HEED THE WARNINGS

WHEN you have a rapidly growing population, massive housing development expanding our region’s physical footprint, environmental concerns and a crunch on inner-city carparking, one obvious transport solution is to encourage locals to get on their bikes.

As it is, our region has a big and engaged cycling community, many of whom have avoided the inconsistent local public transport services and dearth of CBD parking by turning to their bikes for their daily commute.

Encouraging physical activity and reducing our carbon footprint, cycling has been a solution all levels of government have been happy to support – even if the commitment to improving local cycling infrastructure has become confused at times, such as City Hall’s famous attempt to rip up the specially installed bike paths in Malop St’s Green Spine.

But our roads are busy and, at times, present very real dangers for local cyclists, so adequate road infrastructure is crucial to ensuring their safety.

How bitterly disappointing, then, it is to learn representatives from all three levels of government were warned more than a month ago the current roadworks on Barwon Heads Rd had made the area particularly unsafe for cyclists.

A series of emails show how local cyclists flagged how dangerous the area had become weeks ago, describing close calls of riders who were fearing for their safety.

Unfortunately their worst fears were realised on Monday, when a 74year-old cyclist lost his life after a collision with a truck on that very same stretch of road.