Children riding bikes on footpaths no more risk than scooters, says medical journal

Under New Zealand law bikes with wheels larger than 355mm in diameter must be ridden on the road, ruling out most children's bikes, but making it legal for scooters to be on footpaths. Photo / 123RF

Children who ride bikes on footpaths travel at similar speeds as kids on scooters and pose the same low risk to pedestrians, according to a New Zealand Medical Journal article released today.

The research comes as cycling advocates continue to lobby for a law change to allow children aged 12 and under to ride bikes on the footpath.

Under New Zealand law bikes with wheels larger than 355mm in diameter must be ridden on the road, ruling out most children's bikes, but making it legal for scooters to be on footpaths.

In 2014 Lower Hutt mum Jo Clendon took a petition to Parliament asking for the law to be changed to prevent young cyclists being forced onto the road.

"I wanted the rule changed for children, their parents and caregivers, over 65s and also people with significant disabilities for whom it's just not safe for them to be on the road."

The petition was considered by the Transport Industrial Relations Committee.

It argued children are generally not ready to cycle on the road safely and need the opportunity to learn to cycle in a safe environment that is easily accessible.

Clendon said although many children already used footpaths for bike riding the law still needed to change.

"Different people would tell me 'My little kid got told off by a cop for cycling on the footpath'."

There is currently no legal minimum age to cycle on the road, although police recommend children under the age of 10 should not ride on the road unsupervised.

At the same time the New Zealand Transport Agency [NZTA] states that children may be ready to ride on the road unsupervised by age 11.

In another case Clendon said an insurance company threatened to sue a child after they collided with a car leaving a driveway, and caused damage to the car.

The mum of two said the arguments around pedestrian safety and cyclist safety at driveways seemed at odds with the fact scooters were legal.

She pointed out that because of the law school bike instructors who teach road safety to children from year five, are not allowed to teach footpath cycling safety.

This includes warning pedestrians on approach by ringing the bike bell, using spoke beads so the bike makes a noise when pedalled or just calling out to be heard.

"While it's illegal for kids to be on the footpath the school instructors can't mention that at all. End of story."

Max Field and Zoe Field ride on the footpath to and from school in Pt Chev because it is safer than riding on the road. Photo / Dean Purcell

The New Zealand Medical Journal article authors Romane Baland, an urban engineering student from France, research fellow Edward Randal and Associate Professor Michael Keall, both from the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago in Wellington, found scooters and bikes posed the same low level of risk to pedestrians and travelled at the same speeds on footpaths.

Of a total 105 primary school aged children observed riding to schools in Wellington during July and August last year, 77 were on scooters and 28 on bikes, all on the footpath. Only three of the bikes were ridden on the road.

The study found both scooters and bikes ridden on the footpath went downhill at very similar speeds, around 21 to 23 kilometres an hour.

The fastest speed recorded was by a bike going downhill on the road at 26km/h. The average footpath speed was between 10 and 11km/h.

It also stated that young cyclists would be unlikely to impose increased injury risk to pedestrians beyond what's already posed by children riding scooters.

The NZ Transport Agency said the Government last year asked the Ministry of Transport and the Agency to investigate the proposal as part of a wider package of regulatory changes to improve walking and cycling safety. It was likely to be considered in the coming months, the NZTA said.

Bike Auckland chair Barb Cuthbert said biking to school was fun for children, empowering and the sign of a healthy community.

"But asking children to always follow the letter of the law and ride amongst traffic on 50km/h streets isn't fair.

"When children and parents make the rational choice to ride safely on the footpath, that's telling us we need to fix our streets, or the law, or both.

"Legalising footpath cycling for children and guardians is a logical step along the way to more bike-friendly cities for riders of all ages."

Riding on

Linda Wong with her kids Max Field, age 7, and Zoe Field, age 5. Photo / Dean Purcell

Zoe Field has been cycling to kindergarten and now school for almost a year. The 5-year-old Auckland girl rides her bike on the footpath with older brother Max, 7, and mum Linda Wong.

The trio bike to and from Pt Chevalier School each day, about a kilometre each way, and always on the footpath along Pt Chevalier Rd.

Wong occasionally rides on the road or walks with her children but said she would love for her children to bike along the footpath legally and to be able to accompany them without breaking the law.

"I think it should be made legal because it's been done by default anyway. It would have taken away a whole possibility of her enjoying riding too and from kindergarten everyday if we couldn't ride on the footpath."

Wong said if her daughter didn't ride on the footpath the enjoyment of cycling would have been lost because she was too young and vulnerable to ride on the road.

"My daughter was four when she was cycling with me on the footpath. Even if she was really confident I wouldn't have let her on the road."

She said the Pt Chevalier community was extremely tolerant of children biking on footpaths.

"And we are always aware to be courteous. We always acknowledge pedestrians and so hello."

She estimated about 15 per cent of the school's children, about 90-plus, biked or rode scooters to school.