>intimidating cyclists. There is plenty of
>anecdotal evidence to suggest that all too often
>the reaction of cyclists to shouted objections
>about their recklessness is an obscene gesture
>as they ride off and/or a torrent of
>foul-mouthed abuse and calls for more dedicated
>cycleways. Do steriods sometimes prompt this
>type of behaviour, or is it possible that
>cycling clubs coach their members to show
>aggression in an effort to discourage
>pedestrians from speaking up after a frightening encounter?
>
>Meantime, although Scruby stresses that many
>cyclists do behave well, he is continuing to
>campaign for the introduction of a 10km/h speed
>limit on bike paths. He also insists bike paths
>should be separated from footpaths. In January
>he was reported in the Port Phillip Leader as
>saying that councils have exposed themselves to
>massive damages claims from people who are
>injured as a result of using shared bike and
>pedestrians paths. It was also reported that
>this assertion was supported by legal advice
>from leading Sydney law firm Slater & Gordon,
>which also said the RTA could be sued as it was
>part of the cycleway approval process.
>
>Scruby has put forward a plan that includes
>fines for cyclists who speed and are otherwise
>guilty of negligent cycling,xÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb as
>well as a comprehensive identification system
>for cyclists and number plates for their bikes.
>
>One of the main complaints at present is that
>cyclists who hit and run are often able to
>escape any redress or punishment because they
>cannot be identified. They are not presently
>obliged to display any kind of identification
>and because most do seem to comply with the
>requirement to wear protective helmets (and
>sometimes goggles) it's almost impossible to identify them.
>
>
><http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/10/01/footpaths-are-danger-zones-for-pedestrians/#comment-39422>http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/10/01/footpaths-are-danger-zones-for-pedestrians/#comment-39422
>
>SEE:
><http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/page.asp?pageid=3194>http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/page.asp?pageid=3194
>
>and
>
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15903157?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15903157?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultxÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb
>ReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
>
>
>1: Annu Proc Assoc Adv Automot Med. 2008 Oct;52:215-23.
>
>
>Teaching young children to cross roads safely.
>
>
>
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Oxley%20J%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Oxley
>J,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Congiu%20M%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Congiu
>M,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Whelan%20M%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Whelan
>M,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22D%27Elio%20A%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.PubmxÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb
>ed_RVAbstractPlus>D'Elio A,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Charlton%20J%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Charlton
>J.
>
>Monash University Accident Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
>
>Road safety education is considered essential to
>teach children to interact with traffic safely.
>Many programs, however, do not consider the
>separate component skills of the road-crossing
>task, the functional and behavioural factors
>that may put some children at increased risk,
>and the most beneficial methods to transfer
>knowledge to improved behaviour in real-world
>environments. A targeted and practical training
>program using a simulated road environment has
>been developed and evaluated amongst primary
>school children using a randomised controlled
>trial. Significant reductions in proportion of
>critically incorrect road-crossing responses
>were found immediately after training (56%) and
>one-month post-training (47%) by the case group
>compared with pre-training responses, and
>relative to any changes in responses of the
>control group. The beneficial effects were
>greater for younger children, females, children
>with less well developed perceptual, attentional
>and cognitive skills, and those with little
>traffic exposure. The effects of the training
>program on other outcome measures (proportion of
>missed opportunity responses, decision time and
>safety rating responses) were less clear but
>showed some beneficial effects. This paper
>discusses the use of the simulated training
>program, a novel and safe way, to improve road
>crossing decisions. It is suggested that
>improvements can be made to child pedestrian
>education by providing tailored and practical
>programs that target the component skills of
>road-crossing decisions and improve essential
>skills through intensive training and feedback on known risk factors.
>
>
>
>1: Br J Educ Psychol. 1998 Dec;68 ( Pt 4):475-91.Links
>
>
>The effectiveness of parents in promoting the
>development of road crossing skills in young children.
>
>
>
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Thomson%20JA%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Thomson
>JA,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Ampofo-Boateng%20K%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>AmpxÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb
>ofo-Boateng K,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Lee%20DN%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Lee
>DN,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Grieve%20R%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Grieve
>R,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Pitcairn%20TK%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Pitcairn
>TK,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Demetre%20JD%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Demetre
>JD.
>
>Department of Psychology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
>
>BACKGROUND: Young children show poor judgment
>when asked to select a safe place to cross the
>road, frequently considering dangerous sites to
>be safe. Correspondingly, child pedestrian
>accidents are over-represented at such
>locations. Increasing the child's ability to
>recognise such dangers is a central challenge
>for road safety education. AIMS: Practical
>training methods have proved effective in
>improving such judgments but are
>labour-intensive, time-consuming and therefore
>difficult to implement on a realistic scale. The
>study examined the possibility that volunteers
>from the local community might be capable of
>using such methods to promote children's
>pedestrian competence. SAMPLE: Sixty children
>from the Primary 1 (Reception) classes of three
>Glasgow schools took part. Volunteers were
>ordinary parents from the same areas. None had
>'formal' experience of working with children
>other than through being parents. METHOD:
>Volunteers rxÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb eceived experience of
>training children at courses organised in each
>school. Children learned in small groups,
>receiving two sessions of roadside training
>followed by four on a table-top model. Pre- and
>post-tests allowed the effectiveness of training
>to be assessed. RESULTS: Significant
>improvements relative to controls were found in
>all children following training. Improvements
>proved robust and no deterioration was observed
>two months after the programme ended. Comparison
>with a previous study in which training was
>undertaken by highly qualified staff showed that
>the volunteers were as effective as 'expert'
>trainers. CONCLUSIONS: Parent volunteers can
>significantly increase the pedestrian competence
>of children as young as five years. They
>constitute a most valuable 'resource' in road
>safety education. The opportunities afforded by
>involving the local community in educational
>interventions should be further explored.
>
>
>: Am J Public Health. 2003
>Sep;93(9):1456-63.<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?PrId=3051&itool=AbstractPlus-def&uid=12948963&nlmid=1254074&db=pubmed&url=http://www.ajph.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=12948963>
>Click here to read
>
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?PrId=3494&itool=AbstractPlus-nondef&uid=12948963&nlmid=1254074&db=pubmed&url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12948963>
>Click here to read
> Links
>
>
>A review of evidence-based traffic engineering
>measures designed to reduce pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes.
>
>
>
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Retting%20RA%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Retting
>RA,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Ferguson%20SA%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Ferguson
>SA,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22McCartt%20AT%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>McCartt
>AT.
>
>Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1005 N.
>Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22201, USA.
><mailto:rretting at iihs.org>rretting at iihs.org
>
>We provide a brief critical review and
>assessment of engineering modifications to the
>built environment that can reduce the risk of
>pedestrian injuries. In our review, we used the
>Transportation Research Information Services
>database to conduct a search for studies on
>engineering countermeasures documented in the
>scientific literature. We classified
>countermeasures into 3 categories-speed control,
>separation of pedestrians from vehicles, and
>measures that increase the visibility and
>conspicuity of pedestrians. We determined the
>measures and settings with the greatest
>potential for crash prevention. Our review,
>which emphasized inclusion of studies with
>adequate methodological designs, showed that
>modification of the built environment can
>substantially reduce the risk of pedestrian-vehicle crashes.
>
>
>: <xÍ!.htm>Inj Control Saf Promot. 2004 Dec;11(4):231-7.Links
>
>
>Community-based programmes to prevent pedestrian
>injuries in children 0-14 years: a systematic review.
>
>
>
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Turner%20C%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Turner
>C,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22McClure%20R%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>McClure
>R,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Nixon%20J%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.PubmedxÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb
>_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Nixon J,
><http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Search&Term=%22Spinks%20A%22%5BAuthor%5D&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>Spinks
>A.
>
>School of Population Health, Mayne Medical
>School, University of Queensland, Brisbane,
>Australia. <mailto:C.turner at nursing.uq.edu.au>C.turner at nursing.uq.edu.au
>
>BACKGROUND: Community-based models for injury
>prevention have become an accepted part of the
>overall injury control strategy. This systematic
>review of the scientific literature examines the
>evidence for their effectiveness in reducing
>pedestrian injury in children 0-14 years of age.
>METHODS: A comprehensive search of the
>literature was performed using the following
>study selection criteria: community-based
>intervention study; target population was
>children under 14 years; outcome measure is
>either pedestrian injury rates or observed child
>pedestrian or vehicle driver behaviour; and use
>of a community control or an historical control
>in the study design. Quality assessment and data
>abstraction was guided by a standardized
>procedure and performed independently by two
>authors. Data synthesis was in tabular and text
>form with meta-analysis not being possible due
>to the discrepancy in methods and measures
>between the studies. RESULTS: The review found
>four studies that met all the inclusion
>criteria. The three studies using injury as
>their outcome measure found a 12%, 45% and 54%
>reduction for all childhood injuries with the
>fourth showing improved traffic control at child
>pedestrian sites (9% reduction in traffic flow)
>and sustainable community safety promotion
>activity. CONCLUSION: There is a paucity of
>research studies in the literature from which
>evidence regarding the effectiveness of
>community-based programmes for the prevention of
>pedestrian injury in children can be drawn.
>However, the hypothesis txÍ!ȉóÿÿÿÿlZb hat
>community-based interventions are effective in
>reducing the incidence of childhood pedestrian
>injury would appear to be supported, with the
>degree of success being cumulative depending on
>the complexity of individual strategies employed.
>
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