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Australian Cyclists Save Millions in Health Care

carectomy.com — A recent report entitled Cycling: Getting Australia Moving indicates that by improving their health, cyclists saved about $227.2 million Australian per year.

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  • upick, on 07/08/2008, -1/+19I love cycling its a great way to travel, relax or just sight see.. Australia has some great places for cyclists.. and there's always someone on the road cycling to work.... too bad I walk to work...
    • t4k3n, on 07/09/2008, -0/+5Here in Perth West Australia we just ride in the pouch of kangeroos everywhere.
    • CrazyChair, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5I place an old mattress over a bunch of wombats and then sit on it. They get me to work eventually.
  • dougvfr750, on 07/08/2008, -0/+8I'd love to cycle to work, but it's 26 miles with a 900 foot climb each way. I do it once in a while, but everyday would be tough.
    • SeventhSon, on 07/08/2008, -0/+14It would get easier if you did it every day.
      • Greatn3ss, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3truer words have never been spoken
    • Greatn3ss, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Cycling to work/school was always a good way to get in a workout - but showing up all sweaty was my only problem, I'd do it if there were showers at my school, but alas, there aren't
    • simonn, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1My commute is ~50km/32 miles (depends on exact route, which depends on traffic) with a similar amount of climbing. The first 2-3 weeks of doing it were hard, but now it is pretty easy - I certainly don't dread it like I would if I was driving!

      It takes me ~60-65 mins (+5-10 mins for traffic lights etc) each way, which is the same or up to 20 mins slower than it takes me by car and half the time it would take by public transport. And, I am getting 2 hours of good exercise a day, not wasting time sitting on my once fat ass.
    • akashra, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Uh... so? That pretty much describes my commute. 38km, 370m climbing.
      Hardly an excuse to not ride to work.
    • monoa, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1"...900 foot climb each way."

      I'm now picturing that you live somewhere on a 'Penrose Stairway':
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_stairs
  • gavinhudson, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4Great angle -- and true!
  • phreak79, on 07/08/2008, -0/+11As a devout cyclist, rock on. I suspect this is something most cyclists have known for a while now, always good to get the message out to the wider public though.
  • Sanduu, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3That's great for them
  • reubencm, on 07/09/2008, -0/+10moving from NZ to canada i am so impressed with all the cyclist routes around the city here in vancouver. during the rush hour, 10th avenue which is a bike route, is completely packed with cyclists, we just dont have the opportunity to do this in NZ as the roads are too narrow with parking on both sides of the street there isnt enough room to ride safely. props to vancouver and other cities which encourage cyclists.
    • WorldRTomi, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3Just take your place on the road/street. You don't need a "bike route" to ride a bicycle. Roads are not just for cars.
      • winmywii, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3He said there wasn't enough room to ride "Safely". Form my experience motorist are always confused as to why I am in the road.
      • WorldRTomi, on 07/09/2008, -2/+1I've done it for years. If cyclists don't use their liberty, they will use it.

        You should organise critical mass bike rides events to enhance the visibility of cyclist in the traffic.

        http://critical-mass.info/
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNR8zgoGo9I
      • marx2k, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2Ahh Critical Mass.. Make bicyclists more visible by annoying the ***** out of everyone else.
  • Fixthemedia, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Cycling has been getting more popular in my area, but in Arizona in the summer its just not easy.
    • desertDenizen, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Ubiquitous bike paths are one of the most positive aspects of master-planned communities. I'm in AZ too and grew up in McCormick Ranch (Scottsdale), where they even have tunnels just for bikes. It was a great place to be a kid.
  • LeviTheSmith, on 07/09/2008, -4/+2FREE HEALTH CARE! WOO
  • bapplebo, on 07/09/2008, -0/+19Bicycles? Bah. Over here in Sydney we ride kangaroos!
    • titantitan, on 07/09/2008, -1/+1Bloody SyndeySiders, I'd beat you on my wombat any day of the week mate!
    • ozodin, on 07/09/2008, -7/+2I hate lame Aussie's obsessed with their own Australianism. Is that even a word? Ah well.
      • bolophojep, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Whilst i agree at times, with a name OZodin you can't really make that judgement.
      • WiseAcre, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1It's a parody of lame Australianism.
    • simonn, on 07/09/2008, -0/+0Well, actually I ride a Giant OCR2.
  • Happiny, on 07/09/2008, -8/+0And by living longer as a consequence they will end up costing MORE in medical expenses over their lifetime. When are people going to realise that fighting obesity is economically a dumb move, not a smart one?
    • desertDenizen, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2LOL. Yes, let's reduce future generations' healthcare costs to zero with mandatory infanticide.
    • zacharytelschow, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1"And by living longer as a consequence they will end up costing MORE in medical expenses over their lifetime."

      I'd like to see a source on that. Although obese people lead shorter lives, they tend to have chronic health problems which require care throughout the course of their lives, which would lead me to believe that overall, their costs are higher relative to people who take care of themselves. I don't have a source, but that intuitively makes a lot of sense.
      • Happiny, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0Insights from a recent study. It was all over the news a couple of weeks ago.

        "Though obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, but this is offset by cost increases from diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained, the study says."

        Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009931168
  • fatas, on 07/09/2008, -0/+8But still we are the 2nd fattest nation after the super-lipid ***** of America
    • Smills, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3Actually, no, we are now the fattest :( Eat more Americans, make us look ever so slightly thinner.
    • 360news, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4WE are now he fattest ?
      OK - that really sucks.
      THANKS America
      • opiniastrous, on 07/09/2008, -4/+2What the hell does the US have to do with it? Accept some bloody responsibility, even if you're not one of the overweight ones.*

        *That said, I still find that study's conclusion hard to accept. I'd like to see it backed up by others one or two more times before I fully believe it.
    • WiseAcre, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3That's because our country is full of stupid bogans.
  • sgtcaboose, on 07/09/2008, -0/+7I, an Australian cyclist, just got back from a 25km ride from work. Yay for my country being the fattest in the world!
    • forceuser, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I don't even know how Australia is the fattest country in the world, if I lived there I'd be outside all the time.
      • HadBeans, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1More people are living outside here, thanks to the unrealistic cost of houses.....
  • rupertd, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4Being a devout cyclist in the heart of Melbourne, i can happily digg this.

    The only problem is, as much I want to promote cycling...other cyclists on the road can really piss me off sometimes and i'm not sure i want another 10,000 noobs on my way to work travelling at 3km/h...
    • Asshate, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I ride everyday through Sydney and I think it would be better to get the noobs on the bike, then the guns get the road.
    • akashra, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2"Guys on bikes" give "cyclists" a bad name :/
    • marx2k, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1It's like that with any form of transportation. However, I would much rather have noobs on bikes than noobs in huge SUVs.
  • 360news, on 07/09/2008, -1/+3Great to see some Aussie news on the front page.
    Shame it has to be from an American URL again.
    Dugg anyway - ride on
  • Vivifyer, on 07/09/2008, -0/+6And yet the Fat arseholes in their HSV commodores still abuse me for riding my bike, I hope they see this news and think twice before abusing the next cyclist they see on the road.
    • mr5150, on 07/09/2008, -2/+1WTF is a HSV commodore? Is that like our fat ***** in SUV's or Hummer driving retards?
      • Vivifyer, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4A Performance V8 sedan, typicaly found wrapped around light poles and trees, since 95% of their drivers are all morons.
      • the6thReplicant, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Calm down dude. It's just an Australian car. Do we have to translate everything for you or is Google too difficult for you? Do you start poking your eye out when people talk in metric? :):)
      • marx2k, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3http://www.boostcruising.com/database/genthumbs.ph ...

        HSV Commodore
  • PainToad, on 07/09/2008, -9/+1Bikes on the roads are a menace, the number of time I have to vear onto the wrong side of the road to get around the ***** heads is ridculous. They cause accidents and then bitch about it.

    A vehicle that can't go anywhere need the speed limit should NOT be aloud on public roads
    • CrazyChair, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2I usually don't mind cyclists, but there are one type that really pisses me and everyone else off. They lane split up to the traffic lights when everyone is stopped, then take off at 4km/h almost in the center of the lane. Everyone pretty much has to change lanes to get around them which causes a ***** load of congestion.

      When they stick close to the side of the road it's all good.
      • PainToad, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1That's every cyclist in Brisbane
      • simonn, on 07/09/2008, -0/+0In NSW, cyclists are allowed, by law, to take up the whole lane and pass stopped/slower cars on the left. I think it is the same in QLD. Also, you should change lanes to pass them as under Australian road rules bicycles are defined as a vehicle and therefore if you do not change lanes when passing them you are technically lane splitting.

        If you really think that it is bicycles, not motorized vehicles, causing "a ***** load of congestion" you have rocks in your head. I know that at peak hour I am going faster than most of the car for most of the time. In fact, my journey is slower in rush hour and it is not bicycles slowing me down.
    • desertDenizen, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1That's a civil engineering problem, and not a terribly difficult one to fix. Plenty of communities have bike lanes.
    • akashra, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4So wait... they caused it because you were driving on the wrong side of the road, not passing safely, and are generally impatient? Nice logic there.
  • TheRealToma, on 07/09/2008, -0/+5FYI, and I know Americans are prone to thinking this, but kangaroos generally dont hang out near people like this image depicts. Theyre generally totally absent from cities all together.
    Also, that kid should be wearing a helmet. He'd get a huge fine if he was caught riding without one in Australia.
    • gttim, on 07/09/2008, -1/+1I think the kangaroos are merely watching a TV show with a kid cycling. There is probably a very sodas and a tub of popcorn between them, just out of the picture frame.
  • tipexy, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I love amsterdam and japan's attitude to cycling. It integrates into daily lives. You don't need super special lycra or super special racing bikes. You wouldn't wear special sporty clothes to walk to the shop, why would you put on sporty clothes to ride to work.

    They take the off-putting nonsense out of day to day cycling, take it back to basics, and make it much more appealing.
    • simonn, on 07/09/2008, -1/+0"why would you put on sporty clothes to ride to work. "

      Because it is 25km/15miles each way with some significant climbs so I could not do it in my office gear. This means that I may as well wear the correct gear. Jerseys (often) stand out and make you more visible, dry quickly and smell less than t-shirts. Knicks (cycling shorts) have padding so you don't get a sore arse - which makes a difference if you ride 250km/153 miles a week.
  • redxii, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1I was thinking of getting a bike after so long, but cycling shorts or pants that don't go all the way down aren't my thing, I'm sure jeans still get stuck in chains..
    • Asshate, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4Get bicycle clips.
    • Aslan72, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1@redxii - Yup, you can fix that. Clips will even work with khakis - I just wrap them around my ankle and I can do pretty well. Also, if you don't have them, high gear might be something to stay away from - my pants would get greasy if I rode in high gear alot because my pants legs would brush up against the chain.
    • teaguecl, on 07/09/2008, -1/+1You wouldn't be so concerned about how you look in cycling shorts if you cycled more and got into shape. If your excuse for not doing something you are interested in is "I would look funny" then you really need to rethink your self image.
      • redxii, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Who says I'm out of shape? I just got hairy legs is all.
      • marx2k, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1redxii: Let your hair hang down [from your legs]
  • trollick, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1*****. Healthier people live longer and sooner or later they will start having all these illnesses associated with old age. And it costs a lot to keep old folks alive.
    • LokitheComplex, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Ah but healthy people have healthier old ages. Unhealthy people have long illnesses. Generally.
      • trollick, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Healthy and long old ages are as bad as having long illnesses but dying young. If you die early the government does not have to pay you all kind of money later on (social security, etc). I'm not making this ***** up, there were studies done.
      • LokitheComplex, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1I guess it depends on how productive people are in old age. A lot of old people are used as unpaid child care. A person who lives a long and healthy lifestyle, lives off what they earn and dies after a short illness surely must be better for a country than someone who dies in middle age after a long illness? I think its mortality that makes a lot of third world countries so poor.
  • LokitheComplex, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1That's all fine and dandy except for urethral stricture.
  • PainToad, on 07/09/2008, -1/+1I love when you get dugg down but no one makes valid point against your opinion
    • simonn, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Oh, you had a point? It read like a rant from a retard to me.
      • PainToad, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1And where was the point in that post...
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