Remember that Tour De France crash that took down the peloton last year? Ouch!
That's exactly what came to mind when we heard about a Hunter New England Health plan to make cycling safer.
It made us wonder what happened to the woman who caused the crash.
She was public enemy number one for a while there, even more than Will Smith or Chris Rock - depending which side of that fence you're on.
We recall threats to jail the woman being reported in the media. Turns out she was fined $1780 and her identity was kept confidential to keep the mobs at bay.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was also public enemy number one for a while there, after his famous comment on the COVID vaccine rollout: "It's not a race. It's not a competition."
Canberra Times cartoonist David Pope had fun with that one, as you can see here.
Mind you, ScoMo seems to have an uncanny ability to shake off insults. It's all water off a duck's back to him.
Anyhow, as we said, Hunter New England Health wants to make cycling safer. [If only a lycra-clad Tony Abbott was back running for office, hey. He wasn't quite as unflappable as ScoMo.]
The health service is running a project that collects data on cycling injuries and shares it with councils to use in the development of cycling infrastructure.
Topics commends the health bureaucracy for this initiative, but we imagine it might be a while between the injuries being recorded and the councils getting around to putting the infrastructure in place.
Anyhow, the health service says its Safer Cycle Ways project will collect information about "preventable aspects of cycling injuries". It plans to interview people who have been admitted to hospital after a cycling accident.
University of Newcastle PhD researcher Simon Davidson said more than 12,000 Australians were hospitalised each year due to injuries sustained in a cycling accident.
He knows how it feels. He was once hit by an open car door while cycling.
"People are avoiding cycling to work because they don't feel safe and this is leading to increased traffic, parking issues and less physical activity," Simon said.
Kate King, a trauma nurse consultant at John Hunter Hospital, said bike accidents can be serious and have long-lasting effects, including chronic pain and mental health issues related to fear and anxiety.
"Prevention is the best cure for trauma," Kate said.
John Lean, 72, was interviewed for the project after he slid on railway lines in wet weather, breaking his pelvis.
"Some hazards can be easily fixed with small changes in infrastructure such as rubber grips," John said.
Getting back to ScoMo though, we'll all be getting a crash course in federal politics over the next month or so. While we all want cycling to be safe, we could do without safe political seats.
