On 5/15/2019 4:23 PM, James wrote:

snip
The National Cycling Participation Survey results are free to download
from the Austroads website - after you register.Â* The only reason I
posted a link from cycle-helmets.com is because you don't need to
register to download it from them.

Okay, fair enough. It's just that everyone gets very wary with a
reference includes cycle-helmets.com, a site that is well-known for
intentionally misinterpreting data, ignoring data that doesn't fit their
agenda, and constantly trying to equate correlation and causation. If
cycling rates fall, no matter what the actual reason, if there was a
helmet law then they insist that the helmet law was the cause. The fact
is that cycling rates rise and fall for a large number of reasons. One
poster recently pointed out that new bicycle infrastructure caused a 75%
increase in the number of riders. Sometimes, as happened in China, it's
vast improvements in public transit that drastically reduced cycling
rates. Sometimes it's economic factors. Sometimes it's weather.
Sometimes it's demographic shifts.

The thing that jumps out immediately about that "survey" is the
statement "Participation is defined as the number of individuals who
have cycled for any journey or purpose and in any location over a
specified time period." Cycle around the block once a year, and you're
counted as a cyclist. Decide you're too old the next year and don't take
out the bike, and you're not counted.

A proper survey would be much more specific and look at annual distance
and number of cycling days per year. While the "Participation Survey"
can be interesting, the problem with it are the organizations and
individuals that try to draw false conclusions from it.