EARLY morning weekend car parking bans – and a greater emphasis on road safety after an elderly pedestrian was knocked down and killed by a peloton cyclist in Mentone in 2006 – have been credited with reducing accidents and improving road manners along Beach Rd.
Communicating with other cyclists and keeping an eye out for parked cars were other keys to safer Beach Rd cycling, Kingston Police Pro-Active Policing Acting Sergeant David Ingram said.
He said ‘doorings’ and smashing into the backs of parked cars accounted for a “good proportion” of cycling accidents – especially when cyclists were riding in groups. This often led to horrific injuries when riders, often doing 30-40km/hr, crashed head-first through car back windows, receiving facial lacerations and neck injuries.
It is equally important for car drivers and passengers to check for oncoming cyclists before opening their doors, he said.
Sgt Ingram said police were “still monitoring” the so-called ‘Hellriders’ who had been accused of running red lights, riding more than two-abreast and riding in more than a single lane. However, anecdotally, road rules breaches are far less of a problem now than in previous years.
A study by a Monash academic called Geospatial Analysis of Cycling Injury Trends: an Investigation in Melbourne, Australia found that, while “peak injury density” in popular cycling areas in Melbourne increased three-fold from 2000-2011, a decrease was observed in Beach Rd, possibly due to a “combination of behaviour and road infrastructure change”.
Doctorate student Brendan Lawrence discovered while Beach Rd had an above average number of serious cyclist crashes in that period, peaking at 34 in 2009, injury density had dipped or remained static since 2005.
Mr Lawrence cited the welcome decrease as being “against expectation” on a road which teems with recreational – but often very competitive – cyclists every day and especially on weekends.
Peak cycling body Bicycle Network said it had “fought long and hard for the introduction of No Stopping Zones on weekend mornings along Beach Rd”.
“The report shows the dramatic improvement the bans have had on the bike riding environment around the bay,” government and external relations general manager Chris Carpenter said.
“The big drop in injuries shows that these changes were worth fighting for.”
He said an ongoing investment in bike infrastructure – such as the proposed changes to the Black Rock roundabout – would make things even safer.
“The crash statistics show that, on roads where there are lots of cyclists, safety improves – not just for bike riders, but for all road users.
“All the bikes on the road in Victoria these days mean it has never been safer to ride a bike.
“Although the increase in serious injuries in central Melbourne is a concern, as infrastructure improves we will see the crash rate come down.”
A Cycling Victoria mentoring program, to be launched this month, aims to encourage safer cycling among the road’s legion of bunch riders.
This will include teaching standard behaviour that includes giving consistent hand signals and voice commands to communicate hazards.
