Comment by heather on December 12, 2010 at 8:49

If only Prospect Council followed the good example of VicRoads that for the last five years has been installing bicycle lanes on freight routes with buffered zones between cyclists and trucks. See photos at Prospect BUG. Instead of narrowing Churchill Road until no safe space left for cyclists when convoy of trucks overtaking. See photos at Prospect BUG under 'Look what they've done to my bike lane!'

The rail corridor or Devonport Terrace that Steve refers to includes sign of 'no entry' installed by Prospect Council, but missing a 'cyclists excepted' sign so not much use. Also of no use when I bought a solar PV system on Churchill Road. Some non-cyclists overlook that cyclists shop and do business using bicycle transport. I recommend reading Bicycles Are Good For Business found at www.cyclingpromotion.com.au. If the greenlink / greenways is completed (so long in the planning that the name has changed), female cyclists will avoid it when commuting home from work, alone and in winter when dark by 5.30pm. Perhaps some males forget that females have personal safety to consider

I believe that Steve Harrison is referring to me, when he writes “Heather rides her bike on the footpath all the time." He is employed by Prospect Council as Director Business & Economic Development. I volunteer as coordinator of Prospect BUG to advocate for better cycling facilities in Prospect. Cyclists know that most of my cycling is on-road. An exception is the footpath of bikedirect Edgeworth Street which Prospect Council made 'no entry' to cyclists. This bikedirect route borders Northpark Shopping Centre. Steve would have seen me slowly cycling a short length of Prospect Road. Is he acknowledging that, since Prospect Council 'upgraded' this road in 2000, the road could be more cyclist-friendly when he writes "accept this as a safe action"?

Steve is unaware that in February I injured my ankle in a hole hidden by grass on a council reserve. May require surgery. It is more comfortable to take weight off the foot, and cycle rather than walk. Several times I have related being hit three times by negligent drivers and left with permanent injuries. Two doctors wanted me to give up cycling because of the danger. While a third doctor wanted me to maintain cycling exercise to balance a health condition causing weight increase. The compromise was a medical certificate stating a disability and permits me to cycle on footpaths as the need arises. Not all drivers know the complete road rules.

The Australian Bicycle Council states that cycling has increased between 2005 and 2008 in Adelaide by 51 per cent near the CBD. Although Prospect is an inner city council, its Prospect Masterplans puts vehicles and pedestrians before cyclists. Rather than preparing for the shift towards cycling, encouraged by health concerns, petrol price increases, Peak Oil and slowing Climate Change.

 

Comment by Steve Harrison on December 12, 2010 at 19:18

Sorry to read about your injuries Heather, but I think my point is being missed, when we introduce different rules and exemptions, then the idea of sharing the road just does not work. The only answer, as the EU has discovered, is for all road users, pedestrians, cars, trucks, buses, scooters, cyclists...everyone looks out for each other and shares the same space and all play by the same rules...slowing down traffic will also have a huge impact, it is interesting as a scooter user on Churchill Road, the 40km/h zone in the work area has certainly made the road safer for everyone....it is even easier for Prospect residents to enter Churchill Road!

 

But it is a little unfair to write  'Although Prospect is an inner city council, its Prospect Masterplans puts vehicles and pedestrians before cyclists'....for the first time, Prospect Road's main shopping area will have a 24hour, 7 day per week bike lane heading north and south ( and we still hold out hope the road shopping precinct will be reduced to 40km/h - the first time such a speed would be posted on an arterial road in Adelaide) and Prospect Road would be posted a 50km/h zone, where it is currently 60km/h.....Churchill Road will have a bike lane on both sides, with indented car parking for the first time...all conform to Austroad standards and importantly the lane will not stop cars parking in front of shops, these small buisnesses seriously faced financial ruin if a bike lane was introduced without indented parking...all in all both Master Plans are a win win for all road users, residents and businesses....all users concerns and needs have been adressed and a pretty good and safe solution found fro everyone...

Comment by heather on December 13, 2010 at 21:10

Australia has guidelines to help people with disabilities, eg footpath ramps, pedestrians lights with sound and tactile pads in footpaths. I do not consider exemptions unreasonable, like permitting cyclists with medical certificates to slowly cycle on SA footpaths. In SA unaccompanied children and supervised children with adult(s) are permitted to cycle on footpaths. It is a rare person who disputes concessions for the disabled and vulnerable members of the community. By the way, other states allow any adult to cycle on footpaths.

Actually in the EU, disability groups are lobbying against 'shared spaces' because the design is unsafe for the blind and partially sighted.
http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/guide-dogs-for-the-blind-...$1346061$3.htm
At least one Australian association for the visually impaired objects to 'shared spaces'. Other pedestrians put at risk are children and those with physical, sensory and cognitive impairments, which may include the elderly.

There will always be different rules. Australia has the sensible rule of not permitting motor vehicles to drive along footpaths. Austroads indicates that European countries do not turn busy arterial roads like Prospect Road with 20,400 vpd into shared spaces. Even on the quieter business streets, European experience is that motor vehicles are unable to safely share spaces with cyclists and pedestrians. To refresh Steve's memory, on 27-May-2010 I responded to his early post:
From Austroads ‘Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice: Part 7 – Traffic Management’. The ‘shared space’ concept is based on a sharp distinction between traffic routes and pedestrian streets, the latter being appropriate for zero traffic management treatment. [Prospect Road is an arterial road, the former.] Overseas guidance suggests that the concept may be considered where vehicle speeds are below 40 km/h and volumes less than 5000 veh/d. [Prospect Road has 20,400 vpd. ‘Shared spaces’ are yet to be trialed in Australia. From overseas experience…] There are some reports of negative experiences of cyclists and pedestrians in zero-management streets; suggesting that in the confrontation between a vehicle and other road users it is the vehicle that can exert most power.

Prospect Road will have 24-hour bicycle lanes...for two street blocks. The Prospect Road plans keep being changed – changed again in Sep-2010 after a Road Safety Audit identified cyclist and pedestrian hazards. The last plans I saw had the travel lane width narrowed to allow for extended footpaths with indented car parking. Such that wide buses will have no option but to overtake cyclists by less than the recommended one metre minimum. Perhaps it is no problem for a scooter rider to keep up with the traffic, but slow moving cyclists will be overtaken. It is much safer and less stressful when the clearance is according to guidelines and road safety campaigns.

Churchill Road is currently being narrowed with extended footpaths and indented car parking. It will not meet guidelines and road safety campaigns in that the many trucks on this freight route will be unable to leave one metre clearance when overtaking cyclists. To anyone who does not know Churchill Road, look at the before and after photos of Churchill Road being 'upgraded' that are posted at Prospect BUG under 'Look what they've done to my bike lane!' Continue reading to learn how Victorians for the last five years have been designing better bicycle lanes on freight routes.

Austroads 2009 recommends that trucks travelling at 60 km/h leave a metre clearance when overtaking cyclists. When a truckie does kill a cyclist on Churchill Road (studies of bicycle-vehicle collisions indicate that trucks with their large mass are more likely to kill than injure cyclists), his insurer will look for a way to spread the compensation bill. Obvious parties will be the State Government who approved the road 'upgrade' and Prospect Council who contracted the design and voted for it. Tort law does not protect a road authority when it fails to follow Austroads and guidelines established by professionals, as established in a court case this year when a local council paid $229,000 in compensation to a severely injured cyclist.

Steve is concerned for businesses without parking. Prospect Council has been trying for some time to persuade businesses to open up their backyards for customer parking, with some traders reportedly saying that their customers can park in the side / residential streets. On 7-Dec-2010 council reported that businesses still refuse.

Steve writes “these small buisnesses [sic] seriously faced financial ruin if a bike lane was introduced without indented parking...”. There is another side to the coin. I have permanent back injuries as a result of being hit by three negligent drivers while I was cycling. The compensation payout was trivial (the legal system labels some spinal injuries as whip lash) compared to the chores I can no longer do to balance my budget, eg brick laying, concreting, cutting firewood, fence building, growing food, knitting, motor maintenance, sewing, welding, woodworking.

A more equitable road design would have been to leave Churchill Road as is. Then I could have continued to cycle close to the kerb and away from buses and trucks, stopping behind the occasional parked car while waiting for trucks to pass. Very few vehicles park on Churchill Road.

The Churchill Road Masterplan October 2009 states: “The character of The Churchill Road corridor is dominated by its primary use as a freight route, with a large number of heavy trucks, fast flowing commuter traffic… The Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) on this road is approximately 22,000 vehicles per day at the Torrens Road entrance and increases to 27,900 vehicles per day north of Regency Road (Reference DTEI data) … Motorists are afraid to park on the street due to heavy vehicles and speeding traffic.”

So Prospect Council decided to install indented car parking within extended footpaths, and push cyclists even closer to the heavy vehicles. Property of parked cars given priority over cyclists' lives? Cyclists will not agree with Steve's opinion that “all in all both Master Plans are a win win for all road users...all users concerns and needs have been addressed [sic] and a pretty good and safe solution found fro [sic] everyone...” Steve is unable to recognise the road safety issues for vulnerable road users. Perhaps the only way Steve will comprehend is if he takes up cycling on arterial roads and freight routes in busy traffic.

Comment by Steve Harrison on December 13, 2010 at 22:30

Steve is unable to recognise the road safety issues for vulnerable road users. Perhaps the only way Steve will comprehend is if he takes up cycling on arterial roads and freight routes in busy traffic!!

 

I ride a bicycle for excerise, not as much as I should but I do, mainly down Tapleys Hill Road, which carries far more trucks than Churchill Road, but my main form of transport in Adelaide is a scooter....try riding a mile in my helmut!!

My experience on my scooter is that all road users around me simply refuse to share the road with me...and that includes cyclists! Which is my point...until we have one strip of bitumen and one set of road rules that we all follow and we all look out for each other, then nothing will change for the better..

Comment by heather on December 15, 2010 at 7:36

I have cycled on Tapleys Hill Road but not recently. According to DTEI, and depending on location, Tapleys Hill Road has 1,600 to 3,000 commercial vpd.

In the last 12 months I have cycled on sections of these roads, and where counts are:
Churchill Road – 1,700 to 3,500 commercial vpd (higher count than Tapleys Hill Road)
Fitzroy / Park Terrace – 1,800 to 2,250 commercial vpd
Main North Road – 1,150 to 2,050 commercial vpd
Port Road – 810 to 3,400 commercial vpd
Grand Junction Road – 3,900 to 4,000 commercial vpd
South Road – 4,400 to 5,400 commercial vpd

All of the above roads are 4 lanes or wider, with room for tucks to overtake cyclists. Except for Churchill Road where Prospect Council is narrowing the road until truckies won't be able to leave the minimum one metre clearance when overtaking cyclists. See photos posted at Prospect BUG under 'Look what they've done to my bike lane!' What is important is the design of the road. I did not experience 'cycling stress' on Churchill Road, until narrowing of Churchill Road in Prospect began.

Comment by Steve Harrison on December 20, 2010 at 8:50

Delete Comment

Unfortunately fellow Prospect BUG bloggers, this is my last Blog. Heather and an unnamed other/s have complained to Council that as I do not identify myself as Director of Business and Economic Development everytime I Blog and post a differing point of view on this Blog, that I have therefore an undclared conflict of interest.

I have always considered Blogs to be virtual conversations between people interested in debating issues, it would appear my point of view and interest in cycling is not wlecomed on this site and according to Heather anything I write on this site should be only stating what is Council policy and should be authorised by Council before going onto the Blog, as I am an employee of Council.

So I apologise to all those who are concerned that I do not declare my role as Director of Business and Economic Development, City of Prospect, everytime I post a Blag comment and I thank those who have invited me to join other 'clubs' on Adelaide Cylists forums.

I will with some regret remove my self from this site and take no further part in your debates. And just for the record, I am a cyclist, I am a scooter rider and I am dyslexic...so my apologies for the spelling  errors, but as I wrote previously blogs are online 'conversations', so I will always struggle with that.

(Steve Harrison is the Director of Business and Economic Development with City of Prospect, the views he expresses are not necessarily the views of Council )

Comment by Clive Palfrey on December 20, 2010 at 9:14

I'm a little confused Steve. If the council have directed to remove yourself then that's between yourself and them, if Angus has asked you to remove yourself (which I strongly doubt) then that is his right but if other members have asked you to remove yourself, ignore them. If anybody is not aware that you work for the council by now they are obviously not regularly logging on.

Having said that I have found the ongoing discussion(s) about Prospect council roads somewhat dry, personalising the contributors (irrespective of who did it first) adds nothing. Lists of road acts and what happens elsewhere becomes tiresome. But some might disagree, so they should be able to continue to observe and/or contribute. I would like to have the choice of reading your blogs or moving on to other discussions as is my want.

Comment by heather on December 20, 2010 at 15:32

I understand the Prospect CEO asked Steve Harrison that he place at the end of his public blogs on council matters a disclaimer like (Steve Harrison is the Director of Business and Economic Development with City of Prospect, the views he expresses are not necessarily the views of Council).

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