WILL MAKE CBD SAFER?

Shameful cycling and pedestrian crash rate leads to vote on speed

A 40km/h speed limit is under consideration in the Cairns CBD to make the streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

A new study has found the CBD, which is mainly covered by a 50km/h limit, has nine of the 20 worst streets for crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians in Queensland.

Today, Cairns regional councillors will vote on a State Government request to improve safety measures in the city’s heart.

SPEED limits are on the chopping block after Abbott and Spence streets were named the state's worst roads for cyclist and pedestrian crashes outside Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Cairns Regional Council will decide today on a State Government request to start work to reel back the city-centre speed limit to 40km/h.

A new Department of Transport and Main Roads study identifies the Cairns CBD as home to nine of the worst 20 streets with 50km/h limits in Queensland for pedestrian and cyclist crashes. ing cars were a matter of routine and extending bike lanes through the entire CBD would be the best fix.

“They’ve done some good work at the entrances to the city, then it’s abandoned when you get to Spence St,” she said.

“They could do along Spence St what they did on McLeod – remove one of the lanes and fit in a bike path.”

Division 5 Cr Richie Bates said active transport needed to be promoted as a partial solution to the city’s traffic issues.

“If we don’t want cyclists on footpaths, we need safe roads for them,” he said.

Cairns Bicycle User Group co-ordinator Brynn Mathews suspected the true numbers would be much worse.

“That’s only reported accidents where police and ambulance were involved,” he said.

The council considered dragging back limits in 2013 but baulked after a community backlash.

Its rhetoric appears to have changed this time around.

“There is a commonly held misconception that reducing speeds in urban areas will adversely impact on travel time and increase congestion,” a report before the council states.

“In the Cairns CBD, traffic speed and flow is generally governed by the 23 sets of traffic lights in the CBD.”

Picture: STEWART McLEAN SLOW AND STEADY: Cyclist Renee Lees, of Manoora, riding in the CBD. Abbott and Spence streets are among the worst for bike and pedestrian crashes in 50km/h speed zones in the state.

Picture: STEWART MCLEAN RISKY BUSINESS: Renee Lees, of Manoora, favours a bike lane on risky Spence St in the Cairns CBD.