Aushiker: Bicycling & Bushwalking in Western Australia

Research into the effectiveness or otherwise of one-metre safe passing distances for cyclists is limited. In part because such rules have only been promulgated in a limited number of jurisdictions including fourteen states in the United States.  To my knowledge no such legislation exists in Australia and in my personal experience the current so called “safe passing” in Western Australia are a waste of time.

Love (2012) has examined the effectiveness or otherwise of the three-foot passing law which took effect in Maryland (MD), United States (US) in October 2010.  Of course the law as only been in place for a limited time and the research undertaken by Love was some 11 to 12 months after the law was passed.  Is this a sufficient time period for a law to become embedded into the psychic of motorists?  Love’s findings suggest not.

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In February 2012 I had the rather nasty experience of a very frightening close pass by an International Energy Services fuel tanker operator. I documented my experience in my blog posting and in a hardcopy letter to Mr Vin Stenta, Chief Executive Officer of International Energy Services. I sent the letter and a copy of the video on DVD to Mr Stenta in February 2012.

In conclusion I have come to the view that Mr Stenta does not give a toss about the safety of vulnerable road users, and that Mr Schwarz is more concerned about International Energy Services corporate reputation than the safety of vulnerable road users.

A very sad state of affairs when the “reputation” of company becomes more important than a human life, a very sad day indeed.

Roll forward to April 2012 and out of the blue a comment was posted on my blog by Mr Bernie Schwarz, who it turns out is the Regional Operations Manager East / West at International Energy Services. Mr Schwarz comment was

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The George Institute for Global Health has a released a paper titled The Pedal Study: Factors Associated with bicycle crashes and injury severity in the ACT which summarises the findings of a study into the characteristics of bicycle crashes in different cycling environments in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the investigation into the type and severity of injuries associated with the type of clothing worn. The objective of the study is inform strategies to reduce bicycle crashes and the severity of the associated injury.

The pedal study has been released as a final report with a July 2011 publication date.

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