Published August 2022- Terence Fitzgerald of Napier and his small dog Bailey were struck and knocked off his bicycle by a car at a Taradale Road/Hyderabad Road roundabout resulting in a heart attack. Reporter James Pocock/Video Warren Buckland.
A Napier man still living the consequences of a cycling accident last year is not surprised to learn that the city is the most dangerous in the country for cyclists.
Crash data analysis in Waka Kotahi’s Communities at Risk Register 2022 found that cyclists within the Napier City area facedthe highest personal risk in the country, based on five years of fatal and serious injury crash data from 2017 to 2021.
He suffered two trauma-induced heart attacks shortly after the incident, which left him with four stents in his heart. As a result he will be taking heart medication for the rest of his life.
He said he still believed spreading awareness of the risks to cyclists through media was key to raising awareness for both drivers and cyclists and reducing the issue.
“Since my accident, I am still looking at cyclists out on the road with no helmet and no hi-vis, weaving in and out of traffic and they just have no idea what the implications are if they get hit by a vehicle,” he said.
“Firsthand I know how hard that concrete is. It’s hard.”
He said he also often saw drivers dangerously cross the centreline to get around cyclists rather than slow down, creating further risk.
To work out the personal risk in each area for incidents involving cyclists, Waka Kotahi divided the five-year annual average of death and serious injury (DSI) by how many millions of hours of travel (MHrs) by active road users there have been.
Terence Fitzgerald returned to the scene of his accident in Napier with Bailey and Hawke's Bay Today last year to observe driver behaviours. Photo / NZME
Napier had a personal risk figure of 23, much higher than the national mean of six.
A Napier City Council spokeswoman said NCC took the issue very seriously and was working on projects, co-funded by Waka Kotahi, to separate cyclists from vehicular traffic for the safest solution in the long term.
“These projects include Transport Choices, to create a safer and more enjoyable cycling experience on Tennyson St, and Streets for People, which is focused on improvements to Carlyle St,” the spokeswoman said.
Wairoa District also tops the list in several categories nationwide for personal risk, including all deaths and serious casualties, crashes involving motorcyclists, incidents at urban intersections and incidents involving loss of control or head-on collision in a rural speed zone greater than 70km/h.
Wairoa District also had the second highest personal risk in the country for incidents caused by speed and the third highest for incidents involving young drivers of light vehicles between 16 and 24, drivers older than 75, incidents with a pedestrian involved, incidents where fatigue was involved and incidents where lack of seatbelts was a factor.
Wairoa mayor Craig Little said was not able to comment on the findings of the data until he had more specific details about the incidents used, but it was something he expected the Wairoa District Council transport committee would look into.
