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Sustrans applauds Australian state of Victoria for considering radical cycling safety proposals

Ideas include allowing cyclists to treat red lights as Give Way signs

Sustrans has praised the Australian state of Victoria for its willingness to think outside the box when it comes to cycling safety. Victoria is currently considering a radical list of proposals, which includes allowing cyclists to treat red lights as Give Way signs and a ban on the use of headphones while cycling

VicRoads is the road and traffic authority in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is currently reviewing its cycling-related road rules following a rise in the popularity of cycling in the state in recent years. In July, it posted an online survey to gauge people’s attitudes.

Questions related to many possible changes. While treating red lights as Give Way signs and banning the use of headphones were two of the more eye-catching suggestions, others included allowing motorbikes to share bike lanes, allowing cyclists to use the footpath provided they gave way to pedestrians and requiring drivers to keep a distance of at least a metre from anyone on a bike.

Bristol-based cycling charity, Sustrans, responded positively to VicRoads’ open-mindedness. Speaking to The Bristol Post, the group’s regional director, Ian Barrett, said:

"These are certainly an interesting set of ideas, some more radical than others. It's good that the Australian state of Victoria is thinking outside of the box with making cycling safer and more convenient.

“What would help the most in Bristol would be to design deeper cycling integration into the road system. Reducing traffic speeds and extending the network of high quality routes where cyclists don't need to come into contact with many red lights or vehicles will make the most impact, enabling more people to cycle for their everyday journeys."

The Post also spoke to Bristol cabinet member, Gus Hoyt. A keen cyclist himself, he went further in his support.

"I agree with giving way on a red light if it was treated as a proper Give Way and not a green light. It could keep the traffic moving and prevent cyclists clogging up junctions."

VicRoads is keen to emphasise that at present it is merely gathering information. Speaking to Australian newspaper, The Age, the organisation’s vehicle and road use policy director, James Holgate, said:

"It's a long journey from posing questions in a survey to changes being made. There were 11,000 responses and we are still analysing the data along with information from recent research and cycling crash statistics."

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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9 comments

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MaxP | 10 years ago
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This will not work in England. The way things are done and the way different modes of transport are ranked, are far to ingrained into the mindset of people.

Has anyone thought of how many fatalities would occur before it finally clicked into peoples heads that road traffic procedures have changed.

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jacknorell replied to MaxP | 10 years ago
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MaxP wrote:

This will not work in England. The way things are done and the way different modes of transport are ranked, are far to ingrained into the mindset of people.

Has anyone thought of how many fatalities would occur before it finally clicked into peoples heads that road traffic procedures have changed.

From all I've heard Australian drivers are even more car-centric & "me first" than English ones. Maybe it'd work better here than in Oz?

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brooksby | 10 years ago
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road.cc mentions that this was picked up in the Bristol Post.

Have a read of the comments section on that article.

Bristol cyclists rank somewhere below baby-killers, on the whole, in the opinion of the average Bristol Post reader.

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justin baines | 10 years ago
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no to red lights as giveway, would just make it 'open season' on cyclists

yes to the ban on headphones

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Airzound | 10 years ago
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You gotta laugh ………… Sustrans  24

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antigee | 10 years ago
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Not quite true

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/vicroads-rejects-suggestions-of-radica...

Lived in Melbourne for a couple of years and though some local councils do great stuff for cyclists VicRoads is not a supporter of innovation

My impression this survey is that the questions on understanding of and attitudes to existing road rules appeared to be an attempt to profile in some way the people responding

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Metaphor | 10 years ago
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France is phasing in nifty new 'give way on red' signs for cyclists.

Under no circumstances does this new French traffic regulation allow bicycles to cut across a flow of traffic (which would be dangerous).

The only new manœuvres now permitted are treating a red light as a give way sign when turning right at a crossroads or when going straight ahead through a T-junction.

Please see the following pages (and remember they drive on the right):

http://www.paris.fr/accueil/Portal.lut?document_id=114227&image_number=2

http://www.paris.fr/accueil/Portal.lut?document_id=114228&image_number=2

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A V Lowe | 10 years ago
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York has places where cyclists do not have to stop at red light. It can be delivered simply and immediately in UK without any changes in legislation, and be selectively applied to locations where 2 key factors apply.

1) cyclists are kep waiting for excessively long periods in a signal sequence, often doubling their journey times in the process.

2) treating the stop line as a give-way line causes no danger to the cyclist or adverse effect on other road users (as borne out by Oxcam Survey 10 years ago - 5000 regular cyclists surveyed)

If traffic engineers actually got out and did serious monitoring of sites with regular reports of cyclists going past red lights the clear message that Bad Design invites Bad Behaviour might eventually get through

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Initialised | 10 years ago
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Any proposals to force vehicle manufacturers to fit collision avoidance tech to new cars?

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