Sylvan Rd, Toowong bike lane a ‘death trap’ for cyclists

A CYCLING group says riders are too scared to use a 1km stretch linking two major Brisbane bikeways for fear of being wiped out.

Morning fog around Brisbane - Cyclists on Coronation Drive. Pic Mark Cranitch.

IT’S the 1km stretch of road cyclists say is so dangerous that some are ditching their bikes and taking other forms of transport instead.

CBD BUG co-convener Richard Bean said he knew of cyclists who shunned Sylvan Rd at Toowong completely.

“They won’t ride at all if they have to go past there. They’ll be using other forms of transport,” he said.

Palaeontologist Tamara Fletcher has been hit twice on Sylvan Rd and now avoids it.

“One of the times I got hit was a van that just pulled out directly in front of me,” she said.

“On another occasion, someone hit me as they turned to go down a side street from stopped traffic without indicating. They knocked me right off my bike onto the footpath out of the bike lane. I was a bit more injured that time. That driver got out of his car and started abusing me. As soon as I got up, he got in his car and sped off.”

In May, Brisbane City Council rejected a petition of over 700 signatures to construct protected bike lanes on the popular cycling route.

CBD BUG co-convener Richard Bean on Sylvan Rd, Toowong. Photo: Sarah Keayes

Dr Bean said car parks would have to go under the proposal that called for either protected bi-directional bike lanes on one side of the road or single direction protected bike lanes on both sides.

“The whole petition was based on people saying ‘this is the worst section I have to ride between Kenmore and the city and Middle Park and the city and Jindalee and the city — all of these suburbs. Everything is fine except for this one bit.”

Dr Bean said only 10 per cent of cyclists on Sylvan Rd in peak hour are women, yet three of them were hit by cars in 2014 and 2015.

“And they’re just the ones we’re aware of,” he said.

The petition said Sylvan Rd is the connecter between the Western Freeway bikeway and the Bicentennial bikeway, forming the main western corridor for bicycle traffic.

“Something needs to be done because there’s going to be more conflict,” Dr Bean said.

“There’s going to be so much growth in traffic just in this area, that you’ve got to start separating the modes,” he said.

Dr Fletcher agreed Sylvan Rd is dangerous and “a huge issue”.

“It’s linking two of the most important pieces of bike infrastructure in Brisbane with a death trap.”

While she was hit before the latest council improvements to Sylvan Rd, Dr Fletcher said they hadn’t solved the problem.

“If you ride in the bicycle lane, you’re in a dooring zone the whole way.”

YouTube credit: Shaun Moran

Dr Fletcher didn’t report either of the incidents where she was hit by vehicles.

“I didn’t feel like I had anything to report but that’s something I’m understanding more now reading about the council’s reaction to complaints that it is dangerous. They’re quoting statistics about how many incidents and I think they’re grossly under-reported,” she said.

“I definitely won’t ride along Sylvan Rd in peak hour and out of peak hour, I’ll ride there very occasionally but I’d rather find another way if there was one.”

But Brisbane City Council public and active transport chair Peter Matic said he did not believe people were abandoning their bikes.

“In respect of people giving up cycling on that stretch, not from our records. The numbers continue to increase and cycling numbers across the city continue to increase because we’re building better bikeways,” he said.

“As far as Sylvan Rd, the situation is that we did these improvements in 2012 and we provided dedicated bike lanes on the sides of the road. They are for cyclists.”

Cr Matic said that while the lanes share the space with parked vehicles, council had highlighted them with green paint and installed signage making the area safer than it had been previously.

He said the protected bike lanes would mean the removal of car parks which would leave residents, businesses and visitors nowhere to go.

“What we tried to do throughout this whole thing is to find a balance,” he said.

“I appreciate what they’re saying but the point is that we’ve actually improved what was there before. To provide a dedicated lane at the expense of everyone else, isn’t very equitable at the end of the day.”

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