Pedal Update No. 216 November 2014 to February 2015

ISSN 13211870 www.bisa.asn.au

A new path built as part of the Keswick Railway Station redevelopment

provides cyclists with a great underpass of both Anzac Highway and Greenhill

Road.

In this issue ... This issue has several articles on the changing laws

announced by the State Government. We cover the

Citizen’s Jury report that kick-started the reforms, the

Premier’s January response and the first of the

“factsheets” on what is proposed, which was released

in February.

We also have an article by Fay Patterson pointing how

much more we could do by looking at Queensland’s

pro-bike changes.

There’s an item on the local council elections that

were held late last year, and an item explaining the

changes we plan for Pedal Update.

One of the exciting developments since the last issue

has been the relocation of the Conservation Council of

SA to new premises on Franklin Street. This

opportunity has provided a new home for the Adelaide

Community Bike Workshop and the Bikes for Refugees

Program. Brian Jenkins has written an article on this.

Our February meeting had a talk by BikeSA’s

Marketing and Communications Manager Julian

Ferguson. Julian was lured to Adelaide from a

position as Communications Officer for the European

Cyclists Federation, and reflected on his experiences in

talking about bicycle advocacy. We have an article

summarizing the points he made.

And finally, we start a new feature that we intend to

be the main element of the new monthly Pedal

Update. It’s a brief update of what’s been happening

locally in the past month or so, with links to where you

can find out more.

Thanks to our quiz night

sponsors:

Clarks Cycles

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Chair’s Report by Ian Radbone Since the last Pedal Update, we’ve undertaken the following advocacy for

cyclists:

a letter to Adelaide City Council’s CEO about the slippery nature of the pavers on the Linear Path at Elder Park, suggesting a non-slip pathway for cyclists,

An idea for Elder Park?

(If you’ve had any nasty experiences or concerns with the pavers at Elder

Park, please tell me: ian@bisa.asn.au, or 0402 965 929)

a letter to the Onkaparinga Council regarding the Councils’ upgrade of the Willunga Foreshore, calling for a lower speed limit where there is not space for bike lanes,

a meeting with the RAA with the result that Fay Patterson will be providing a series of articles in the Motor magazine about how motorists and cyclists should interact,

continued representation of cyclists in the design of the Braund Road and Beulah Road bikeways,

a meeting with Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan, where we provided our views about the adoption of the recommendations of the Citizen’s Jury

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a submission on the state government’s plans for the upgrade of the inner ring route between Port Road and Prospect Road.

stakeholder representation for the review of the Campbelltown Bicycle Strategy.

We also stepped up our information provision during the local government

elections held in October/November (see separate article).

BISA is a constituent member of the Conservation Council of South Australia,

and BISA committee members have been volunteering to help the council

refurbish its new headquarters on Franklin Street. The Council has taken over

BikeSA’s former home, with BikeSA moving to Carrington Street. The

Conservation Council has exciting plans to turn the site into a hub for the

ecologically-minded. And when completed, the new headquarters will have

space for us to hold public meetings about cycling issues in South Australia.

Pedal Update to go monthly

From next month we will be producing Pedal Update on a monthly basis. We

know that it is not easy to find material for a more frequent publication, and it

is anticipated the new version will be shorter and designed to focus on what

the name suggests; updating you on what’s been going on recently or is

happening soon. There will be the occasional longer article, but not to the

same extent as in the past.

The new version will be designed as an electronic communication. For those

members who don’t use email we will be printing the monthly editions and

posting them every three months.

As always, we welcome contributions from members. These contributions can

range from feature articles to simply a tip about some development that we

should bring to members’ attention.

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Local government elections For the first time BISA put a database on the website providing what we knew

about the candidates’ support (or otherwise) for cycling. It was quite a difficult

exercise, particularly separating genuine support from politician’s claims of

support. I would be interested to hear from anyone who accessed and used

this information.

We were naturally disappointed to see that Stephen Yarwood was not re-

elected as Lord Mayor. He did more for cycling than any other Lord Mayor in

our history. It seems that to many in the business community he went too far,

too fast. Hopefully he has entrenched a consensus that you can create a

financially healthy CBD without prioritising the car.

Although he could be accused of “dog whistling” to those who opposed the

Frome Bikeway, the new Lord Mayor, Martin Haese, has said that as far as he is

concerned, the bikeway should be assessed on its contribution to safety.

We are hopeful that the city can continue to become a better place for cycling over the next four years and will soon be meeting with the new Lord Mayor to suggest how this could be done. While we will obviously be pushing the completion of the Frome Bikeway, we also can suggest many non-controversial improvements that can be made to cycling conditions.

Volunteers Needed!

Passionate about cycling, and love talking to people about the benefits of

riding a bicycle? The Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council is looking for

enthusiastic and friendly cycling enthusiasts to help the Council by having

conversations with residents about the barriers they may have to getting on a

bike, and assisting residents with removing those barriers.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 18 March 2015. For further

information please contact the Council’s Volunteer Services Coordinator

Rebecca O’Dell on 8366 4631 or email RODell@npsp.sa.gov.au.

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The Joinery

That’s the name the Conservation Council of SA have given its new home at

111 Franklin Street in the CBD (the old BikeSA site.) A work-in-progress at the

moment, the aim is to create a sustainability centre.

BISA is a member of the CCSA, and several committee members and

particularly Brian Jenkins have volunteered their time to get the building

ready for occupation.

The Conservation Council’s offices are upstairs, and other conservation

organisations have relocated there as well. Downstairs there is a seminar

room, a big all-purpose space, and coming soon an interactive Natural

Resources display. For anyone who called in when Bike SA were there, it has

changed a lot already.

The vision for the site includes a productive community garden (Common

Ground are helping with this), native plants, water-smart design, educational

workshops, community art and City Bikes for loan. There could be chooks,

bees ... a place to meet, to relax, to learn and to get involved. Volunteers will

provide the reception duties. To find out more, or if you would like to get

involved, go to: www.conservationsa.org.au or ring 8223 5155.

Adelaide Community Bike Workshop’s new home

by Brian Jenkins

A great opportunity has been taken with the creation of The Joinery at 111

Franklin Street.

The CBD was always the desired location for the Adelaide Community Bike

Workshop. BISA has been affiliated with the CCSA for years now, holding the

monthly meetings on their premises. Both organisations saw bikes as a natural

part of a sustainability centre, so here we are ...

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We are still operating out of two shipping containers next to the premises car

park, that part is like Plympton. However we are now under a big roof so we

can operate rain or shine. Day 1 (March 7th) brought passing ‘trade’, and power

was easy to access for some carpentry work to improve our shelving.

For the time being our hours are on Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We can extend

beyond that if we want. Lunch if we stay longer? Two minutes walk to the

Central Market. Mike Brisco continues to be the mainstay, with a good support

crew: Stephen M, Khanoosh, Gordon, Don, Patrick and Dale. The Workshop

continues to be the home for Bikes For Refugees.

The future? There’s great space inside or out to hold repair sessions, or a bike

rebuild course. With additional volunteers who could give some hours

occasionally, we’d like to open on a weekday as well. Come and visit one

Saturday morning – Mike will invariably be busy, but talking about the place is

something I can do.

We are thankful to the West Torrens City Council for the space they allowed us

at the Plympton Community Centre. There for over 3 years, we were able to

get the Workshop up and running through their help, and also hold quiz nights

in the hall.

10 completely unscientific yet surprisingly interesting observations of an Australian bicycle advocate working in Europe

by Julian Ferguson The following are notes from a talk given to BISA at our February meeting.

1. Europe is not necessarily a great place for cycling.

We shouldn’t generalize about Europe. A few countries the Netherlands,

Denmark, perhaps Germany provide models that we can aspire to. But

many other European countries Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain, France, United

Kingdom, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria ; that is, almost half of the population

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of the EU have less than 5% of trips made by bike. In Brussels, where the

European Cyclists Federation is based, cycling conditions are absolutely

atrocious.

So we shouldn’t beat ourselves up about our levels of cycling. Rather we

should look at the best for inspiration.

2. Even in the model countries, cycling conditions have been bad in the past

All modern countries had the same history: horses and walking, then tramcars,

before bicycles and later cars. The cars then took over, squeezing out other

forms of transport.

This is true in northern Europe as well. The number of daily trips by bike in

Berlin fell by 75% from 1950 to 1975. German, Dutch and Danish Cities all saw

bike trips actually decline from about 50-85% modal share to 14-35%.

The Netherlands was perhaps the first to reverse the trend. This was partly

aided by the huge increase in the price of petrol that occurred in the 1970s.

But in that country the big impetus was the “Stop the Child Murder” campaign

built on community concern to say that things had gone too far and they

needed to be reversed.

But the point is that was 40 years ago. It has taken 40 years for the

Netherlands to build the cycling infrastructure that it has today.

3. Even in the model countries people still own cars

There’s often this myth that Europe is this great place where there’s this

fantastic cycling culture – that Australia just doesn’t have because we drive

cars. We care about cars…. those Europeans just don’t…

Have you heard of the AutoBahn? Mercedes? Audi? Porsche? The VW Beetle?

People don’t ride bikes in Europe because they don’t like cars. They love cars.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany all considered cycling meccas

have universal household access to cars.

Germany has 20 per cent more cars per capita than the United Kingdom … but

the share of bike trips in Germany is 10 times higher.

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Here’s the key. You can have your cake and eat it too. If you still want bums

on bikes – you can drive, but car use must be restricted from endangering or

inconveniencing cyclists. In other words—humans are lazy creatures …. we

want the quickest way to get from A to B—and the safest.

4. Transport is nothing more than politics

The importance of politics is obvious from anyone familiar with Belgium. That

small country is pretty uniform in terms of wealth and weather. But it is

divided into two communities; the Dutch-speaking Flemish in the north and

the French-speaking Walloons in the south. The politics of the two parts are

quite different, and so are the cycling conditions, with multi-storey bike

parking only a few kilometres from towns with no bike parking.

5. It’s not just the number of bike lanes

Helsinki has about four times the amount of segregated bike lanes than

Copenhagen, but Copenhagen has four times as many people cycling. The key

is to choose where you need the special bike facilities and where you can

reduce the speeds to 30kph to make it safe to share the roads.

6. Europeans are just as sensitive about taking away car parking spaces as

Australians

This applies to businesses even more than their customers. It doesn’t matter

how many surveys you show to them about their customers. So

communication strategies have to be very clever and sensitive when car

parking is involved.

7. Sometimes bicycle advocates should shut up and not talk about cycling

Bike advocates need to know when it’s best to stay quiet. Or if you want to

push cycling, sometimes it’s best not to mention cycling, but think of other

ways to promote conditions that would be good for cycling. In a Brussels

example, a long-standing plan to covert a road connecting the new main

railway stations into a pedestrian friendly zone was not getting anywhere.

Campaigns by angry cyclists would do nothing, but a family-oriented “picnic

the street” event, when lots of families just took it over with their picnic rugs,

did the trick.

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8. The Dutch are amazing

The Dutch are very cost-conscious. They want the cheapest way to get from A

to B. That’s why their promotion of cycling has been so sustained. But they’ve

also used this cost-conscious approach to come up with some amazing and

clever infrastructure. Just google “Dutch Cycle Roundabout” and look at the

pictures.

9. We can be smarter in the way that we deal with the media

It’s conflict that makes news. The media don’t want happy news stories. So we

should take advantage of bad situations such as a cyclist killed or injured in a

crash by pointing to the conditions that have allowed this. Also we should

point to the factors that are sensitive to the community, particularly the safety

of children.

10. Cities are starting to be no longer the place for cars and governments have

to start dealing with a post-car world.

Into the future, city centres are not going to be places for cars. Increasing

density means that the inefficient use of space that cars represent is becoming

increasingly intolerable. It’s just a question of how long we take to get to this

realization: how much space we have in the first place, how intense is the

activity in the city centre and how much we tolerate inefficiency.

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Citizen’s Jury and the response We were pleased with the outcome of the Citizen’s Jury on relations between

cyclists and motorists, which was reported in November. It reinforced our

view that once reasonable people start to think about it, and are presented

with the evidence, they will conclude that more cycling is beneficial for

everyone, including motorists.

BISA particularly welcomes recommendations to include questions about

cyclists in driver-testing, allowing cycling on footpaths where there is no safer

alternative, and the infrastructure recommendations, such as trialling new (to

SA, at least) forms of line marking to discourage motorists from trespassing

into bike lanes.

You can read the jury’s report at the SA Government’s YourSay website.

BikeSA CEO Christian Haag and BISA Chair Ian Radbone had a meeting with

Minister for Transport Stephen Mullighan in January to discuss the

recommendations of the Citizen’s Jury. The Minister was keen to hear what

we thought of the recommendations before the Government provided its

response during the Tour Down Under.

It was clear from that response that the Government was keen to see as many

of the Jury’s recommendations adopted as possible.

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The full response, including the Citizens’ Jury report itself, can be found at the

YourSay website. There is also a media release saying what the Government

will be doing.

All of the Jury’s recommendations were “supported”, apart from three that

would be “investigated”. Probably the most significant items to be adopted

are to allow cycling on footpaths and to legislate a minimum passing distance

for motorists. These are discussed further in the next article.

Consultation over cycling on footpaths will be completed by June 2015. The

response notes that “the proposed new legislation will bring South Australia

into line with Queensland, Tasmania, ACT and NT which allow cyclists of all

ages to use footpaths when cycling. The Government acknowledges that,

where possible, the preferred option is to “provide safe options for cyclists and

motorists to share the road.”

The response says that the Government will “allocate $250,000 in seed funding

to a Greenways and Bicycle Boulevard program, which will include a focus on

disappearing bike lanes and bicycle black spots”. We are not sure how this fits

in with existing commitments, i.e. whether it is new money or not. In any case

the amount is very small in relation to the need.

One of the recommendations to be “investigated” is to conduct trials of

reduced speed and altered traffic flow. It seems the Government is quite

serious about this, in that the media release announced that the Government

would this year “approach the Adelaide City Council about trialling changes to

speed limits and traffic flows within the CBD”. Note that the Council’s Smart

Move Strategy has already ruled out the idea of one-way streets in the CBD,

which BISA would be wary of in any case. But of course we would welcome

lower speed limits.

There are plenty of other promises, e.g. installing more bike cages at train

stations, bike boxes at intersections, trialling new line marking, incorporating

knowledge of cyclists right’s in the drivers’ test and developing a new road

safety campaign to protect cyclists.

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All in all, BISA is pleased with the response, although we note that we are still

to hear of any serious funding commitment to safer cycling infrastructure.

Read the government’s response to the Citizens’ Jury and see what you think.

New road rules for cyclists

As we note above, the Government is keen to move on at least some of the

Citizens’ Jury recommendations, and at end of February announced a

consultation on a legislated minimum passing distance, and allowing cycling on

footpaths. You can find a factsheet on the proposed changes and a feedback

form at http://yoursay.sa.gov.au/yoursay/new-cycling-laws.

The factsheet notes that Councils will be able to ban cycling on specific paths

where it is deemed unsuitable and that in any case, under Australian Road Rule

250, cyclists have to give way to pedestrians.

A critical element of the proposed minimum passing distance rule is that

motorists will be able to cross solid lines into another lane when doing so. The

proviso of course is that they have a clear view of approaching traffic and can

do so safely. Hopefully this will put at ease the minds of motorists who might

be worried about being stuck behind a cyclist struggling up the hills face on a

road divided by a continuous white line. There’s more on this in Fay

Patterson’s article that follows.

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Changing the rules — Queensland leads the way

by Fay Patterson

Queensland is trialling the “metre rule” for the next two years in a move being

watched with interest by other states. This isn’t the only road rule change

occurring in the Sunshine State, with many more coming into effect on 1

January this year. This article recaps Queensland’s newest amendments and

what they’re intended to achieve.

The SA government has cited the Queensland experience when announcing its

proposed 1 metre passing rule. Perhaps we could learn from the other

changes as well.

“The metre rule”

At the moment in SA (as with most states and territories), there is no specific

road rule relating to overtaking bicycles. This means that it’s not legal to pass a

cyclist within the same lane, or overtake a cyclist when the lane lines are

continuous (as opposed to dashed).

Now, anyone who uses the “real world” road system knows that these rules

are more honoured in the breach than the observance (using the original

meaning, where “more honoured” = “better applied”). That is, while it would

be fantastic to have roads where cars only pass cyclists in the same way as for

other cars, the reality is that this isn’t feasible on the vast majority of our

streets and roads. The alternative holding up lots of drivers, a lot would

just worsen relations between cyclists and motorists.

Of course, a driver must pass a vehicle being overtaken at “a sufficient distance

to avoid a collision with the vehicle or obstructing the path of the vehicle”. But

motorists passing other cars don’t do so within the same lane, so aren’t taught

and don’t always develop an intuition for “a sufficient distance” in this

situation.

This is where the “metre rule” comes in. Actually, it’s not just a metre – cars

must leave 1m when passing cyclists in speed zones of up to 60km/h, but 1.5m

in higher speed zones – and it came into effect in Queensland on 7 April 2014.

At the same time, other road rules have been changed to allow motorists to

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cross continuous centre lines, straddle lane lines or drive on painted traffic

islands when passing cyclists – a win for common sense.

Zebra and children’s crossings

Motorists must give way to pedestrians at zebra and children’s crossings – and,

in SA, “wombat crossings” i.e. a zebra crossing on a road hump. The

Queensland changes extend this protection to cyclists and allow cyclists to ride

across a zebra or children’s crossing.

The original decision not to include cyclists was because cyclists travel faster

than pedestrians. Apart from the (very real) fear factor for pedestrians, this

makes it difficult for motorists to give way. However, this rule has created

ambiguity (drivers must give way to some people at crossings, but not others),

made it difficult to give cyclists priority at crossing points, and made it

inconvenient for cyclists using shared paths and footpaths (where legal).

The Queensland changes address safety concerns by requiring cyclists to come

to a complete stop before using the crossing. Cyclists then have to proceed

slowly and safely, give way to any pedestrians on the crossing and keep to the

left of oncoming cyclists and people using mobility devices. Drivers have to

give way to cyclists on the crossing. Maybe not the most convenient outcome

for cyclists, but it protects pedestrians and helps drivers comply, so it’s another

common sense win.

Ever come across a bike lane that you don’t want to use?

Legally, you have no discretion: if a bike lane is provided, you

must use it. Then there’s the driver who hasn’t noticed that

there’s no sign or it’s outside of the time limits (i.e. it’s not a

bike lane), or isn’t aware you want to turn right up ahead…

Whatever the reason, he/she is annoyed you aren’t where you

have to be, and is willing to make it obvious!

In Queensland, a cyclist can now choose whether or not to

ride in a bicycle lane where one is provided. This change is

consistent with the rules for other special purpose lanes (e.g.

buses don’t have to use bus lanes and drivers don’t have to

use transit lanes).

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Cycling in bicycle lanes

A common sense win? Yes, for cyclists, but many non-cyclists think this means

costly bicycle lanes will go unused, with cyclists using traffic lanes and slowing

traffic instead. It’s a pity this hasn’t been communicated better.

Cyclists on roundabouts

Any driver on a road (except a multi-lane road) must drive as near as

practicable to the far left side of the road. For cyclists, this has implications at

roundabouts. Roundabouts are particularly unsafe for cyclists and the safest

practice at single-lane roundabouts is to “occupy the lane” – a clear

contradiction to the “keep left” requirement.

So, one Queensland amendment is to remove this. Cyclists will not have to

ride on the far left side of the road on a single lane roundabout. They will be

allowed to ride on any part of the road appropriate for their point of exit on

single lane roundabouts. Cyclists will not be required to “occupy the lane”, but

at least the option will be there.

While a good change, this isn’t as “common sense” as the other changes simply

because many cyclists (and motorists) don’t understand the importance of

occupying the lane as a safety measure. But at least cyclists aren’t faced with

breaking the law to adopt safe practice.

Other rules we could look at

In South Australia a car at an intersection controlled by

traffic lights has to give way to pedestrians “at or near the

intersection who are crossing the road the driver is entering”

(as shown at right).

In Queensland, the car must also give way to “a rider of a

bicycle at or near the intersection who is crossing the road

the driver is entering on a marked foot crossing” (i.e. the

dashed crosswalk lines). It would be good to see how well

this works and whether it’s something for SA to consider.

In the Northern Territory, cyclists don’t have to wear helmets if they are

cycling off-road (and not racing). This opens a can of “helmet war” worms, but

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I’ll be brave enough to wonder whether this has given rise to higher injury

rates and whether the Park Lands could one day be helmet-optional. For the

record, international evidence indicates that children and the elderly are more

likely to a) suffer falls (due to poorer balance) and b) suffer worse head injuries

if they do have a fall (due to skulls being frailer). So there is a case that helmet

laws should differentiate between children and adults (and pensioners?). Of

course, this also applies to pedestrians and car occupants (the latter are partly

covered by child seat requirements), and there have been proposals for

helmeting both types of road users…

I’ll be interested in whether BISA members have any other proposals, but if too

much feedback is about helmets, I’ll write an article explaining the “for” and

“against” evidence, and otherwise refuse to be drawn into a long and divisive

debate!

Work being carried out by DPTI on highlighting sections of the bicycle lane network in the Adelaide CBD.

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In brief:

The new recreational loop around Port Adelaide also better links Semaphore with Port Adelaide. See a video of a ride along the loop at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQugqfkP0uU&feature=youtu.be&a

A new median crossing of Greenhill Road at Porter Street is now open.

DPTI was seeking feedback on other median changes planned for Greenhill Road. Unfortunately the closing date was 4 March, but they will probably accept late submissions.

The ring road around Adelaide City Council will be upgraded to improve traffic flow between Port Road and Prospect Road. This will have implications for bicycle infrastructure along the route and crossing the route, including at Braund Avenue. The plans can be seen at the Infrastructure SA website. Unfortunately comments closed 30 January.

The contract to review the Frome Bikeway has been awarded to Melbourne company, Huss. (The Studio for Human Understanding of Social Spaces).

Traffic lights on the Frome Bikeway appear to have been adjusted to encourage a less stop-start ride on that route. (We wrote to the former Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood in June suggesting this.)

The Barossa Council has established a Bike Hub at Tanunda. Designed to support touring cyclists, it features repair facilities, lockers, information on routes and showers.

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The intersection of the Parade West and Rundle Street in Kent Town has one of the State’s highest crash rates involving cyclists. It is being upgraded, using for the first time in South Australia, a raised platform at the intersection.

An explanation of the project can be seen at the DPTI website.

Campbelltown City Council is reviewing its bike plan. At this stage the consultant team undertaking the project has not been announced, but an invitation to comment has been made. Phone 8366 9222 or go to the council’s website.

Adelaide City Council has opened consultation for new shared use paths in the Park Lands, including an extension of the Park Lands Trail. This includes a path connecting Prospect Road with LeFevre Terrace (hooray!) and another alongside South Terrace (also hooray!) You can find out more about it and how to comment at http://yoursay.adelaidecitycouncil.com/shared-walking-cycling-path

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Thanks to our sponsors ...

Pedal Update is a newsletter of the Bicycle Institute of South Australia Inc., published four times per year. The Bicycle Institute is incorporated in South Australia. Material published in Pedal Update is copyright unless otherwise stated. Articles and graphics may be copied and republished by non-profit organisations, provided the author and Pedal Update are given credit. Opinions published in Pedal Update are not necessarily those of the Bicycle Institute.

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