DEATH began trending for cyclists on Australian roads back in February.

Late one morning on a scenic stretch of road in the beachside Sydney suburb of Narrabeen, a 24-year-old died at the scene of a crash after his bike collided with a Mitsubishi ute.

Within a week, there was another death, then another.

At her desk at the NSW Centre for Road Safety, general manager Marg Prendergast felt alarm set in.

Then it happened again.

This time the victim was an accomplished cyclist, who had been gearing up for a 4000km ride from his NSW Blue Mountains home to Darwin to raise $100,000 for homeless and abused children.

Sometime after dawn on February 16, Marc Simone set off from his house in picturesque Winmalee.

Just after 7.30am, he was riding in an eastbound lane of the M4 motorway and had reached the far western Sydney suburb of Emu Plains.

Simone's bike collided with a Jeep Cherokee and he was flung on to the road.

The father-of-two died at the scene.

Marg Prendergast had another tragedy on her hands and something more: a death spike.

It was only February 16 and already four cyclists had died on NSW roads, more than half the fatalities of the entire previous year and three times the year to date.

Marg hit the phones.

She set up a crisis meeting with Tracey Gaudry, CEO of the Amy Gillett Foundation, which was formed to reduce death and injury of bike riders in memory of the elite Australian cyclist killed in Germany in 2005.

Ms Gaudry made the sobering comment that despite much good work by road authorities, governments and cycling bodies to improve cycling safety one fact remained: "it is not enough".

They got together with the police, the state motoring body, the NRMA and cycling groups and began hatching a plan to stem the tide of fatalities.

But the dying didn't stop.

Deaths on two wheels kept on coming and it wasn't just in NSW.

The picture emerging from around the country was also alarming, and has continued until this week, when Australia marked its worst year for cycling fatalities.

With seven weeks still to go, 46 cyclists are dead, a national spike of 42 per cent and a third up on the ten year average.

"It's disastrous," an Amy Gillett Foundation spokesman said.

But who's to blame?

Car drivers point the finger at "gung ho" cyclists who disobey road rules, shooting through red lights and creating mayhem.

Cyclists say Australian motorists are "the most aggro in the world" and the worst drivers in Australia live in Brisbane and Sydney.

Just in the last month, three cyclists died on Sydney roads, and two in Queensland.

Victoria and South Australia had one each.

Three days ago, a 40-year-old female cyclist died in hospital after a collision with a truck in Sydney's inner west.

The woman was riding late morning when the collision occurred. A 49-year-old truck driver was taken to hospital for blood and urine testing.

Last Saturday, Matthew Fitzgerald, 44, died in hospital, a week after he fell to the road while riding with a social group along Captain Cook Drive, on the edge of Botany Bay in southern Sydney.

As his group overtook another group of cyclists, Mr Fitzgerald and his bike toppled on to the road.

He was wearing a helmet, but suffered serious head injuries, a broken arm, cuts and abrasions.

Mr Fitzgerald underwent emergency surgery and was admitted to the intensive care unit, where he was put into a coma.

The father of two died about 10pm last Saturday.

One report said his bike hit a rock.

But Lester Ramos of the Two Monkeys cycling group told news.com.au the accident proved cyclists needed to ride in smaller packs.

"Larger packs can get unruly," he said,.

"By the time you relay a signal [about oncoming traffic, to riders at the back of the pack], it's too late.

"There needs to be more effort with road rules and using proper signals."

In Queensland, the cycling community had already been stunned by the death in August of a triathlete, Les Karayan, whose favourite leg of ironman competitions was cycling.

Karayan, 40, was determined not to let the fact his bike had broken down from going out for a ride on Saturday, August 13.

It was a "beautiful day," he told his wife, Kerri-Lee and two children.

He fixed the broken wheel of his bicycle, bade farewell to his family and hit the road.

They would never see him alive again.

On a rail bridge in the inner-city Brisbane suburb of Annerley, a truck clipped his bike and crushed him on the road.

And then on October 20, again in Queensland, a woman was cycling eastbound on Old Cleveland Rd in Brisbane's eastern suburbs.

It was 5.20pm.

A truck turning right into Old Cleveland Rd had its front stabilising leg of the trailer extended, which struck the woman, knocking her on to the road.

The 31-year-old suffered massive head injuries and died at the scene.

It is believed woman was not far from home when she was killed.

SafeCycling Queensland director David Sharp said the tragedy had rocked the cycling community.

"Everyone's just shocked by what's happened this evening," he said.

Ten days later in Sydney, a 45-year-old Optus manager was riding down Kissing Point Road in the northern suburb of Turramurra.

Paulo Froes was in a group of six cyclists, including the company's CEO, out on a morning ride.

At 7.55am, a taxi braked in front of him and clipped his bike.

He slid into the path of an oncoming car being driven by a 17-year-old girl.

Mr Froes, head of business planning and delivery at Optus, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with critical head injuries, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

After the tragedy, cyclists flooded websites with protests about this "black spot" on Sydney roads.

The deaths haven't only been happening on Australian roads.

UK reports yesterday say in London alone, five cyclists have been killed in the last nine days,

In the US, a New York Times report triggered a massive online backlash, with reactions from bike-lovers to bike-haters to bike-fearers, and everyone in between.

The article revealed in most US states there were almost no consequences for causing a cyclist to die.

"Unless you are driving drunk or completely recklessly, the punishment for killing a cyclist with your car often amounts to a slap on the wrist," the article said.

Anecdotally, from news reports, there seem to be few drivers prosecuted over cycling fatalities.

News.com.au sought statistics of criminal charges in cyclist deaths from police in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland, without success.

Cyclists cited trucks, utes, SUVs and vans as the worst offenders on our roads.

One regular Sydney cyclist, Chris, described "the perfect nightmare for a city cyclist: an angry tradie in hi-viz, speeding to work in his boss's Hilux ute at 6am.

"He's running late, he's probably just had a fight with Narelle and he's furious with the world. "As someone on a bike, I'm going to be the one he takes it out on.

"The argument motorists like to use is that we run red lights and have no respect for the road rules.

"Well we're running red lights to bloody get away from you, because you drive like a f---ing lunatic.

"If you pull up on your bike next to a car at a red light, more often than not they'll turn it into a drag race and try to run you off the road.

"That's why we're always trying to get a headstart.

"Motorists need to understand that just because you're a bit shitty that you're running late for work or whatever - you probably should have left home earlier - it's no excuse for putting a cyclist in mortal danger.

"All for what? A five or 10 second inconvenience."

Australian cycling veteran and the owner of two Sydney bike shops, Bruce Hanlee, said "tradies in utes" and SUV drivers were dangerous for cyclists, while truck and bus drivers were more likely to politely share the road.

Mr Hanlee landed on the bonnet of a car earlier this month and almost suffered a similar accident on Wednesday when, in both cases, car drivers said they "just didn't see me".

"They don't feel like cyclists have the same rights as road users," he said.

"There's a lot of aggro out there.

"Australians are really aggro people. I've cycled in the US, where people are incredibly helpful.

'The UK and Europe? They are polite and there's lots of people cycling.

"Australia has got better. There are more cycle lanes and more drivers out there are recreational cyclists too.

"But there's a lot of road rage here and lots of aggro.

"Sydney and Brisbane are the worst.

"Melbourne and Adelaide have more of a cycling culture. Adelaide is flat and has more European influence.

"Plus the topography of Sydney and Brisbane makes cycling more of a challenge.

"If you cycle every day, be prepared: expect a crash a few times every year."

Amy Gillett Foundation CEO Tracey Gaudry said the record national cycling fatality rate represented "the human trauma costs of bicycle riding [which] are unacceptable"

"The broader cycling community is devastated by the bicycle rider fatalities witnessed this year, a dramatic increase from previous years," she said.

"No fatality is acceptable."

At the Centre for Road Safety in Sydney, Marg Prendergast is preparing for a massive radio advertising blitz of a safety campaign which may become a national push for improved road rules.

"Two things have to happen," she said.

"Drivers need to look out and acknowledge cyclists, particularly when they are making turns.

"Cyclists have to obey road rules, stop at red lights, ride predictably, wear clothes that increase their visibility.

"We have been very worried. The additional deaths are a huge concern.

"And it's not just the number of fatalities, there have been serious injuries as well."

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