Council acts on safety
Work to improve road safety at the spot where a cyclist and bus collided in Wellington looks likely to go ahead sooner than scheduled.
A cyclist escaped with only minor injuries after reportedly going head-first into a bus window near Wellington Railway Station at about 7.30am yesterday.
The incident happened on Thorndon Quay just before the right-hand turn for the Lambton Quay bus lane.
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the council’s traffic safety and cycling managers had previously been made aware of complaints related to the safety of the intersection concerned.
‘‘We were intending to do some safety improvement works in conjunction with road resealing towards the end of this year but, given this accident, our roading managers will meet [today] to see if we can bring forward some of the work.’’
That work would mainly involve improving signage and lane marking.
The cyclist, who did not want to be named, said he was travelling in the opposite direction to the bus when he was hit as the driver went to make a right-hand turn.
Despite suffering a shock and significant bruising to his shoulders and legs, the man said he also felt for the driver who was probably shaken as well.
He said Metlink had been in touch and had taken all the right steps but more effort needed to be made around cyclist safety.
‘‘There needs to be a lot more consideration out there for everyone who is using the road. I’m surprised that I came away with only minor injuries.’’
Debby Green, who works on Thorndon Quay, said she had been lobbying the city council to change the design of the intersection for almost a
year. Her main concern was the area of road between the bottom of Mulgrave St and the railway station, which many people used as a pedestrian crossing because it resembled one even though it was not.
‘‘The intersection where the accident happened is extremely dangerous, especially for pedestrians,’’ Green said.
The council had advised her it had considered what changes were possible but the options were too costly.
‘‘There will be a fatality out there. The crossing is a non-crossing and the new bus drivers speed through there and don’t seem to have any respect for what a red light means.’’
Another pedestrian, who did not want to be named, emailed Metlink in June after a bus coming from Thorndon Quay allegedly went through a red light ‘‘at a high rate of speed’’ as people were crossing the road.
Metlink responded at the time, saying it was sorry to hear of the ‘‘unacceptable driving’’.
It said it had lodged a formal complaint with the bus operator, which said it would also investigate the incident.
However, yesterday, a Metlink spokesman said it could not follow up on the incident because the complainant did not provide any details of the bus.
Living Streets Aotearoa vicepresident Ellen Blake said the area should be reduced to a 30kmh zone for all vehicles to make it safer.
‘‘It’s very hard to cross the road there. You have to wait a long time and so some people end up breaking the rules and crossing before the lights are green.’’
‘‘There will be a fatality out there.’’
Debby Green