the cycle of life and death
More from knackered downunder
A campaign by the Australian cycle industry to show that cycling is not dangerous – in fact, fairly safe – can’t be easily dismissed as a simple exercise in self-interest and it quotes some interesting academic proof.
According to the Cycling Promotion Fund’s website, choosing not to cycle because of fear of accidents is likely to lead to a net loss in health outcomes for individuals and the community.
The website has been launched to promote an awareness of the needs of cyclists among politicians ahead of an election scheduled later this month for New South Wales. Although Australia’s most populous state, enthusiasm for cycling – according to the website – is lowest.
As evidence in favour of cycling, the website cites an Australian report that indicates cyclist fatalities can be rare, occurring once every 17 million kilometers traveled. Meanwhile, a Danish study – over 14 years to measure the health benefits of cycling – found that with all other factors being equal, cycling to work lowered the risk of death by 40%.
As cycle numbers increase, so too, says the fund, does road safety. And as most car trips in Australia are short, there are further opportunities for cycling. In Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, 38% of car trips are less than 3 kilometers and 53% are below 5 kilometers. Similar data has been reported for Sydney and Brisbane, other major cities are similarly congested.
Official statistics from the Australian Sports Commission show cycling is the fourth most popular physical activity in Australia after walking, aerobics and swimming. Participation in cycling grew 8.5% from 2001 to 2005, but the take-up rate in New South Wales has been low due to unfriendly infrastructure.
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Having been involved in cycle campaigning in London in the 90s, it was a real uphill struggle to be believed on these sorts of points. You at least have better weather in Oz. But that is another one of the myths. The likelihood of being caught out in the rain in London, if I remember, is actually as low as something like 7 or 10 times a year, assuming five days a week commuting. It is all to do with our perceptions of probabilities, but don’t get me started on that…
You do need good facilities. It helps, if you are riding more than five or six miles, to have a shower available at the end.
I found, when working in Fleet St, that a 13-mile cycle commute left me sharper. Any reading time on the train that I missed out on I made up for in overall productivity.
Once you have developed an urban cycle technique (and there are even “schools” where you can learn like this one: http://www.londonschoolofcycling.co.uk/home.html), it turns out to be fairly safe.
But for beginners, getting started can be difficult. You need to make sure you are well kitted out, with efficient and safe gear. And, once you are serious, you need to treat it like proper training. I used to cycle quite hard every day, and without realising it began to suffer from overtraining syndrome, even though I did not consider this training. I’d recommend different levels of intensity, and not feeling driven to ride each day. Another thing poeple should do is take the nobbly tyres off their mountain bikes. They slow you down a lot. And the impact of cold on the knees is even greater than Ron Hill described in one of my earlier posts on running, since at speed you have windchill at work, which will make knee cartilage even stiffer.
I suspect that with congestion and global warming, there will now be a lot more momentum behind cycling provision, and our cities will start to feel a bit more Dutch.