Brisbane has been chosen as the host destination for next year’s International Cycling Safety Conference 2019.
Running from 18-20 November 2019, it is the first time that the conference will be held in the Southern Hemisphere since the inaugural conference in 2012.
Hosted by the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), the conference will provide a forum for experts to present on the new research, challenges or solutions in cycling safety.
More than 400 delegates are expected to attend from a range of backgrounds including behavioural science, public health, engineering, urban design, psychology and future technologies.
Abstracts are now open and welcome on the following topics:
- Safety-related behaviours & attitudes of cyclists & drivers
- Safer bicycles & motor vehicles
- Cycling education
- Safe cycling in current & future cities
- Cycling infrastructure
- Cyclist interaction with connected & autonomous vehicles
- Naturalistic cycling studies
- Bicycle crash & injury causation & prevention
If you're interested in making a submission, please visit this link.
It is hoped that the conference will also spur on new government enthusiasm for the completion of bikeways as well as the creation of new, connected and separated places for people to ride.
Riding a bike is safer than sitting in a chair
While we should always do more to make it safer and easier for more people ride, it’s important to remember that riding a bike is in fact safer than sitting in a chair.
Bicycle Network’s Crash Report 2017 showed that the change of being involved in a crash while riding a bike is minuscule, less than 0.003% on any given day and 1% in a year.
At the time, Bicycle Network CEO Craig Richards said, “While our data shows that crashes are minimal, they are still avoidable and it is clear that the number one action we need to take to make bike riding even safer is to improve separation between bikes and cars.”
A key recommendation from the Crash Report was that if we are to invest in reducing the risk for people who ride bikes, a national data source needs to be created to provide greater clarity around who is at fault when a bike crash occurs and what the cause was.
Read Bicycle Network's Crash Report here