Comments on: Flashback Friday – Mythbusting: Cyclists don’t Pay https://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2020/03/13/flashback-friday-mythbusting-cyclists-dont-pay/ Regular people riding bicycles Thu, 26 Dec 2024 23:12:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 By: LennyBoy https://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2020/03/13/flashback-friday-mythbusting-cyclists-dont-pay/#comment-173978 Thu, 26 Dec 2024 23:12:40 +0000 http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/?p=20436#comment-173978 In reply to Stan.

On-road motorcycling injuries account for nearly three times as many ACC claims as on-road cycling injuries – see https://www.acc.co.nz/newsroom/media-resources/road-injury-statistics/ . And the average claim cost for a motorcycle crash is also about three times that of the average cycling crash (~$30,000 vs ~$10,000) – one of the reasons why motorists of all forms pay additional ACC levies.

The Netherlands has that many cycle fatalities (sadly) because it has a much, much higher amount of cycling than NZ – on a per-km basis their cycle fatality rate is still only about 1/3 of ours. And on a per-capita basis, their road safety stats overall are still well below ours – which is kind of the point of the exercise…

]]> By: Stan https://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2020/03/13/flashback-friday-mythbusting-cyclists-dont-pay/#comment-173893 Tue, 24 Dec 2024 09:45:53 +0000 http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/?p=20436#comment-173893 You can apply the same argument for motorcyclists but they pay around $500 pa depending on engine size, the majority going to ACC levies. I’ve tried to get costs for cycling injuries but all I could find were figures for 2020 where $78 million was paid out but I think it is significantly more for 2023 getting close to motorcycle injury costs for that year. Additionally motorcycles don’t require any additional Infrastructure such as cycle lanes so make less demands on roading. Cyclists claim that every bicycle is one less car on the road but the fact is lanes available for cars have been reduced to provide for cycle lanes so no benefit for traffic congestion. Motorcycles filter through traffic and don’t hold up traffic so they are more beneficial for reducing congestion. I think cyclists should be charged an annual fee like all other road users as they cost the community considerably more that any benefit they claim they provide.
Looking at cycling overseas like Netherlands, which has a population 3 times that of NZ, over 200 cyclists are killed on roads each year and that is the most cycle friendly country in the world. If cycling becomes more popular on NZ expect similar fatality and injury statistics. I think cyclists are fooling themselves and others claiming it’s a safe and beneficial mode of transport. Their pedal machines won’t save the planet.

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