St Lukes Road cycleway a biker gamble
An Aucklander’s amateur video shows the real risk riders face when navigating a busy cycle lane.
Mt Albert resident Brendan Barnes, a regular recreational cyclist with his children, caught the moment on video when a truck narrowly misses his daughter cycling along St Lukes Rd.
‘‘This video highlights that a painted line doesn’t do anything to protect cyclists from traffic,’’ he says. Barnes would like to see a separate, bordered off cycle lane and thinks this would be the best option.
An updated October 2016 Cyclist Crash Facts released by the Ministry of Transport shows in 2015 six cyclists died, 145 were seriously injured and 600 suffered minor injuries in police-reported crashes on New Zealand roads. Approximately nine in every 10 reported cyclist casualties occurred on urban roads (roads with a speed limit of 70kmh or less).
Over half of all cyclist casualties occur on major urban roads (typically busy arterials), rather than on the minor urban roads that usually provide access to adjacent properties.
‘‘The key thing in addition to effective design of cycleways, is driver re-education relating to cycleways and vehicles,’’ Albert Eden Local Board member Jessica Rose says. ‘‘We on the board would be very happy to negotiate with Auckland Transport (AT) on behalf of the community in order to make our cycleways safe,’’ she says.
An AT spokesperson confirms there is a plan to install separators between the cycle lane and the road to protect the existing cycle lanes on both sides of the affected section along St Lukes Rd. The upgrade will include plastic safety hit posts