Safety in numbers for learner riders

Melissa Duff, 6, has been cycling on the road for about a year, encouraged by her mother, Emma Smith (right). Picture / Greg Bowker

Auckland traffic gave a bunch of learner cyclists an untypically wide berth as they launched national "Bike Wise Week" with a foray through Epsom yesterday.

There was none of the ugliness often encountered by the region's small breed of commuter cyclists as 20 or so novices - aged 6 to greying - eased their way through sleepy suburban streets before taking their chances on busy Manukau Rd.

But Cycle Action Auckland volunteers, who provided equipment checks and confidence-building safety tips with backing from the Health Sponsorship Council, warned cyclists that they might not enjoy as much consideration from motorists when they were riding alone. Visibility was the key to keeping alive on a bike, they were told, and solo riders had to take extra care to make their intentions known to competing road users.

Cycle Action Auckland chairman Bevan Woodward expressed hope motorists would grow more considerate as cyclists became more numerous and visible in response to rising fuel prices and traffic congestion.

Although fewer than 1 per cent of Aucklanders with jobs cycled to work at the 2001 Census, his organisation is counting on a better result from the 2006 stocktake - to be taken on March 7, just days after the end of "Bike Wise Week".

Highlights of the week will include "Bike to Work Day" on Wednesday, when many local councils are treating cyclists to free civic breakfasts. A "commuter challenge" will also be held in Auckland on that day, when four sets of cyclists including rower Rob Hamill and choreographer Michael Parmenter will race cars, buses and trains into the city.

Cyclists won three of the four races of the last such challenge, two years ago.

The youngest and one of the more confident of yesterday's bunch was 6-year-old Melissa Duff, who has been riding for about a year with her mother, Emma Smith.

Ms Smith said police officers had twice demanded that Melissa get off the road while the pair were riding together, and one suggested that the youngster should keep to footpaths until turning 8.

But she believed that as well as being illegal, riding on footpaths was potentially more dangerous because of the risk of being hit by cars reversing from driveways.

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