102 mums, dads and children cycle for life

19 August 2009

The finale was one hundred and two cyclists participating in a police escorted bike ride mostly on shared bike/pedestrian paths and short stretches of roads in the Northern Beaches - the culmination of five months’ work by a group calling itself Cycle For Life NSW.

The launch, supported by the NSW BikePlan, involved local cubs, scouts, girl guides and many of their parents, at the Balgowlah Oval.

“We simply intended to reach out to our own Balgowlah Scouts and Mosman 1St Girl Guides, but word of mouth quickly spread which lead to an avalanche of kids with over 100 parents and children turning up on the day,” said Balgowlah Scout Leader, Mr Ed Dugan.

“It shows that there is a ground swell of parents wanting kids to ride more often but in the knowledge that they are riding in a safe environment.”

In March 2009, Ed Dugan and fellow cyclist Ron Krueger attended a sub-regional workshop organised by the NSW BikePlan (and facilitated by project management, environmental and infrastructure consultancy, Parsons Brinckerhoff) , and involving the Manly/Mosman Bicycle User Group, local council, employers and government authorities.

The workshop was part of the NSW Government’s commencement of work in 2008 on a new NSW BikePlan to promote and encourage cycling as an everyday activity.

A project team, originally established and jointly lead by the Roads and Traffic Authority and the Department of Environment & Climate Change & Water, had the shared responsibility of developing and delivering the BikePlan.

“When Ron and I attended a workshop in 209, both short and long term initiatives were discussed and the RTA liked the idea of a Safe Cycling Badge for the Scout and Girl Guide movement,” said Ed Dugan.

“Ron and I formed a team, engaged in the leg work and consulted with local authorities to garner interest in the project.

“We realised that as a community-based group who are passionate about cycling, and with the support of organisations and local businesses, we could get the project off the ground and running.”

Invitations were sent to local mayors, councillors, politicians and principals of local schools to motivate them to attend and consider the program as worthy of support, said Ron Krueger.

“We were especially pleased to see Warringah Councillor Christina Kirsch praise the efforts of the Cycle for Life NSW team.

“Christina has been instrumental in getting Warringah Council to devote 10% of its road budget to cycling. She is keen to meet with us to discuss future biking activities.

“While our group wishes to get more people to cycle more often, we need dedicated cycling infrastructure and a more cohesive cycling network to achieve this aim.

“People are becoming increasingly more aware of the health, financial and environmental benefits of cycling and the fact that bike sales have outstripped car sales over the past nine years clearly shows a growing interest in cycling.

“But there’s no way I would let my young daughters out on the road until we have dedicated cycle routes,” added Mr Krueger.

Guest speaker the RTA’s Matt Faber said that to date, work on the new NSW BikePlan involved extensive stakeholder and community consultation, a number of detailed technical studies, and the preparation of local community bicycle encouragement initiative studies for seven inner city, suburban and regional country centres including one that centres around Brookvale-Dee Why.

“A feature common to all these centres is that more than 50 % of car trips there are less than 5km many of which could be done by bicycle,” he said.

Mr Faber said that it was wonderful to see so many families at Balgowlah for the Scouts and Guides Safe Cycling program.

“Local communities form the backbone of society and seeing the enthusiasm of the children and their parents means that community spirit is alive and well here.

“The organisers of today deserve credit for their skills and efforts in making today successful.”

In addition, Janelle Laing, Youth Liaison Officer with Sydney City Police talked about the role of the Bike Police more importantly how they have managed to break down barriers and create a more human face to the police force in local areas such as Manly.

She also stressed that there was no excuse for not wearing a correctly fitted helmet.

Prior to the police escorted ride overseen by Sergeant Gary Bainbridge from Manly Police, children’s bikes underwent a comprehensive safety inspection check list, devised and conducted by local bicycle shop, Le Spit Cyclery, who also helped organise a number of rigorous cycling games.

“We’re simply raising the awareness levels of the benefits of cycling and targeting the mums and dad, and their kids, many of whom want to participate but are hesitant because of the dangers on the road,” said Ron Krueger.

“At the same time, we need to educate drivers to show respect to riders and vice versa. These are all behavioural changes and hopefully, within time and given the collaboration between governments and groups such as Cycle for Life NSW, we can see more individuals feeling comfortable riding a bike on the road.

“More importantly, we need to see local government and relevant authorities dedicate substantial funds to build the necessary infrastructure which will let these mums and dads and their children feel safe riding a bike.

“In the meantime, we will continue to garner support from organisations such as the RTA, DECCW, local police, Bicycle NSW, and Council, to expand the Cycle for Life program.”