Bicycle Network Victoria: Ride On magazine

No more Dane lanes

1 December 2008

I have to agree with Stuart Lawrie (Copenhatred RideOn Dec 2008 - Jan 2009). I believe that the Copenhagen style lanes as introduced in Swanston Street are dangerous and should be removed. I also believe that they should not be propagated throughout Melbourne. I have expressed my concerns about the lanes before and these include the following points:

• Pedestrians will walk across the lanes without looking as they won’t consider the road to start till the edge of the parked cars
• Pedestrians crossing the road will run/walk through the parked cars and straight onto the lane thinking they are safe from traffic
• Cars turning out of the roadway and into driveways will drive straight through the bike lane without stopping or looking, this will be exacerbated by drivers who feel pressured to get out of the traffic quickly.
• Cyclists are hidden from the view of turning motorists by parked cars.
• Drivers driving out of driveways onto the road will drive to the edge of the parked cars before stopping.
• Drivers will park across the lane until they are able to move into the traffic.
• The lanes are a fixed width, there is no escape route if a pedestrian steps in front of a cyclist or a car drives across the path. If a cyclist is involved in an accident any following riders will have no alternative but to be involved.
• A cyclist on a mountain bike with wide handlebars will occupy the whole lane and hinder the progress of other road users.

Nigel Kimber

Kensington VIC

A call to arms

1 December 2008

Are we to stand idly by and allow cars to reclaim Swanston Walk? Riding in peak hour traffic in the inner city is murderous, Swanston walk was a reasonably safe haven for cyclists running through the city and it can only be seen as lunacy to allow cars back in. Do the retailers really believe that people will park and shop in Swanston St, do they believe that the air will be cleaner? I call for the city square to be greened, all cars and buses removed allow tables and chairs to move up to the edge of the road and really turn it into a cycling and pedestrian boulevard.

We must stop this, or next will be the removal of the bike road treatments further up Swanston Street and then who knows, do we really need on-road bike lanes?

Geoff Lewis

Brunswick VIC