Safe cycling ads to air on anniversary - 17 July, 2006

A television commercial which aims to promote road harmony between cyclists and motorists will go to air tomorrow to mark the first anniversary of Amy Gillett’s death. The 29-year-old Mt Helen cyclist was killed and five of her Australian Institute of Sport teammates injured when a learner driver lost control of her car, veered across the road and crashed into the group as they trained for a road race in Germany.

As her husband Simon, parents Denis and Mary Safe and two of her injured teammates attend a memorial service for Ms Gillett near Leipzig tomorrow, the first television advertisement promoting safe cycling will go to air on Channel Ten in Australia.

The advertisements have been funded from the Amy Gillett Safe Cycling Foundation, set up to honour Ms Gillett’s memory and to promote road safety awareness. The 30-second ad features a close-up of a man and a woman arguing, assumed to be in a domestic situation, before the picture pans out to reveal the woman on a bike and the man behind the wheel.

Foundation general manager Melinda Jacobsen said the current relationship between cyclists and motorists was at boiling point. “Currently, an average of 35 bike riders are killed on the nation’s roads each year and 2500 seriously injured, with the majority of these collisions involving a motor vehicle,” Ms Jacobsen said.

“Both sides need to understand the perspective of the other so the road can be shared harmoniously. “Rising petrol prices and an increasing focus on healthy living have seen a dramatic rise in the number of regular cyclists taking to our roads. “The Amy Gillett Safe Cycling Foundation is about providing a new perspective to both cyclists and motorists, rather than apportioning blame.”

As well as assisting the other members of Ms Gillett’s team who were injured in the accident, the foundation offers scholarships to aspiring female cyclists. Mr Safe said his daughter would have approved of the television commercials. “We’re very pleased, the foundation is doing a good job with a lot of good work going on behind the scenes,” Mr Safe said.