Are cyclists to blame for bike accidents? - ABC Perth - Australian Bro... http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/01/28/4169728.htm 28 January, 2015 10:34AM AWST Are cyclists to blame for bike accidents? By Claire Nichols The Road Safety Minister Liza Harvey has told the media that the majority of fatal bike accidents are due to cyclist error. The Minister was speaking at a press conference when she said cyclists were often to blame for crashes. "The vast majority of cycling accidents where there's been a very serious injury appear to be the cyclist's error in contravening signals and contravening stop signs and those sorts of things," she said. Her office later clarified that the Minister was referring to fatal bike accidents in 2014. John McGlue spoke to the CEO of Bicycling WA Jeremy Murray, to find out his response to the Minister's comments. "That's obviously a concern. We would want to be doing more to improve road safety and organisations like Bicycling Western Australia really do need to be doing more to encourage better behaviour amongst bike riders," Mr Murray said. "Hopefully the government can support us in that and at the same time we also need to be doing more education for drivers so that they actually understand what the rights of bike riders are when they're on the road." Cycling groups and the Greens want new laws to force motorists to maintain a one-metre gap when passing cyclists. The West Australian government will consider changing road rules to improve the safety of cyclists but is refusing to support the mandatory one-metre rule. Bike path ( ABC) More from ABC Perth Home Programs News Weather Emergencies Photos and Videos Top of the page Recipes Listen Live Change to standard view 1 of 1 Terms of Use Contact Us Privacy Policy © 2014 ABC 29/01/2015 9:19 AM