Cycling safety and utility

It was all so innocent. I made a commitment in my election flyer to improve pedestrian and cycling safety. I knocked on every door once and ask those at home what issues they had for local government. Some comments included......  "I carted my bike down to the dump after being hit" "Cycling isn't safe in Unley."  and many more including "our cycle paths are a joke, you have to stop and start" "Riding down Unley Road is safer and quicker!" and so the comments came. I received emails and photos of a cycle accident aftermath in Unley! 

Charles Street Unley cyclist and a slow moving car!

Cyclist is taken away by ambulance with broken bones and injuries

As a result, my first notice of motion straight after the election aimed to change this. It was passed UNANIMOUSLY by the whole council.

                                             CYCLING ROUTE AUDIT

“That Council carries out an audit of Unley’s cycling transport routes considering both safety and utility as a transport corridor. The audit should include considering priority when cycling transport routes cross garage entrances or dead end streets.”

Background:

Unley is within the ideal 10 km cycling range where cycling into the city should be faster than all alternative modes of transport into the CBD. Yet only 2% of trips into Adelaide CBD are by bicycle compared to 13% in Melbourne in 2011.

We have a long term plan which removes cycle paths from Unley Road yet our alternative Porter/Rugby Street route is slower than cycling on Unley Road and has a number of unsafe points for cyclists.

Our developing cycle transport routes are encouraging more cyclists. The latest in connecting Charles Pathway across Unley Road up to Porter/Rugby Street route has encouraged access to Unley Primary and into the Eastern part of Adelaide CBD as well as King William Road from Parkside. Yet a single driveway has priority and a dead end street that is only 10 metres past the bike route also completely stops each side of the street!

A single car garage ends a cycle path.
Imagine if every driveway onto a roadway
 stopped the road with a give way sign!

Dead end street with just three car parks
stops the bikeway

Wattle Street Fullarton in Unley
There are six of these forcing a cyclist into the path of cars travelling behind.

Looking back at the cycle crash in Unley
compare our mother and daughter with the Melbourne father and son.
Cars travelling at 10 KPH on a lane have right of way.

A Melbourne cycle way
The cars  give way on serious minor roads

Conclusion:  We should be able to remove over 10% of cars off Adelaide roads by motorists using their bicycles.  Adelaide is drier and  flatter  than Melbourne! If we make our cycle paths safe and enable 25 KPH cycling speeds, we will.
I hope at our next meeting we will set up an Unley Cycling Audit Committee made of of real cyclists.

Our routes are

Unley Formal cycle transport corridors

 Council’s Pedestrian and Cyclist Plan identifies the following as significant cycling routes that are maintained by Council:

1. Mike Turter Bikeway (predominantly runs along tram corridor)

2. Adelaide – Marino Rocks Greenway (predominantly runs along the train corridor)

3. Rugby Street / Porter Street Bike Route

4. Glen Osmond Creek bike route (Through Culvert and Charles Unley)

5. Young Street bike route

6. Wattle Street, Park Street and Mitchell Street bike route

7. Weller Street, Wood Street and Victoria Avenue bike route

8. Duthy Street bike lanes

9. East Avenue bike lanes

10. Leader Street bike lanes