Canberra Bicycle 2000

This Draft bicycle strategy for Canberra was released by the Minister for Urban Services in 1994 for comment by the community. The Department has stated that the strategy will be finalised before July 1997.

THE GOAL:

To create a safer on and off-road cycling environment

To ensure that cycling is accepted as a legitimate road use

To educate and inform all road users about appropriate behaviour towards each other

To ensure that cyclists have appropriate facilities

To encourage a more healthy community

To more efficiently target public spending on cycling

FOREWORD

Canberra is admired by communities around Australia as a city of bike paths, where tourists and visitors can ride in comfort and safety. Much less well known is the fact that almost 40%, or over 110,000 of all Canberra residents are regular bike riders - to work, schools, for shopping and recreation.

Bicycling has an increasingly important role in transport in Canberra. It is a highly energy efficient travel mode, and generates no greenhouse gases or noxious exhaust emissions. It uses none of our increasingly scarce non-renewable fuel resources and has positive effects on personal health, work productivity and our quality of life. Increased commuter cycling contributes to a reduction in peak period congestion and the need to build more roads and car parks.

The ACT Government's Transport Strategy recognises the important role of bicycling as part of the transport system, and encourages increased cycling, especially to work. The National Bicycle Strategy, which was recently endorsed by the Government, also seeks to have bicycling recognised as a legitimate mode of personal passenger transport.

CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 provides a framework for the long term development of integrated and cost effective bicycle programs in the Australian Capital Territory.

The Goal of the Strategy is:

To create a safer on and off-road cycling environment
To ensure that cycling is accepted as a legitimate road use
To educate and inform all road users about appropriate behaviour towards each other
To ensure that cyclists have appropriate facilities
To encourage a more healthy community, and
To more efficiently target public spending on cycling

I encourage comment from all those in the community who are interested in our transport future, and commend CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 as an indication of the Government's commitment to safe and increased bicycle use.

Minister for Urban Services

CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 - A DRAFT BICYCLE STRATEGY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

This community consultation paper was prepared by ACT City Services, Department of Urban Services, with assistance from:

The Australian Federal Police
Pedal Power ACT
The ACT Tourism Commission
The Canberra Cycle Club
ACTION
The Department of Environment, Land and Planning
The Department of Education and Training
The Department of Health
Attorney-General's Department
Primary and Secondary school teachers
Tourism industry representatives

The CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 STRATEGY is based on studies undertaken for the Department of Urban Services by Arup Transportation Planning P/L, with GEOPLAN Resource and Town Planning, Feilman Planning Associates and DATACOL.

The Department also gratefully acknowledges the contribution of members of the public who responded to an invitation for submissions to the study.

Introduction

Before the 1960's, cycling was a significant form of transport in Australian cities, both as a mode of travel to work and for recreation. As Canberra developed, journeys to work became longer, and cycling more difficult. There has recently been a new awareness of the benefits from cycling, both for transport and recreation.

Non-commuter cycling in Canberra has traditionally been assisted in two ways. Firstly, by making footpath cycling legal, cyclists, especially students, are able to ride more safely to local destinations. Secondly, by constructing an extensive off-road cycle path network, cyclists are able to ride for longer distances in relative safety. The footpath and off-road bike network continues to be expanded into newly developing areas, and provides a safer cycling environment. In segregating bicycles from other traffic, off-road bike paths have, however, only partially addressed the increasing demand from commuter cyclists, who use existing roads, as part of an integrated on and off-road cycle system. Segregating bicycles from other traffic has tended to encourage the view that cycling is not a legitimate transport activity, and that bicycles should not use the road network. CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 addresses these issues, by developing an integrated strategy that reflects the needs of each cyclist group, while providing benefits to the whole community.

National Initiatives

The national Taskforce on Ecologically Sustainable Development, in its recent report to Government, recommended that cycling is facilitated as a growing part of the transport system, and that it be given due consideration in transport decision making and planning. It was suggested that priority is given to the provision of dual-mode facilities for cyclists (that is, by providing facilities to enable cyclists to use buses more easily), as a way of overcoming the difficulties of longer commuting trips; and that a National Bicycle Strategy be developed.

The National Bicycle Strategy was developed in consultation with all States and the ACT, and was endorsed by the ACT Government in October 1992. It calls on all Governments and the community to recognise bicycle riding as a legitimate mode of personal passenger transport in Australia, and that cycling has an integral role to play in the package of measures necessary to restrain traffic growth and reduce the costs of urban congestion. The National Bicycle Strategy noted that, with one third of car trips estimated to be 3km or less in length, which for most is an easy bicycling distance, there appears to be considerable scope for people to substitute their motor vehicle for a bicycle.

Objectives of the National Bicycle Strategy are:

To integrate cycling into the transport system and into urban planning as a legitimate mode of personal mobility;
To encourage more safe cycling in the community; and
To significantly reduce the rate of bicycle related crashes, and the severity of injury to cyclists.

The ACT Government is now working to implement this National Strategy.

ACT Government Policies

In addition to recognising and supporting the National Bicycle Strategy, the ACT Government's Transport Strategy supports the promotion of bicycle riding, including increased commuter cycling. The Government's environment and recreation policies also strongly support cycling as a means of improving community health and fitness, and of helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle produced air pollution.

Existing Government Programs

The ACT Government currently spends about $1million a year on cycling and cycle related programs. A recent study conducted by Arup Transportation Planning for the Department of Urban Services has concluded that these programs are cost effective, with community benefits (from improved health and fitness, reduced travel costs and reduced expenditure on roads and car parks) significantly exceeding cycle program costs.

Expenditure occurs in many areas of cycling, from education in schools to the provision of off-road paths, bike racks and lockers. Much more can be done however, and the CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 strategy can, if implemented, generate even greater benefits to the community.

Why Promote Bicycling?

There are four main reasons why the ACT Government is keen to promote bicycle riding. These are:

Equity:

To improve access for those in the community who do not have alternative forms of transport available;

Transport:

To help reduce peak period road congestion, which has high community costs;
To reduce car use for short trips, such as to local schools and shops;
To help defer public expenditure on new road and car parking facilities.

Environment:

To combat global warming by helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
To contribute to national goals to reduce our dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels. Savings in fuel could be achieved if a proportion of motorists travelling less than 10 km to work changed to bicycles;

Health:

To improve public health and amenity, by reducing air pollution from vehicle exhausts;
To improve personal health and fitness, thereby improving health status; and reducing the burden on costly health care facilities;

The CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 Strategy will ensure that cycling is promoted in a systematic, efficient and cost effective manner.

Who Bicycles in the ACT?

A market survey of over 1000 Canberra households was undertaken in 1991.

The survey showed that around 40% of the population cycle 'regularly' (defined in the survey as at least once per fortnight). Many more have a bicycle available to ride. Cycling is by no means confined to young children, although a very high proportion of children under 14 own and ride a bike. The survey also found that 34% of Canberrans aged over 14 years are 'regular' riders. About 20% of these older riders cycle to work and to school/college; over half go shopping by bicycle, and three quarters also ride for recreation.

Other survey findings were that:

Canberrans have more bicycles than cars per head of population, with each household owning, on average, more than two bicycles;
Bicyclists regularly use both roads and paths, depending on the reason for and destination of their trip;
Bicycle trips are made to a wide range of destinations, often to those not reached by bike paths;
More bicycle commuters ride to work outside their local town centre than ride to their town centre, indicating the extent of longer bike trips;
Only about one third of all regular cyclists carry lights at night;
One in 20 regular cyclists had a serious accident last year with one in five having a minor accident.

Since legislation was introduced in 1992 to make helmet wearing compulsory, there has been an increase in wearing rates from about 75% to 88% for work trips; 41% to 77% for secondary school trips, and from 42% to 88% for leisure trips.

Bicycle Safety

Although it is difficult to obtain reliable statistics about cycle accidents, there is evidence that they represent a disproportionately high percentage of all vehicular accident hospitalisations. Although more bike fatalities occur on road and involve collisions with motor vehicles, more injury accidents occur off-road, on footpaths and bike paths. Police reports show that about 50 cyclists are injured each year in the ACT. We suspect that this is only the tip of the iceberg, with hospital casualty data showing that over 400 cyclists were treated for injuries at Canberra hospitals in 1990/91. Data from around Australia point to cyclists under 20 years of age having a higher than average rate of injury, and with young males being prominently represented in fatalities.

Some probable reasons for cycle accidents, and their high levels of severity, are that:

Bicycle speeds are significantly less than motorised traffic, and riders are generally unprotected, leading to more severe injuries if involved in an accident; and
Bicyclists are much less visible than cars and larger vehicles, and can be overlooked by them, especially at dusk.

Cycling on Roads

Canberra has legal footpath cycling and over 250 kilometres of off-road purpose built cycle paths.

Many cyclists find the off-road network convenient and less stressful than riding on roads. The less experienced and the young are positively encouraged to ride off-road. However, the longer distance adult commuter cyclists often find cycle paths indirect, uncomfortable and inconvenient, especially at night where lack of lighting can be a problem.

The ACT and Federal Governments are keen to promote commuter cycling, in order to reduce car use, with its associated pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and need for expensive road and parking spaces. Commuter cyclists will only be encouraged if routes are safe, comfortable and convenient. With over 2500 kilometres of roads in the ACT, it would be too costly to provide this facility entirely off-road, as it would be necessary to build a comprehensive network of paths adjacent to most roads. A more appropriate solution is to improve and integrate the cycle paths and main roads to ensure that they are as safe and convenient for cyclists as possible.

Cyclists are legitimate road users, and it is the Government's responsibility to ensure that roads are safe for all users. It may not be possible however, to make some roads sufficiently safe for cycling, and it may be necessary to ban cyclists from those roads. It may also be appropriate to ban all young cyclists from some or all of the road network until they develop appropriate skills to deal with cycling on roads in traffic.

Canberra Bicycle 2000: The Strategy

CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 addresses many of the issues of concern in promoting safe cycling into the next century. It has a Goal, which identifies the overall direction for the Strategy, and six Objectives - Safety, Education, Engineering, Environment, Enforcement and Encouragement - which together with a coordination and liaison function will ensure that the Strategy is properly and effectively implemented.

The GOAL

The goal of the CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 is:

To create a safer on and off-road cycling environment
To ensure that cycling is accepted as a legitimate road use
To educate and inform all road users about appropriate behaviour towards each other
To ensure that cyclists have appropriate facilities
To encourage a more healthy community
To more efficiently target public spending on cycling

The most important part of the Goal is safety. That is, the creation of a safer cycling environment will help to reduce the cycle accident rate and the severity of injuries to cyclists. Ensuring that cycling is accepted by other road users and road planners will help to encourage safe on-road cycling. The provision of information, and the education of all road users, is important in encouraging appropriate safe and legal behaviour between motorists and cyclists. The provision of appropriate facilities is necessary for and to encourage safe cycling. Increased cycling will help to improve personal health and fitness, and lead to a more healthy community. The integration of all aspects of cycle program delivery will help target scarce funds at areas of priority and cost effectiveness.

Objectives

In order to address the Goal for CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000, six Objectives have been identified.

Objective 1 : SAFETY

To create a safer on and off-road cycling environment.

The data available for a complete analysis of all cycling accidents in the ACT is limited. The nature of this data and the time periods for which it can be collected makes many of the sources incompatible. However:

Pedal Power ACT, in its 1985 report for the Federal Office of Road Safety, concluded that a high proportion of bicycle injury accidents occur amongst commuting cyclists;
Conspicuity of cyclists is a major factor in motor vehicle / bicycle accidents;
Most injured cyclists reported that poor riding surface was the major causal factor in their crash;
The injuries received in most instances could have been avoided if the correct protective clothing, and especially helmets, were used;
Approximately equal numbers of bicycle injury accidents occur on-road and off-road, however those which occur off-road more frequently require hospital admission;
Male riders show a much higher accident rate than female riders, but males also have higher riding rates;
Most on-road bicycle accidents occur on arterial roads and intersections;
Nearly 10% of all vehicle injury accidents and 15% of all hospital admitted vehicle accidents involve cyclists;
Most cycling fatalities occur on the road, and involve collisions with motor vehicles. However, fatalities also occur on cycle paths;
Helmet wearing is now compulsory in the ACT;
Current cycling accident data sourced from Police accident reports under-report the accident situation. As the Police reporting system is unlikely to be extended to cover all bicycle accidents, the Emergency Department hospital database could be a more complete source of casualty accident data.

Objective 2 : EDUCATION

To increase bicycle riding skills and community awareness about cycle safety.

Bike user education is an important part of the broader road safety perspective, particularly in relation to primary school aged children, who are not encouraged to cycle on roads. An examination of the extent and nature of bike user education in the ACT leads to the following major conclusions.

There is a need to improve continuity of road safety education with regard to bike user education within the education system - particularly to address the absence of bike safety education programs for junior high school students;
There is a need to educate parents of primary and junior high school aged children of the accident facts and resultant behaviour solutions, so that parent support can occur for school-based and/or community based road safety/bike user education;
There is a need to give regular leisure cyclists an opportunity to upgrade their on-road cycling knowledge through skills courses, basic bicycle road-worthiness and bike maintenance information, to encourage them to cycle more frequently, and particularly to cycle to work;
There is a need to educate existing motorists that, in addition to the ACT off-road path system, on-road cycling is recognised nationally and in Canberra as a legitimate part of the transport system;
There is a need to make learner drivers more aware of the need to share road space with cyclists and how this can be done safely;
There is a need to increase the awareness of heavy vehicle drivers, including bus operators, about the effects of heavy vehicles on cyclists, and appropriate safe sharing of the road space;
There is a longer term need for linked progressive programs for all road users (pedestrians, cyclists and learner drivers, from pre-school to year 12), which could ultimately be nationally accredited, and with accreditation being linked to gaining a full Driver's Licence.

Objective 3 : ENGINEERING

To ensure that cyclists have the facilities necessary for, and to encourage, safe cycling.

Findings about the current standards for the planning, design, construction and maintenance of off-road cycle paths show that:

NCDC TP37 "Cycleways" is no longer appropriate as the ACT's planning and design guideline and should be replaced with Austroads "Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice Part 14 - Bicycles", subject to appropriate ACT specific amendments;
The cycle path design speed of 20km/h is too low, and can result in safety problems on paths from inadequate visibility;
There is a need to review current cycle path pavement design standards in order to optimise pavement durability;
There is a need to improve the provision of direction and information signing on cycle paths;
The use of bollards and other barriers on cycle paths should be avoided if at all possible;
There is a need to develop more integrated cycle facilities maintenance procedures;
There is a need to review the level of off-road cycle path and on-road shoulder maintenance in order to optimise community costs and benefits;
There is a need to review cycle path masterplanning procedures, especially in new areas.

Objective 4 : ENVIRONMENT

To promote cycling through increased knowledge of its positive environmental effects.

Increased cycling affects many environmental and lifestyle issues. Many cyclists identify strongly with these issues, which include improved health and fitness, helping to combat global warming by reducing greenhouse gases, and, by cycle commuting, helping to reduce air pollution from vehicle exhausts and by reducing peak traffic and parking demands.

It is proposed to initially target those groups with increased environmental awareness, in order to more effectively promote cycling.

Objective 5 : ENFORCEMENT

To encourage responsible cyclist behaviour.

The present legislation results in cumbersome prosecution procedures. Unless this is streamlined, Police will continue to have difficulty in cycle law enforcement.

Inadequate enforcement is counter productive for a range of reasons:
It encourages unsafe and unlawful cycling behaviour among cyclists;
It is a source of frustration for motorists to see adult cyclists breaking the on-road traffic laws and apparently not being penalised;
It encourages unpredictable and risk-taking on-road behaviour by cyclists and aggressive behaviour towards cyclists by motorists;
It works against the need for responsibility for correct and safe road behaviour and safe bicycle maintenance habits, by the pre-driver age group;
It runs counter to effective road safety education for teenagers, which must be supported by enforcement if knowledge learned is to be applied.

A system of effective and fair enforcement of cyclist behaviour could be developed, as cyclists are further encouraged to share the road with motorists.

Objective 6 : ENCOURAGEMENT

To maintain existing cycling levels and increase the participation rate for all types of trips.

Encouragement programs need to address both the maintenance of existing cycling levels and increasing the participation rate for all trip purposes. Accordingly, encouragement could be targeted as follows:

First Priority Target Groups

Increased cycling by regular adult recreation cyclists;
Increased cycling for short trips to local community facilities;
More responsible behaviour by junior high school students (the main focus is on this group for Education and Enforcement);
More responsible attitude by motorists and adult cyclists;
Increased cycling by senior high school/college students;
Increased awareness by transport planners and engineers, and maintenance staff.

Second Priority Target Groups

Increased cycling by women cyclists and non-cyclists;
Increased cycling by adult cyclists who have cycled in the last six months, but are not regular riders;
More positive attitude promoted by motorist organisations;
ACTION to educate bus drivers, and to increase commitment to dual-moding;
Encourage better facilities for cyclists in existing offices by commercial office space planners and building owners.

The development of a BIKE PLAN to address these issues is described later in this document.

Implementation

This document presents a draft bicycle strategy, about the role of cycling and the extent to which it should be encouraged. The community is therefore invited to comment on the issues raised here, in order to help the Government to identify a bicycle strategy which reflects the community's views.

Once the Government has agreed to the final CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 STRATEGY, work will start on developing a detailed BIKE PLAN to implement the Strategy. The BIKE PLAN will set long and short term directions and goals, as well as identifying specific programs of activities. It will involve many different parts of Government, including Health, Education, Transport and Law Enforcement.

The speed with which the BIKE PLAN can be implemented will depend on the availability of funds through annual Government budgets, and the priority which can be allocated to these activities. These decisions will need to be made by future Governments.

In order that the CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 BIKE PLAN can be coordinated and monitored across the wide range of Government and Non-Government organisations, two principal Committees could be established, with a single point of contact within the Government sector. The following arrangements are suggested:

A. That an ACT Bicycle Coordination Committee (ACTBCC) is established, to coordinate implementation of the CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 BIKE PLAN. This Committee should:

Have membership from all principal service delivery departments, user groups and non-government organisations;
Be chaired by a Senior Manager in the Department of Urban Services;
Adopt clear terms of reference, setting out its functions, performance targets and timetables;
Be required to document its activities and achievements against the terms of reference, and report annually to the Minister for Urban Services;
Set up a secretariat and, where appropriate, working groups, to implement Committee initiatives and action plans; and
Have an appropriate budget to enable the Committee to undertake its charter.

B. That a Bicycle Coordinator is appointed, with responsibility for coordinating all bicycle planning and implementation initiatives as determined by the ACTBCC, and to act as the focus for all ACT Government bicycle programs.

C. That in recognising the important role of education in bicycle promotion and safe cycling, an ACT Road User Education Committee is established, which would:

Report to the Road Safety Advisory Committee;
Be chaired by the Department of Education;
Coordinate existing road safety education resources to provide a more effective delivery program;
Devise a comprehensive programme of road user education, starting from pre school up to vehicle licensing age, with progressive pre-qualification;
Ensure that bicycle education is accorded appropriate priority in senior and primary programs; and
Devise a program of community involvement in the education of young road users.

Canberra Bicycle 2000 - Value for Money

The benefits and costs of implementing the Bicycle Strategy and Bike Plan have been analysed over a ten year period. The analysis showed that the community could benefit significantly from expenditure on bicycle programs. Costs would include the provision and maintenance of on and off road facilities, enforcement and education. Major benefits could be derived from cyclist accident reduction, reduced demand on transport infrastructure, and improvements in community and personal health.

A BIKE PLAN - Development of a Bicycle 2000 Bike Plan to Implement the Strategy

Following consideration of community views on the draft Strategy, and finalisation of the Strategy, a Bike Plan will be developed. The extent to which all views can be incorporated into the Bike Plan will depend on the availability of funds and future Government priorities.

Recommendations from studies undertaken for the Department of Urban Services by Arup Transportation Planning P/L, with GEOPLAN Resource and Town Planning, Feilman Planning Associates and DATACOL have suggested a number of actions. Reports of these studies are available from the ACT Community Library in East Row, City.

A. OBJECTIVE 1 : SAFETY

A number of key actions to improve cycling safety have been suggested. These include:

Promoting the importance of wearing conspicuous and protective clothing;
Continuing publicity about the legal requirement to wear a helmet, especially among young riders;
Monitoring and enforcing the use of cycle helmets;
Improving on-road cycling facilities, where appropriate, to enhance safety for cyclists using these facilities. Concentrating o n intersections and arterial roads, where most on-road bicycle injury accidents occur, has been suggested;
Implementing a computerised system of collecting bicycle injury data, using an expanded and improved Public Hospital Emergency Department database;
Reviewing maintenance standards for the riding surfaces on the path and road networks;
Encouraging all Government and non-Government schools to review the adequacy of all road crossing points, entry/exit points to school grounds, bike and helmet storage, and child road crossing behaviour around their schools.

B. OBJECTIVE 2 : EDUCATION

Bike safety education should be an integral part of a Road User Education Program, covering overall road user education, including the environmental and health benefits of cycling. Ideally, this should commence in preschool, and progress to senior secondary level , with progressive qualifications for teenagers, and contributing toward drivers' licence qualifications. Some suggested actions to do this include:

Preparing a bicycle user/road safety education package for junior high school students, and promoting its use in Canberra's schools;
Including a practical on-road bicycle component in this package. This course (with its on-road component) could be designed to be sufficiently rigorous for it to be suitable for possible future accreditation towards motor vehicle Driver's Licence, subject to the Road Safety Education Strategy review;
Developing and distributing information pamphlets, supporting Primary and junior high school bicycle road safety courses, for children to take home to parents, while courses are underway;
Including a leaflet addendum, with relevant information about ACT cycling conditions and laws, to the Federal Office of Road Safety booklet 'A Simple Guide to Bicycle Safety', presently being distributed through schools and bicycle retailers;
Perhaps a 'Junior Road User Handbook', which could be of a similar format to the Motor Traffic Handbook, and which could be used as resource material for school children and parents, could be considered, budget permitting;
Reviewing the role and performance of the Belconnen and Deakin Traffic Demonstration Centres, to ensure that maximum benefits are gained from their continued operation;
Raising the awareness of motorists about safe sharing of road space with cyclists, and the importance of ensuring that cyclists can be seen by motorists;
Publishing a brochure for motorists which raises their awareness of bicyclists riding on the road, and of the environmental and health benefits associated with cycling. This could be distributed with vehicle registration renewals or with driver licences;
Expanding the bicycle information component in the Motor Traffic Handbook, together with the number of questions about cycling, which can be asked in Learner Driver tests;
Ensuring that bicycle information is contained within the proposed heavy vehicle traffic handbook;
Producing specific education material for existing and potential heavy vehicle and bus drivers, to raise their awareness about safe sharing of road space with cyclists;
Establishing an education and accreditation system for road users, from pre-school to motor vehicle licence age, including pedestrian, cyclist and pre-licence driver education in the ACT, which includes education on the environmental and health benefits of cycling.

C. OBJECTIVE 3 : ENGINEERING

New Austroads Guidelines for bicycle facilities planning and design will be adopted (subject to ACT specific requirements), to ensure that cycle facilities are adequate and appropriate. Other suggested actions include:

Developing a rolling 3 - 5 year program for bicycle facilities, including:
- Provision of information and direction signs on cycle paths;
- New on and off-road works;
- Maintenance of existing infrastructure.
Encouraging owners of existing commercial and public buildings to provide adequate facilities for commuter cyclists, including parking, storage and shower/change facilities;
Progressively upgrading existing main roads, where practicable, to increase separation between cyclists and other vehicles;
Progressively upgrading the bicycle path network by:
- Minimising the use of barriers and obstructions, and improving the visibility of those that remain;
- Improving pavement design and durability;
- Extending centre-line marking;
- Improving lighting where practicable;
- Considering issues of personal security when planning new paths.
Ensuring appropriate maintenance effort, concentrating on:
- Regular inspections;
- Identification, marking and prioritising hazardous sections of pathway prior to repair;
- Repairing damaged sections of pathway to maintain standards for riding;
- More frequent sweeping with particular problem areas identified for more frequent attention;
- Cleaning pathways in floodway areas after periods of significant rainfall;
- Pruning or removal of trees or shrubs responsible for overgrowing pathways, or, with root systems damaging the pathway pavement;
- A programme of weed control to prevent growth across the edge of the pathway.

D. OBJECTIVE 4 : ENVIRONMENT

Environmental issues will be stressed in cycle encouragement and education programs, and the health and fitness aspects of cycling will be widely publicised. Some actions in support of this could be:

Promoting the use of bus and bicycle (dual mode) for longer bicycle work trips;
Encouraging commuter cycling as a way to decrease non essential car use and help improve town centre amenity;
Targeting health and sports clubs to promote cycling among their members.

E. OBJECTIVE 5 : ENFORCEMENT

A system of fair and effective enforcement of cyclist behaviour could be developed, by the following actions:

Making appropriate legislative changes, to enable Traffic Infringement Notices (TIN's) to be issued to adult cyclists, for breaches under the Motor Traffic Act and Traffic Act;
Reviewing the level of fines issued to adult cyclists for breaches of the Motor Traffic Act, to ensure consistency with those issued to motorists for similar offences;
Considering excluding traffic offences for secondary school aged children (i.e. 13+ years) from the ambit of the Child Services Act, thereby making it possible for police to issue TIN's to this age group;
Issuing Cautionary Notices and undertaking counselling of young people who have committed cycling offences;
Measuring the performance of road safety education programs by recording the number of Cautionary Notices and TIN's issued;
Perhaps cyclists who are fined for not wearing a helmet could be offered the option of purchasing and wearing a helmet as an alternative to paying a fine;
Investigating the prohibition of on-road cycling of under 16 year olds (i.e. pre motor vehicle drivers) from 100km/h speed limited urban roads in the ACT;
Investigating an effective registration system of new bicycles at the point of sale, and those bikes already in ownership, to help with theft recovery and identification of riders.

F. OBJECTIVE 6 : ENCOURAGEMENT

National Bike Week will be used by the ACT Government to promote road user safety programs and bicycle initiatives, and information on cycle facilities will be published regularly. Other actions could include:

Continuing to produce an affordable map showing bicycle facilities;
Encouraging health professionals and insurance companies to promote the health and environmental benefits available to bicycle riders;
Designing a coordinated media campaign, targeting regular adult recreational cyclists, to encourage more bike use for the journey-to-work and other trips, emphasising fitness and environmental benefits, and providing information about on-road cycling facilities;
Designing a coordinated media and promotion campaign to increase participation of infrequent cyclists in cycling, by emphasising recreation cycling and mode substitution for local trips; fitness, health and environmental benefits, in addition to personal cost savings;
Encouraging parents of sub-teenage and junior high school children to cycle regularly, as a family group, for fitness and health purposes;
Targeting senior high school and college students to maintain their cycling to a wide range of destinations, by promoting health and environmental reasons;
Seeking appropriate sponsorship for media campaigns to be directed at the late teens/early 20's age group, from the wide range of product manufacturers and magazine publishers who target this group (in relation to food, beverages and clothing);
Targeting young women to take up cycling for fitness, and health, as well as for environmental reasons;
Undertaking further research with women of all ages, (and especially those under 45 years of age), in the form of focus group discussions, with a view to gaining a clearer understanding why women cycling participation is significantly less than men;
Developing cycling encouragement programs for women and non cyclists, to upgrade cycling frequency and mode substitution for short trips;
Producing encouragement material specifically for parents and guardians of pre-teenage children, to raise their awareness in bike safety matters and their children's behaviour on bikes, for the purposes of encouraging them to become cyclist role models for their children;
Targeting junior high school aged students to upgrade road safety equipment on their bikes, wear conspicuous clothing, and decrease specific unsafe behaviour;
Seeking sponsorship for the promotion of road safety messages through the media, by appropriate product manufacturers presently targeting early/mid teen age students;
Seeking the involvement of a high profile local 'hero' (eg sport star), to promote road safe messages to young people, on posters and the media;
Approaching motorist lobby groups and insurers to publicise the CANBERRA BICYCLE 2000 Strategy, and issues sympathetic to cyclists on roads, through their membership magazines;
Improving the links between cycling and the Canberra public transport system.

Comments to Paul Ratcliffe at ratclif@pcug.org.au