Scholarships
The Safe Family Research Scholarship (Amy’s maiden name was Safe) in partnership with the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) funds a postgraduate research scholarship for research into incidents involving cyclists and motorists.
The research focuses on factors that influence the safety of on-road cyclists including behaviour of cyclists and motorists, attitudes and perceptions towards cycling and the role of road infrastructure.
The scholarship is also supported by West Australian legal firm Bradley Bayly Legal in conjunction with Janssen + Maluga (Germany).
Initially the foundation commissioned MUARC to gather data from police reports regarding incidents involving cyclists and motorists across the country. The AGF wanted to know the age and gender of the cyclist and motorist involved in collisions (fatalities and serious injuries), time of day, day of the week, weather conditions and any causal factors.
The full report can be found here [PDF]
The study demonstrated the huge void in the available information, which made it impossible to analyse the detailed causes of these accidents.
To this end the Amy Gillett Foundation, in partnership with the Monash University Accident Research Foundation, jointly fund a postgraduate research scholarship, to focus on bicycle crashes and interactions with various classes of road users, particularly motorists and cyclists.
2007-2010 Recipient: Marilyn Johnson
"As a rider on the road and having concerns for my own safety, I was interested in conducting research that would make a difference to the safety of everyone sharing the road.There are three main stages of the research; First, an observational study of cyclist behaviour when they cross through intersections. For the second stage, we’ve attached cameras to the helmets of commuter cyclists and recorded 12 hours of their trips to and from work. It’s a naturalistic study and we hope that footage will help us to understand what happened pre-collision, to avoid these events. The third part is an online survey for drivers and cyclists asking about their experiences on the road, to work out where the gaps are in their knowledge to improve driver and cyclist safety.
It’s the first time there has been such a strong focus on commuter cyclists, and the first time their behaviour has been looked at so closely in one study. This is especially important in Melbourne, where there’s been an enormous increase in the number of people cycling to work.
It’s such a diverse group and that’s why I’ve focused on commuters; there are men and women of all ages and we know where to find them.
I think the unique finding will be the insights into what happens just before a collision and the interaction between cyclists and drivers on the road. I think we will be better able to find out what we need to do to improve cyclist safety – is it legislation? Or is it education or training?
At the moment we have a view of cyclists as a whole and drivers as a whole, as if each group behaves in the same way; but they don’t.
This research will help us to target the different behavioural groups and target them specifically.
I think the most important thing is knowing the research results will be used by an organisation, and will have an impact."
- Marilyn Johnson
