An Indaily item of 18-Jun-2012 at http://www.indaily.com.au/?iid=64281#folio=2 stated that in Australia, serious injuries on roads had risen 1.7% for car occupants, 6.8% for motorcyclists and 6.9% for cyclists.
521 words so not repeated here. The AIHW report at www.aihw.gov.au was covered in another AC discussion at http://www.adelaidecyclists.com/forum/topics/increase-in-cyclist-cr...
This prompted the usual anti-cyclist response published on 21-Jun-2012. Fortunately today 25-Jun-2012 two letters published that support cycling. See below.

http://www.indaily.com.au/?iid=64472#folio=11
Published in Indaily of Thursday 21-Jun-2012 on page 11.
Riding for a fall
Don Wilson
RAA spokeswoman Wendy Bevan says that “we” need to do something to maximise the safety of cyclists (Indaily, June 18). Well, motorised or not, when it goes wrong for cyclists, the consequences are usually severe. I nearly collided head-on with a bicyclist who was hurtling down Norton Summit Road and cutting corners! We’ve all seen the weekend motorised speedsters zoom past us on hills roads. We don’t need to do anything for them. No education will stop it. And it’s hard to identify a cyclist who has missed your car purely because you were travelling slowly and had the presence of mind to hit the brakes and not swerve. You are too shocked and too sensible to turn the car around and chase them. Just get them off those dangerous roads. Rights versus obligations? Time to focus on the latter.

http://www.indaily.com.au/?iid=64558&sr=0#folio=11
Published in Indaily of Monday 25-Jun-2012 on page 11.
Drive safe
Kara Turner
So all cyclists hurtle down Norton Summit Don? I bet they all wear lycra and sit in coffee shops too. Like all car drivers are drunks who fail to give way. It’s easy to stereotype. Cyclists come in all shapes and sizes. With the rising costs of fuel and living we as a society should be able to look at cycling as a form of transport to the shops, work, with the family on the weekend etc. Just because you nearly collided with a cyclist once and you see some out riding in the hills on the weekend doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support safe infrastructure and education for all roads users.

http://www.indaily.com.au/?iid=64558&sr=0#folio=11
Published in Indaily of Monday 25-Jun-2012 on page 11.
Drive safe
Rob Silva
Don Wilson “Riding for a fall” is probably right but only if he’s not talking exclusively about cyclists. The simple reality is that vehicle accidents that occur every day are accidents only in the sense that they are unintentional. How many accidents cannot be traced to human error? Yet we keep demanding safer cars, safer roads and better emergency retrieval. Of course there are cyclists who take stupid risks. But guess what? They probably take similarly stupid risks when they’re driving their cars.
And I’m not accusing Don of falling into this category, but there are plenty of drivers who seem to have some visceral objection to cyclists sharing the roads and think nothing about the risks to life and limb that they will foist upon cyclists in order to make their displeasure known.
Personally, as a sometime cyclist, I won’t ride on major roads because the risks posed to me by careless, vindictive or just plain old oblivious drivers are simply too great. As a most-of-the-time driver, I see a lot of stupidity exhibited on the roads but I’d have to be pretty selective to look past the idiocy and selfishness of drivers and focus purely on that of cyclists.
My own preferred solution is a) for drivers to accept cyclists as the legitimate road users they undoubtedly are (hint: pretend they’re another vehicle, then the rules are obvious) and b) for the registration system to register drivers rather than vehicles – then we can happily put a registration plate on a bicycle without making cyclists pay extra.