fyi ;)


Get cycling on the agenda: TAC Road Safety site:
http://www.woj.com.au/2006/06/07/get-cycling-on-the-agenda-tac-road-safety-site/

Hi all,

The Victorian TAC Road Safety site has sections
relating to Parents, Schools, Older Drivers,
Motorcyclists and Fleet. Virtually all the bicycle
relevant information on this site relates to parents
instructing their children riding bikes. Now cyclists
are legally road traffic, refer to our Australian Road
Authorities and Bicycle Rules page.

Cyclists (unfortunately) have their own category on
the daily Road stats. Now the simple point that needs
to be made is that cyclists do require their own
section on the TAC Road Safety site. This would be a
one-stop shop for all of TAC's cycling information and
clear a lot of
misinformation and confusion people encounter when
dealing with road incidents.

This campaign is literally just asking for cycling
information to be collated more efficiently by Federal
& State organisations, and could potentially have a
positive effect on other states to also effectively
take cycling more seriously than the current
fragmented approach. If you believe this initiative is
required, please refer to the points made in our draft
letter and feel free to pass on this information to
your cycling contacts.

Please address your letters/emails of support to:

* TAC Chairman: James MacKenzie
* TAC CEO: Paul O'Connor
* c/o: Transport Accident Authority, GPO Box 2751,
Melbourne VIC 3001

* TAC Road Safety Contact page:
* Email: info@...

* John Lenders MLC: (Minister with Workcover and TAC
portfolio)
* Email: john.lenders@...

________________________________________

Draft letter

Dear ______________

After looking through the TAC Road Safety website for
information regarding cycling it became apparent that
there isn't any centralised point where this sort of
information can be found. You've produced sections
aimed at a number of different road using groups,
including motorcyclists so you're clearly addressing
as wide a section of the community as possible which
is great, but this is unfortunately one glaring
omission.

There are an increasing number of cyclists on our
roads, partly due to recent rises in fuel prices.
Cyclists as road users are particularly vulnerable and
the level of misconception regarding the rights and
responsibilities of cyclists by both cyclists and
other road users exacerbates this vulnerability and
results in impatience and dangerous practices from all
groups.

Given that you are an organisation which is a
recognised authority on road use and which is likely
to be referred to by many people seeking information
on road use, it would be fantastic if you could offer
some
information of pertinent regulations and best
practices when using bicycles as transport.

The TAC's mission is to reduce road trauma and its
impact on the lives of accident victims in a caring,
efficient and financially responsible manner,
Including a new cycling section, as bicycles are
legally road vehicles, would further enhance your
organisations objectives.

There are a number of sources of this sort of
information with regards to vehicular cycling such as
Bicycle Victoria and the Wheels of Justice group who
are perhaps not as well known as yourselves but who
I'm sure would be more than happy to help you compile
this sort of information.

Certainly their websites http://www.bv.com.au and
http://www.woj.com.au contain a wealth of information.

Also State government organisations, such as VicRoads
and Department of Infrastructure already have existing
cycling information that would readily fit it with a
new section on the TAC Road Safety website.

While this does of course mean that this information
is readily available, it is perhaps not as easy to
find nor are these groups as closely associated with
best road use practices as yourselves.

Please consider adding a dedicated section for
cyclists as road users to your website and other
published material.

Yours sincerely,

______________



Yarra Bicycle Users Group
http://www.yarrabug.org
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Abbotsford, Alphington, Burnley, Carlton North,
Clifton Hill, Cremorne, Collingwood, Fairfield,
Fitzroy, Fitzroy North, Princes Hill, Richmond
------------------------------------------------------

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