Uselss WA Cyclist & Cycling Crash Stats

[michaelp7757]

Some interesting points & stats on cycling crashes.

Couldn't find the Office of Road Saftey report online.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/271 ... d-lessons/

[Trucker Jord]

Here's a link to the ORS report. See page 15 for cyclist stats:
http://www.ors.wa.gov.au/Stats/Annual/a ... -2014.aspx

"WA cyclist fatalities and critical injuries
In 2014, eight cyclists were killed and 18 were critically injured as a result of a crash in WA, an increase of 19% on the five-year average. All these fatalities, and most of the critically injured 83% (15), were due to crashes in the Metropolitan area. Most of the cyclist fatalities 75% (6) and those critically injured 78% (14) were male and most were adults twenty years or older. None of these fatalities were children under 16 years of age. Most of the fatalities 63% (5) and half (9) the critically injured cyclists were involved in crashes in the morning between 6.00 am and noon. Of the cyclist fatalities 75% (6) were killed as a result of a collision with a motor vehicle, in rear end crashes (2), in right angle crashes (2), in an indirect right angle crash (1) and in a head on crash (1). The remaining fatalities (2) occurred as a result of crashes involving just the cyclist, one where the cyclist hit an object and the other due to a fall triggered by a cardiac arrest.
Information available to date about the six fatal multiple vehicle crashes suggest that the cyclist was primarily at fault in four of the six crashes, either because of inattention (2), failing to give way (1) or contravening traffic lights (1).
Of the critically injured cyclists, 83% (15) were injured in multiple vehicle crashes, most often in right angle 44% (8) and rear end crashes 22% (4). There where three cyclists that were critically injured in single vehicle crashes, two where the cyclist struck a pedestrian (11%) and one who was involved in a non-collision crash (6%)"

[wellington_street]

No mention of the fault split for non-fatal crashes. Hmmm.

The fatal crash numbers are statistically insignificant.

[Trucker Jord]

From the newspaper article:
{Mr O’Brien, who was transport minister in the first Barnett Cabinet from 2008 to 2010, said teaching children how to ride bikes safely made a lot of sense. “Cyclists don’t need a licence or any type of qualification,” he said. “There is no guarantee that they know basic road rules — like what to do at traffic lights, how to not cut corners or to not ride all over the road.}

From the report (page 10):
{19% (43) of motor vehicle drivers/riders who were involved in fatal crashes had either no licence or an expired, inappropriate, suspended, or cancelled licence.}

[Thoglette]

The fatal crash numbers are statistically insignificant.

But we have three government ministers claiming they are - Road Safety Minister John Day (in Walquist),
Police Minister Liza Harvey 27 Jan, and now the ex transport minister Simon O'Brien 15 April (all links internal, originals quoted there in)

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” Fleming

As I've already said today
Aushiker has ...shown the quoted statistics are basically useless

[just4tehhalibut]

Well that was a newspaper headline to get your attention. But then you read the back of the article and there's bits that make sense, it would be really good if we could get out of this a beefed up TravelSmart program working with the schools so that more kids ride to school instead be SUV cargo, that the schools teach them to ride bike and behave in traffic, learn the road rules and miracle for WA, learn to be polite to other road users. Maybe a review of that recent law that allowed L-platers to be taught how to drive largely by their parents. It doesn't matter if we aim to make our kids better cyclists or better motorists, we all benefit in the end; right now all we have is a system that makes them people on bikes or people in cars, not cyclists or motorists.

Maybe come back with that reply to Mr O'Brien, see if he is any good at doing anything other than hyping up stats.