About Brake
Brake is an independent charity working across New Zealand to make roads safer, prevent road death and injury, and care for road crash victims. Brake disseminates international research to road safety and fleet professionals, engages schools and communities to spread road safety education and runs public awareness campaigns. It is also a provider of specialist support for people bereaved in road crashes, providing support books for children and adults to bereaved families following a crash.
Brake was founded in the UK in 1995, and now has domestic operations in the UK and New Zealand, and works globally to promote action on road safety.
For more information contact Caroline Perry, development director, , t: 021 407 953, Brake, PO Box 133026, Auckland, 1146.
Submission
Brake strongly supports the proposal for the SkyPath across the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The SkyPath will provide much needed active and sustainable transport options between the CBD and the North Shore.
Increased levels of walking and cycling provide significant health, environmental, economic, and community benefits. The SkyPath provides the opportunity to promote walking and cycling as a viable option for commuting between the North Shore and the CBD. It will also be an easily accessible route for pleasure walkers and riders, including visitors to Auckland.
Persuading people to integrate active travel into their everyday routines for commuting, exercise and/or leisure is a simple, constructive way to achieve significant health benefits: incorporating physical activity into everyday life through activities such as walking and cycling is as effective for weight loss as supervised exercise programmes[1].
Research has also found that, on top of the physical health benefits of active travel, people who commute by walking, cycling or public transport have better mental health than those who drive to work. Active commuters are better able to concentrate and less stressed than car commuters[2].
The SkyPath will also contribute to Auckland as a liveable city. People value access to safe, sustainable and active travel in the places where they live and work. Research has also shown that people are willing to walk and cycle more for health benefits, and to reduce their impact on the environment, however many do not feel safe enough to do so. The SkyPath provides a segregated walk and cycle route away from the dangers of fast traffic.
Traffic-free and segregated cycle paths and footpaths make journeys much safer for those on foot or bike by separating them from traffic entirely. The evidence in favour of segregated routes is robust, both nationally and internationally[3]. Studies have shown that where safety measures are implemented to offer greater protection and safe passage for people on foot and bike, it can lead to significant rises in walking and cycling[4],[5].
There are major environmental consequences of so many journeys being made by car, including carbon emissions, air quality and noise pollution.More people leaving their vehicles and walking or cycling instead as part of their everyday routines would make a big difference to this.
A reduction in vehicle use and increase in active travel also improves safety: as the vast majority of crashes are attributable to driver error[6], fewer journeys by car would lead to fewer crashes and casualties and a safer, more pleasant environment for walking and cycling in particular.
There is also some international evidence for the “safety in numbers” theory that increasing walking and cycling brings about safer walking and cycling. European data shows that countries with high levels of cycling, such as Norway and the Netherlands, have lower cyclist death rates[7].
There are also community and economic benefits to more people walking and cycling. Lack of physical activity is a key contributing factor to obesity, which has a large cost on the economy. Improved public health will help to reduce costs on the health sector. Local shops and services can also benefit from increased footfall when there are more people walking and cycling.
Brake would, however, also like to highlight that linking the SkyPath to safe walking and cycling routes at either side of the bridge is vital inenabling more people to walk and cycle. Particularly in areas that are densely populated and/or have a lot of people moving about (or the propensity for such), the movement and safety of pedestrians and cyclists should be prioritised across whole areas where people live, work and spend recreational time, so they can move relatively freely without being endangered. Brake believes making whole communities safer for walking and cycling is critical in making families and children feel able to walk and cycle as a natural, every day activity. For example, whole towns, villages and cities can be made safer for pedestrians and cyclists by successful implementation of 30km/h limits.
[1]Start Active, Stay Active: a Report on Physical Activity from the Four Home Countries’ Chief Medical Officers, UK Department of Health, 2011
[2]Walking or cycling to work improves wellbeing, University of East Anglia, 2014
[3]Beca Infrastructure Ltd, “Research Report 389 Cycle Safety: Reducing the Crash Risk”, October 2009
[4] Where widespread 20 limits have been introduced levels of walking and cycling increased by 20% Citywide Rollout of 20mph speed limits, Bristol City Council Cabinet, 2012
[5] Making the Case for Investment in the Walking Environment, University of the West of England and Living Streets, 2011
[6]Dimensions of aberrant driver behaviour, Uppsala University, 1998
[7]Pedalling towards safety, European Transport Safety Council, 2012