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After Mike Hall's death, local riders say Canberra roads are safe

Cyclists in Australia's capital say they will continue to enjoy riding...

Cyclists in Canberra insist that local roads are some of the safest in the country, in spite of the recent death of Mike Hall on the Monaro Highway while competing in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race.

Hall was killed last week, shocking the cycling community.

Canberra Cycling Club president Nathan Edwardson said that it was important to continue riding as normal.

"Generally in Canberra the drivers are quite courteous and pass with reasonable amounts of distance," he told the Canberra Times.

"People who heard the news about Mike didn't think twice about going out riding, but more likely considered what route they were taking."

While not everyone gives exactly one metre, people have been giving greater distance [when overtaking] and that definitely helps," he said.

"There are some people who are not following the rules, and unfortunately when it's a car versus a bike, it's the bike that comes out worse."

Viking Cycling Club President Simon Tennent agreed.

”Generally Canberra is a fairly safe cycling city," he said.

"It's very uncommon for cyclists to come back from a weekend ride and have an experience with near misses and safety issues."

Local cyclist Michael James said: "The trucks are big and scary, but the truckies are bloody good.

"But with the ordinary motorists, you just don't know what they're going to do."

Earlier this week we reported how one thousand cyclists gathered in Sydney to ride in memory of Mike Hall.

Kristoff Allegaert, who was leading the IWPR when news broke on Friday morning of Hall’s death in a road traffic collision near Canberra, led the ride to commemorate his friend and rival.

The Thursday had seen the pair exchange the race leadership several times as they battled to be the first to reach the Pacific Ocean.

The tribute ride began at the Rapha Cycle Club in the Surrey Hills and ended at Sydney Opera House where the IWPR, cancelled by organisers after Hall’s death, had been due to end.

Rides also took place in other cities across Australia, with the race capturing the public’s imagination since the 70 competitors left Fremantle, Western Australia a fortnight ago.

Among them were Adelaide and Melbourne, both of which Hall past through in the days before his death.

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5 comments

Avatar
gmrza | 7 years ago
2 likes

What is becoming frustrating is the fact that there has still been no official statement from the police about what happened.  I think I am not alone in saying that a lot of people would like some answers, and the first step would be an official statement from the police.

Avatar
dodpeters | 7 years ago
1 like

Before Mike Hall's death local riders say Canberra roads are dangerous:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-drivers-flout-metre-ma...

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 7 years ago
6 likes

Well according to the Australian governments own data they're talking bollocks.

ACT has the single worst record for cyclist fatalities as a % of overall fatalities on the road and by some distance and has progressively got worse over the years.

over 7% of all traffic fatalities in ACT between 2010-2014, this increased from 2.5% in 2005-2009.

same with hospitalisations, 20% of ALL hospitalisations on the road are people riding bikes, the highest rate of all states in australia, that's actually pretty shocking.

So, no, ACT roads are not safe at all and the stats back that up!

If you look at the stats for all of Australia cycle injuries/deaths as a % of all road KSI has gone up dramatically, this means as other modes have gone down (got safer), cycling has got more dangerous.

But no, let's not enforce the giving space rule, let's force people on bikes to wear noddy hats and blame them for their demise for not having XX garment on, let's come out and say untruths about how safe our state is for people on bikes, utter BS.

 

 

 

Avatar
grasen | 7 years ago
0 likes

Canberra is completely surrounded by N.S.W. so in a way it is in N.S.W.

Avatar
Jackson | 7 years ago
1 like

Canberra isn't in NSW...

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