{"id":409772,"date":"2026-01-13T08:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T08:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/409772\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T08:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T08:15:12","slug":"plea-for-patience-on-sa-roads-ahead-of-tour-down-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/409772\/","title":{"rendered":"Plea for patience on SA roads ahead of Tour Down Under"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n 13 January, 2026
\n \n <\/p>\n

RAA is\u00a0urging\u00a0drivers and cyclists\u00a0to\u00a0be courteous and\u00a0follow the road rules\u00a0during the Tour Down Under, as cyclist injuries and deaths continue to\u00a0rise in SA.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The number of\u00a0cyclist\u00a0crashes on\u00a0SA roads continues to increase\u00a0at a concerning rate\u00a0\u2013last year\u00a0three\u00a0cyclists\u00a0were killed, while\u00a087\u00a0suffered serious injuries and\u00a0457\u00a0suffered minor injuries, according to SA Police.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alarmingly, cyclist\u00a0serious injury\u00a0and fatal crashes have\u00a0risen by 34% in\u00a0the last five years\u00a0(an average of\u00a090\u00a0per year\u00a0between\u00a02021-2025 versus\u00a067\u00a0per year\u00a0between 2016-2020).\u00a0<\/p>\n

With thousands of recreational and professional cyclists set to be hitting SA roads\u00a0in\u00a0January\u00a0during the Tour Down Under, RAA is\u00a0asking everyone to be patient, and reminding both motorist and cyclists of\u00a0road rules\u00a0to keep everyone safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When passing cyclists, drivers\u00a0are required to\u00a0give a\u00a0passing distance of at least 1 metre when the speed limit it 60km\/h or lower, and 1.5 metres is the speed limit is above 60km\/h.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drivers are reminded they are\u00a0permitted\u00a0to cross double-white lines\u00a0if required\u00a0to pass cyclists safely, provided the path in front of them is clear. If it\u2019s not, hang back until there is no oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cyclists are reminded they are\u00a0permitted\u00a0to ride\u00a0no more than\u00a0two\u00a0abreast,\u00a0and\u00a0should keep as far\u00a0to the\u00a0left as\u00a0is safe to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Where there is an active\u00a0bicycle lane, cyclists must use it unless they are avoiding\u00a0a hazard or overtaking another cyclist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RAA Senior Manager Road Safety Charles Mountain said Adelaide would be on show as a\u00a0tourism and cycling destination over the next\u00a0few weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tour Down Under is a fantastic event that showcases South Australia as a\u00a0brilliant state for cycling\u00a0and major events,\u201d Mr Mountain said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we need to remember that cyclists are vulnerable road users, so we all\u00a0need to play\u00a0our\u00a0part to\u00a0make sure we get home safely at the end of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDrivers should be patient if they\u00a0encounter\u00a0cyclists on the road. Wait\u00a0for a safe spot to pass\u00a0so you can give the riders some space.<\/p>\n

\u201cRisking injury or death is not worth the few seconds that it may cost you to wait for a gap.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCyclists\u00a0should follow the rules and be courteous, sticking to bike lanes where available and\u00a0keeping to the left\u00a0so drivers have room to pass.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

January,\u00a0February\u00a0and March are the worst months for cyclist\u00a0casualties, with 28% more occurring in these months compared to the\u00a0annual average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The worst suburbs for cyclist injury\/fatal crashes\u00a0between 2020 and 2024\u00a0were Adelaide CBD, Norwood, Henley Beach, Glenelg\u00a0North\u00a0and Magill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the State Election, RAA\u2019s election platform, Growth without Gridlock, calls on the next Government to increase funding for bicycle infrastructure, to provide more safe routes for riders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RAA\u00a0believes a $10\u00a0million\u00a0State Bicycle Fund should be\u00a0allocated\u00a0to bike projects each year,\u00a0helping\u00a0to\u00a0reduce crash numbers\u00a0and\u00a0take pressure of the state\u2019s road network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 13 January, 2026 RAA is\u00a0urging\u00a0drivers and cyclists\u00a0to\u00a0be courteous and\u00a0follow the road rules\u00a0during the Tour Down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-409772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}