Melb: Third cyclist critical after road accidents

[cfsmtb]

Not good, not good at all. ;(

I'm hearing more anecdotes regarding verbal abuse from motorists towards Melbourne cyclists, and possibly the recent Beach Ride palaver, Southbank issues and general anti-cyclist media bias isn't helping one iota towards improving road user interactions.

That said, we really don't know what may causing this 'spike' in incidents, other than factors such as the increasing number of cyclists on the roads possibly due to spring weather, general popularity, school holidays, training for the ATB etc.


********

Third cyclist critical after road accidents
http://www.theage.com.au/news/natio...-road-accidents/2006/09/29/1159337317466.html

September 29, 2006 - 2:02PM

A third cyclist is in hospital with serious head injuries after being hit by a car.

The ambulance service said a young boy was hit by a car at about 12.40pm in Noble Park and is in a serious condition in the Royal Children's Hospital.

He is the fourth cyclist to be hit by a car in the past 24 hours.

Two other cyclists remain in hospital with serious head injuries after they were struck by vehicles in separate incidents earlier today.

A man in his late 70s was hit by a car at the intersection of Monbulk Road and Perrins Creek Road in Kallista at about 10.40am.

He was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital with head injuries and is in a serious condition, according to an ambulance spokeswoman.

In a separate incident, a man in his 20s was hit by a truck at about 11am at the intersection of Clayton Road and Bayview Road in Bayview.

An ambulance service spokeswoman says the 20-year-old is also in a serious condition with head injuries and has been taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The three incidents follow the death of a cyclist who fell from his bike and was struck by a car in St Albans yesterday.

The 45-year-old was riding south on St Albans Road when he fell from his bike near Merton Street and was hit by a car about 10.30pm yesterday.
The motorist, who was not injured, stopped to assist but the cyclist died at the scene.

theage.com.au

 

[ghostgum]

In a separate incident, a man in his 20s was hit by a truck at about 11am at the intersection of Clayton Road and Bayview Road in Bayview.

The suburb is Clayton, not Bayview. That's the western entrance to Monash Uni. So it was probably a Uni student going to or from Uni. It's an uncontrolled intersection. Doing a right hand turn out of Bayview Rd to head north along Clayton Rd required a bit of patience when I used to do it 15 years ago. Sight lines are good at the intersection. The left lane of Clayton Rd is not wide, so you did get the odd vehicle passing a bit close.

 

[ray]

ghostgum wrote:
> cfsmtb Wrote:
>
>>In a separate incident, a man in his 20s was hit by a truck at about
>>11am at the intersection of Clayton Road and Bayview Road in Bayview.
>>The suburb is Clayton, not Bayview. That's the western entrance to
>
> Monash Uni. So it was probably a Uni student going to or from Uni.
> It's an uncontrolled intersection. Doing a right hand turn out of
> Bayview Rd to head north along Clayton Rd required a bit of patience
> when I used to do it 15 years ago. Sight lines are good at the
> intersection. The left lane of Clayton Rd is not wide, so you did get
> the odd vehicle passing a bit close.
>
>

It does seem to be a problem, but I'm not sure it's any worse than
usual. I noticed when petrol was $1.40 a litre idiot drivers were still
driving like idiots. A lot of the `grid' roads are barely adequate for
cyclist + car, Waverley Rd (where I used to live) and Dorset Rd (where I
live now) are good examples.
Persuade road engineers to design decent roads and you might get
somewhere. I shook our local MP up the other night by suggesting at a
public meeting that council take an innovative approach to public
transport off its own bat. She passed it off with a flip comment but was
obviously rattled.

 

[dewatf]

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:27:49 +1000, cfsmtb wrote:

> Not good, not good at all. ;(
>
> I'm hearing more anecdotes regarding verbal abuse from motorists
> towards Melbourne cyclists, and possibly the recent Beach Ride palaver,
> Southbank issues and general anti-cyclist media bias isn't helping one
> iota towards improving road user interactions.
>
> That said, we really don't know what may causing this 'spike' in
> incidents, other than factors such as the increasing number of cyclists
> on the roads possibly due to spring weather, general popularity, school
> holidays, training for the ATB etc.

Probably just a random distribution, they don't happen at regularly spaced
intervals. Though if the media is selective in reporting accidents then a
cluster will attract more press coverage.

One was a cylist falling off their bike under a car, two were intersection
accidents and the fourth unspecified. All sound like the usual road
accidents, not any form of aggression or politics.

dewatf.