The Victorian TAC Road Safety site has sections relating to Parents, Schools, Older Drivers, Motorcyclists and Fleet. Virtually all the bicycle relevant information on this site relates to parents instructing their children riding bikes. Now cyclists are legally road traffic, refer to our Australian Road Authorities and Bicycle Rules page.

Cyclists (unfortunately) have their own category on the daily Road stats. Now the simple point that needs to be made is that cyclists do require their own section on the TAC Road Safety site. This would be a one-stop shop for all of TAC’s cycling information and clear a lot of misinformation and confusion people encounter when dealing with road incidents.

This local campaign is literally just asking for cycling information to be collated more efficiently by Fed & State organisations, and could potentially have a positive effect on other states to also effectively take cycling more seriously than the current fragmented approach. If you believe this initiative is required, please refer to the points made in our draft letter and feel free to pass on this information to your cycling contacts.

Please address your letters/emails of support to:

• TAC Chairman: James MacKenzie
• TAC CEO: Paul O’Connor
• c/o: Transport Accident Authority, GPO Box 2751,Melbourne VIC 3001

• TAC Road Safety Contact page:
• Email: info@tac.vic.gov.au

• John Lenders MLC: (Minister with Workcover and TAC portfolio)
• Email: john.lenders@parliament.vic.gov.au

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Draft letter

Dear ______________

After looking through the TAC Road Safety website for information regarding cycling it became apparent that there isn’t any centralised point where this sort of information can be found. You’ve produced sections aimed at a number of different road using groups, including motorcyclists so you’re clearly addressing as wide a section of the community as possible which is great, but there is unfortunately one glaring omission.

There are an increasing number of cyclists on our roads, partly due to recent rises in fuel prices. Cyclists as road users are particularly vulnerable and the level of misconception regarding the rightsand responsibilities of cyclists by both cyclists and other road users exacerbates this vulnerability and results in impatience and dangerous practices from all groups.

Given that you are an organisation which is a recognised authority on road use and which is likely to be referred to by many people seeking information on road use, it would be fantastic if you could offer some information of pertinent regulations and best practices when using bicycles as transport.

The TAC’s mission is to reduce road trauma and its impact on the lives of accident victims in a caring, efficient and financially responsible manner, Including a new cycling section, as bicycles are legally road vehicles, would further enhance your organisations objectives.

There are a number of sources of this sort of information with regards to vehicular cycling such as Bicycle Victoria and the Wheels of Justice group who are perhaps not as well known as yourselves but who I’m sure would be more than happy to help you compile this sort of information.

Certainly their websites http://www.bv.com.au and http://www.woj.com.au contain a wealth of information.

Also State government organisations, such as VicRoads and Department of Infrastructure already have existing cycling information that would readily fit it with a new section on the TAC Road Safety website.

While this does of course mean that this information is readily available, it is perhaps not as easy to find nor are these groups as closely associated with best road use practices as yourselves.

Please consider adding a dedicated section for cyclists as road users to your website and other published material.

Yours sincerely,

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