Read Melbourne BUG’s submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into dooring. Then write to them yourself by Friday 27 April. Send your comments to robert.mcdonald@parliament.vic.gov.au. Please note that all submissions are treated as public unless you ask for confidentiality and they grant it.
Right now Melbourne has a once-in-a-generation chance to make St Kilda Road a wonderful boulevard again. We can’t bring back all the gracious mansions that used to be there, but if we seize this moment, great things are possible. So what’s happening?
Five years ago, the City of Melbourne prepared a draft plan that included kerbside, physically separated bike lanes. But when leaked to the press, the idea was shut down by the previous government’s Minister for Roads. He was quoted as saying “My job…is to fix congestion, not to cause it” and “cars are critically important for the liveability of the city.” The plan was shelved.
But with the new government prepared to take a fresh look at St Kilda Road, the City of Melbourne is looking at the issue again.
Melbourne BUG believes it is high time to ease the traffic burden on St Kilda Road, and create a better environment all the way from the City to St Kilda Junction as follows:
For a graphic depiction, see Arts Precinct to Southbank Blvd and Flinders Street Station and Princes Bridge.
All of the motor traffic using Princes Bridge turns into Flinders Street, mostly towards Russell Street. Forcing Flinders Street to try and be two roads creates gridlock during most of the day. Flinders Street doesn’t function well as a result. With the removal of the Princes Bridge traffic, Flinders Street alongside Federation Square can give up space for better uses:
Between Southbank Boulevard and High Street, there are two to four traffic lanes in each direction. Traffic bottlenecks at Princes Bridge as it narrows to two lanes, and is further constrained by cars using Flinders Street, where all the St Kilda Road traffic must turn. Flinders Street traffic backs up all the way to Spencer St because of this intersection, contributing to gridlock across the city.
The tram stop at Flinders St Station is the busiest in Melbourne and is overflowing, dangerously over capacity with passengers unable to get onto the platform. More space is needed for the tram stop, urgently. This will further constrain the number of motor vehicles that can enter the City here, so the whole of St Kilda Road will have space to spare.
Hopefully there might be fewer of them. The CBD is overcrowded with cars – the real problem of congestion is not getting across the river, it’s fitting the cars into the City grid once they enter. There are alternatives – three new bridges into the CBD have been added in the last decade or so: at Exhibition Street, Collins Street and Latrobe Street. These bridges have plenty of spare capacity. Vehicles travelling into the City via St Kilda Road can turn east or west to the toll bridge or to Queensbridge. The intersection of St Kilda Road and Southbank Boulevard, relieved of through traffic, could give more time to facilitate these turns.
We want to hear your opinions and ideas – please leave a commentcomment.
Age Editorial: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/boulevard-of-promising-dreams-20120401-1w6d2.html
Age Article: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/bike-riders-bid-for-carfree-zone-to-extend-into-st-kilda-road-20120329-1w16z.html
We liked the idea of the stickers that go on rear-vision mirrors of cars, reminding drivers to check before opening their door. It came up as a winner in Bikefest’s Better By Bike competition, but something similar was done by Vicroads a few years earlier, then withdrawn. Vicroads explanation was that “community interest waned”. But we didn’t notice any waning of interest amongst those who use bicycles to get around. Perhaps Vicroads did not see it as important to stimulate community interest.
Now the Victorian Government has announced stickers are back on the agenda, but is it just the easy way out? The State Coroner recommended education and behaviour change campaigns after the death of James Cross due to a car dooring. But the coroner also recommended putting the bike lanes on the kerbside, to the left of the parked cars, as we already have in Swanston St north of Victoria St; in Albert St East Melbourne; in Cecil St South Melbourne; and in Fitzroy St St Kilda.
Meanwhile, last night the Government moved to refer the Greens’ bill on dooring penalties to a Parliamentary Committee. While this delays any increase in the dooring penalty, it does open the possibility for you to send your thoughts to the Committee and ask for safe, separated bike lanes outside the dooring zone.
The government’s press release does not mention any commitment to this type of bike lane, which experience has shown to be both safer and to attract more cycling trips. In Melbourne, evidence for this comes from the oldest kerbside lanes, in Swanston St between Victoria Parade and Grattan St. There, the number of crashes involving bikes has stayed almost constant (one fewer in the three years after the lanes opened compared to the three years before), while the number of bike trips has approximately doubled (based on report to City of Melbourne by their engineering department).
At the coronial inquest, Vicroads professed their support for kerbside lanes, and they have funded some of those constructed on local roads (Vicroads administers “declared” roads while councils maintain the rest — “local” roads). We have yet to see Vicroads build any kerbside lanes on declared roads however, which is where they are most needed — on busy roads with fast-moving traffic. Under Vicroads “smart roads” strategy, many declared roads will be prioritised for motor vehicles, with bicycles marginalised to back-streets. Watch out for the release of the revised “Principal Bike Network” which Vicroads is still preparing.
The Government’s proposed sticker campaign doesn’t even extend to providing stickers to all car owners – they have to come and get them. So it is likely to be ineffective and will probably be quietly shelved by Vicroads when “community interest wanes”.
Don’t let the Government get away with this wishy-washy response to a serious problem. Write Premier Ted Ballieu and tell him we need better bike lanes and more of them — fast. Bike lanes that have a buffer between parked cars and bikes, and on busy roads, bike lanes that are to the left of parked cars.
Premier Ted Ballieu, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne, VIC 3000
ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au
That was awesome! What now?
The rally today was fantastic. There are some photos in the previous post. And we just published some more great ones here on the Melbourne BUG Flickr page!
This is only the beginning. There’s so much more we can do if we work together. As we mentioned today, Melbourne City Council are looking at the possibility of a separated bike lane down Latrobe street. When push comes to shove on this and other issues, we’ll need to fire up and make our voice heard!
Email the transport minister about the dooring bill
This afternoon the car dooring bill was deferred until next parliamentary sitting week, 13 March, while the government considers its position. More time to lobby them!
Write to Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Edward O’Donahue – edward.o’donohue@parliament.vic.gov.au. CC the Minister for Transport Terry Mulder – terence.mulder@parliament.vic.gov.au. Ask them to support the bill and give us some safe bike lanes too!
Other ways to make your voice heard on bike issues
1) Write to your local state MP or local council about your bike issue
If you have an idea for a bike improvement, or something you want fixed, we suggest you write to your local state MP, who you can find here. You might want to email your local council too – find them here.
2) Join the Melbourne Bicycle Users Group
The Melbourne BUG campaigns for better cycling conditions in the City of Melbourne, which includes CBD and surrounds (ie Docklands, South/North/West Melbourne, Carlton, etc). We are for anyone who uses the CBD, not just people who live here!
This is only a temporary website but we have a new website here and you can subscribe for updates. You can also follow us on Facebook here or Twitter here. You can also join our google group here.
3) Join or start a local Bicycle Users Group
You can find the local group in your area here (list is a bit out of date, but should still have useful info). Some groups are more active than others. If there doesn’t seem to be much happening in your area, why not consider start something yourself?
We want to hear your ideas. There was lots of talk today about ideas people have for working together to make Melbourne a bike city. What do you think? What are your ideas about how we can work together?
A huge thank you to every one who came to Gordon Reserve at lunchtime today, to get pushy for cycling safety. It was a fantastic turnout and great to see so many friendly faces. We are keen to keep in touch!
Thanks to Greg Barber MLC, for giving us the run down on the Dooring Bill. We are right behind this initiative, and hope that it can be the starting point for some positive action to make cycling safer for all Victorians.
Finally, thank you to all the BUG members and friends, who wrote ideas on serviettes, painted placards, told their friends, decorated their bikes, took photos, showed their support, distributed flyers and handed out lychees. We could not have done it without you.
Have a look at this lovely video on how the Dutch got their cycle paths – then come to Gordon Reserve today and add your voice to the push for a safer, cycling city. We’d love to see you there!
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o rel=0 fs=1 autohide=1 modestbranding=1]
Motorists should get on their bike and see what it’s like for cyclists, Transport Minister Terry Mulder said recently. Mulder admitted that he’s not a cyclist himself.
Mulder’s supportive comments did not go unnoticed by cyclists. It’s true that the roads look different from a bike. For example, what seems like a safe passing distance to a driver doesn’t always seem safe to a cyclist. And when cyclists refuse to ride within narrow painted bike lines painted next to parked cars, and instead ride to the right of them, it’s not because they’re trying to hold up traffic, it’s because they’re trying to avoid getting clobbered by a car door!
That’s why we’re inviting Mulder to follow through with his comment, and come for a ride with the Melbourne Bicycle Users Group. We promise to make it fun and enjoyable. And experiencing the roads from a bike will help him understand what works and what doesn’t.
We’re getting ready for the rally on Wednesday. We’ll be handing out flyers on Canning Street, Albert Street and Swanston Street this week.
You coming?
Bring your bike with you. Don’t lock it up. And we’ve got a special treat for the placard with the best bike pun!
Sally is riding out of the city on a busy road, heading towards an excellent bicycle route. She needs to turn right. Rather than cut across two lanes of fast-moving traffic, Sally pulls onto the footpath at a pedestrian crossing and crosses with the pedestrian lights.
Sally did this because she was looking out for her own safety. But at the same time, Sally breached the road rules that make it an offence for a cyclist to ride on a footpath, and to cross at a pedestrian crossing.
Ideally, Sally wouldn’t have to make this call, because there would be more safe bike lanes forming a coordinated network across the city.
But until that happens, we believe that cyclists should not be punished for taking defensive action.
We think these offences don’t look at the reality of roads from a cyclist’s perspective. Even the definition of a ‘road’ in the road rules implies that roads are for cars.
The car dooring bill goes some way to addressing the inadequate penalties that currently apply to car drivers who endanger cyclists. But we would like to see a broader review of all road rules – looking at strategies to make it safer (such as clear rules on safe passing distances), and looking at removing barriers to safe cycling.
What do you think? Are there road rules that just don’t make sense for cyclists?
If you’ve ever tried to ride down Exhibition Street when there’s no traffic jam, you’ll know how unsafe and unpleasant it can feel having fast cars zooming past you. The speed limit there is 50 km/h. We reckon this completely unsuitable for a CBD area. The city should be orientated to people, not cars.
Victoria’s current default speed limit (ie where there are no signs) is 50 km/h in built-up areas and 40 km/h in some shopping strip zones. Local councils can reduce speed limits to 40 km/h in particular locations, such as residential areas, but only with Vicroads’ approval. 30 km/h, considered by VicRoads to be ‘quite unusual‘, is more difficult to get approval for.
Melbourne BUG is asking the state government to reduce the default speed limit to 30 km/h for Melbourne’s residential streets, shopping strips, and the CBD. This is because 30km/h is an evidence-based speed limit that makes pedestrians and cyclists safer. Chances of survival decrease rapidly between 30 and 40 km/h. According to the World Health Organisation, pedestrians have 90% chance of surviving car crashes at 30 km/h or below, but less than a 50% chance of surviving impacts at 45 km/h or above. It is likely that similar differences exist for cyclists.
Lower speed limits should be combined with traffic calming measures that make it physically difficult to speed, regardless of legal sanctions or ineffective signs. Both are needed: without traffic calming, drivers tend to ignore speed limits, and without speed limits, there are no legal sanctions and speed limits cannot be enforced.
Reducing speeds to 30 km/h will make Melbourne a safer place for pedestrians and a cyclists, and a nicer place to walk and hang out in. Where speed limits are higher than 30km/h, governments should provide safe bike lanes.
What do you think? Where in Melbourne would you like to see lower speed limits?