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I've noticed a few themes developing in forum threads about the lack of road events and how PPA is dropping the ball. Don't bash the PPA here. It's pointless. As a member driven organisation it is run by a 12 person executive committee elected by the members at the AGM on a 2 year cycle, 6 members are replaced every year. Joseph de Maistre said of democracy that every nation gets the government it deserves. And this is true of the PPA. At the last AGM a staunchly pro road riding list of candidates, drawn from the local road clubs and others with credibility in promoting road riding and racing in the Western Cape, appeared on the ballot for election to the committee. Not one of the pro road candidates was voted in while the mountain bike sympathetic candidates all got voted on or returned. I was one of the casualties, as was Lance Burger who had served on the committee for many years and was instrumental in the court case against CSA about sanctioning on fun rides. It is the right of members to choose who they want to represent them. I respect that. Of 15,000 members less than 200 can be bothered to spend 3 hours at the AGM. As Joseph de Maistre said, you get what you deserve. But if you don't go to the AGM and vote for the candidates that will represent your needs then please don't come to the hub and bash the PPA for doing what those members who turn up and vote want the PPA to do. Stand as a candidate or vote and make a difference. Or stop the bashing. Full disclosure: I was forced to resign as a member of the PPA and am no longer eligible to be a committee member. While a committee member I was instrumental in locating and purchasing the offices the PPA now occupies, a task that had been on the agenda for a number of years prior to me being elected. I was also the chairman of the safe cycling committee that launched the stay wider campaign on a national basis using celebrities like the late Gugu Zulu, DJ Fresh, Joel Stransky, DJ Suga and Anne Siroky. We sold thousands of stay wider shirts and had a presence at every major road race nationally. Edit: Removed the facts that may be construed as "sour grapes" to avoid issue of voting being clouded. Edit: Made title more relevant.

It's good to see that work has started on the Constantia to Tokai cycle path with widening of the sidewalk on Kendall to include a cycle lane and signs up at Ladies Mile about NMT improvements. It is great to see and should be completed by summer, I would hope.

I got this from a friend on facebook. Posting it here to see if someone can assist. From Sonia: Hello friends, I have some awful news which I am sharing with you in the hopes that someone will come forward with information or be able to help in some way, even if it is just by sharing this post/ passing on the relevant info. Andre-Louis was knocked over by a four-by-four in a malicious and intentional ‘hit and run’ attack during an organised, closed-off, cycle race on Sunday afternoon. I witnessed the entire horrifying assault as I was cycling just behind Andre at the time. The assailant was driving on his own in a black BMW X5 with the registration no. CY 25 JY GP. I only had a chance to glance at the registration plate before leaping out of the way to prevent the driver from running me over after I checked on Andre and pulled his mangled bike out from under the car, so I am not 100% sure of the ‘J’. The attack took place during the BestMed Capital Classic road race, on the N14 North just outside of Olivenhoutbos at about 1pm. The assailant was driving illegally on a road lane that had been closed off from cars by the race organisers and was meant for the exclusive use of cyclists taking part in the event. We were forced out of this lane and into the emergency ‘yellow’ lane by the cars that were refusing to drive in the traffic in assigned ‘car’ lane. The driver took offence to Andre cycling on the edge of the yellow line and close to the lane meant for cyclists but taken over by a stream of cars. He then pulled over and stopped in the emergency lane in front of us, waited for Andre to cycle past him, and then tried to knock Andre off his bike by driving into Andre’s back tyre as Andre was cycling. He knocked Andre’s back tyre several times before accelerating hard into him, throwing Andre off the bike and onto the road. Please could you pass the vehicle details on to your friends in the Gauteng area of SA, tweet it on twitter, and please come forward if you have any info about the whereabouts of the driver or who he may be. Also, please, if there were any further witnesses to the attack please contact me on facebook, my cell: 0835653181 or soniaphillips@gmail.com. Any info/help will be appreciated. This man is a danger to all road cyclists and further, due to the malevolent nature of the attack, to the public at large.

we see a lot of anecdotal evidence of accidents etc yet we see very little empirical evidence and research based articles on cycle safety. It would be nice to see pressure on state institutions to conduct more research on cycle safety. As there are growing nos of cyclist and large revenues spent on cycling and taxes collected on cycling sales, then cycling organisations and civic authorities should look more into esearch in the area. so stop moaning and start the ball rolling...here my little bit Login REF: Select The influence of a bicycle commuter's appearance on drivers’ overtaking proximities : an on-road test of bicyclist stereotypes, high-visibility clothing and safety aids in the United Kingdom Reference: Walker, I., Garrard, I. and Jowitt, F., 2014. The influence of a bicycle commuter's appearance on drivers’ overtaking proximities : an on-road test of bicyclist stereotypes, high-visibility clothing and safety aids in the United Kingdom. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 64, pp. 69-77. Related documents: PDF (author's accepted version) - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader Download (1564kB) | Preview Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.11.007 Abstract This study looked at whether drivers overtaking a bicyclist changed the proximities of their passes in response to the level of experience and skill signalled by the bicyclist's appearance. Five outfits were tested, ranging from a stereotypical sport rider's outfit, portraying high experience and skill, to a vest with ‘novice cyclist’ printed on the back, portraying low experience. A high-visibility bicycling jacket was also used, as were two commercially available safety vests, one featuring a prominent mention of the word ‘police’ and a warning that the rider was video-recording their journey, and one modelled after a police officer's jacket but with a letter changed so it read ‘POLITE’. An ultrasonic distance sensor recorded the space left by vehicles passing the bicyclist on a regular commuting route. 5690 data points fulfilled the criteria for the study and were included in the analyses. The only outfit associated with a significant change in mean passing proximities was the police/video-recording jacket. Contrary to predictions, drivers treated the sports outfit and the ‘novice cyclist’ outfit equivalently, suggesting they do not adjust overtaking proximity as a function of a rider's perceived experience. Notably, whilst some outfits seemed to discourage motorists from passing within 1 metre of the rider, approximately 1-2% of overtakes came within 50 cm no matter what outfit was worn. This suggests there is little riders can do, by altering their appearance, to prevent the very closest overtakes; it is suggested that infrastructural, educational or legal measures are more promising for preventing drivers from passing extremely close to bicyclists. Details Item Type Articles Creators Walker, I., Garrard, I. and Jowitt, F. DOI 10.1016/j.aap.2013.11.007 Departments Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > Psychology Publisher Statement Walker_2013.pdf: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2013, DOI 10.1016/j.aap.2013.11.007 Refereed Yes Status Published ID Code 37890 Find a copy