10 times this cyclist could have been killed — and how we can make his ride safer

BRACE yourself — this cyclist’s near-miss ‘highlight’ reel is not for the faint-hearted. WATCH THE FOOTAGE NOW

BRACE yourself — watching a video of cyclist commuter Patrick Pramana’s near misses is not for the faint-hearted.

Mr Pramana rides each weekday from his northern suburbs home at Carseldine to work with a camera lens capturing not only his view, but also what is going on behind him.

The minute-long highlights reel shows 10 heart-stopping close calls between home and the CBD, including almost being collected by a semi-trailer truck at night and almost being sideswiped by a Brisbane City Council bus.

Mr Pramana regularly rides through the “Albion-Wooloowin death corridor”, so named by cyclists due to the area’s narrow roads, prolific traffic travelling at speed, and the large number of parked cars on the streets (story, below).

Cyclist hit by a truck on the corner of Hudson Rd and Albion Overpass in Albion. Friday August 10, 2018. (AAP image, John Gass)

It’s also the area where a 37-year-old Geebung man was killed on August 10, as he cycled home from the Fortitude Valley/Newstead around 3pm. He and a semi-trailer truck collided. The driver was unaware of the accident and the rider was dragged for a distance. The cyclist died at the scene. Police are investigating.

RELATED: Cyclist dies 500m from unfinished North Brisbane Bikeway

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City North News asked Mr Pramana to explain to non-cyclists what it was like to ride to work, and what could make his commute safer. He says the completion of the North Brisbane Bikeway would be a great start.

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Cyclist commuter Patrick Pramana, with wife Vina, and children Nathaniel and Nikolas, preparing to take a family ride from their Carseldine home.

CYCLIST COMMUTER PATRICK PRAMANA:

Routes: Carseldine — CBD; Carseldine — Eight Mile Plains. Frequently rides through Albion.

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Q: Could you tell me what it feels like to be a man balancing on a few tubes of steel connected to the road by a few millimetres of rubber, surrounded by metal boxes moving very quickly?

A: Most morning and afternoons are perfectly fine. Most drivers do the right thing and give me enough space when they overtake.

Some of them, I believe, have tunnel vision and have no spatial awareness towards other road users, especially bike riders. Some are just purely distracted while driving with their gadgets which is equally dangerous.

The last and most dangerous subset (of drivers) is the road bully, who intentionally intimidates or — worse — tries to hurt bike riders by performing a “punishment pass”, honking their horn aggressively, or trying to hit you on purpose (I’ve had this happened to me once). Luckily, based on my experience, this last group is the smallest.

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Bridge St overpass at Albion. (AAP/Image Sarah Marshall)

Q: What do you think can help improve safety for cyclists?

A: I’m fully aware that there is no simple solution to this problem but if we can start with acknowledging that bike riders are fellow road users that have the same rights to use the road infrastructure (as cars), it would be one step towards the right direction.

Every tax payer — including people who works from home with no vehicle, pedestrians and bike riders contribute towards infrastructure project and the road maintenance. The fact that bike rider do not have to display a rego plate and do not pay a yearly rego cost has nothing to do with their rights to ride on public road.

One more note that was raised by my wife after I told her about this article …

I’m sure I’m not alone in this: So many people who choose to ride their bike to and from work also have family waiting for them at home.

My wife Vina was OK initially when I started riding to work regularly, but she is still concerned, knowing the lack of separated bike infrastructure from our suburb.

Her worry is increased by media reports about the number of bike riders who are injured or killed just getting to and from work.

I always call or text her every time I am about to start my journey back home on my bike. She always responds with ‘Be careful and see you home for dinner’.

It would be great if she shouldn’t have to worry about this.

We are glad knowing that there is a better future coming, where bike and cars can coexist supported by advocacy and infrastructure support from local and state government.

Build bikeways and more cyclists will use them: It’s just how it works.

Hudson Rd-Albion Overpass intersection. (AAP/Image Sarah Marshall)

Q: Where is your destination and how long does it take you to ride there?

A: I commute from Carseldine. I used to work in the CBD but I now work in Eight Mile Plains. It used to take me 35-40 minutes to cover 18km commute to the CBD but it now takes me 75 minutes and 35km each way to get to Eight Mile Plains.

Now that I commute from the northside to the southside of Brisbane, I realised how lucky the southsiders are, as they can rely on the V1 bikeway to commute. I see a lot more commuters heading the other way once I hit South Bank onwards — more women and young ones, and that is always a good indication of safer two-wheel commute route.

My commute from Carseldine to get to Southbank is 90 per cent on the road — riding on a painted green strip on one side of the road, which most times has cars parked across it.

Some of the worst points which would alleviate some of the northsider’s commuting challenges are (just to name a few):

A screengrab of the Cyclist feedback map of the Move Safe Brisbane campaign for Brisbane City Council, Monday, Aug 27, 2018 at 11am. The

Shaw Rd inbound and outbound, where I have to fight my spot on the road since Brisbane City Council decided to remove the bike lanes on both sides of the road;

Bridge St and Dickson St inbound and outbound, where the bike lanes are occupied by parked cars;

Hudson Rd and Burrows Rd inbound, where I have been almost killed too many times to name.

Once I reach Newstead, I can say it feels a lot safer as most of the streets have a 50kmh speed limit and the Brisbane Riverwalk is there to connect to the CBD or southside suburbs. Once you hit V1 bikeway, it’s just heaven … :) … Until you hit that pedestrian crossing button at Birdwood Rd. Luckily the Stage E V1 Veloway project has been approved.

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Patrick Pramana and Nikolas.

Patrick Pramana's family out for a bike ride. “It’s a lifestyle,” he says.

Q: Why do you cycle?

A: I was introduced to a road bike in 2013 and back then, most of my rides were just social outings with close mates. Initially, it was just a hobby but the one of my ride buddies invited me to join him for the 2014 Ride2Work Day, which was arranged by Bicycle Queensland. Since then, I started commuting more and more, to the point where I only clocked 7,450km in 2014 and then 12,413km in 2015, mainly from commuting.

It has now turned into a lifestyle which has “infected” my family as well. Our five-year-old now rides his 16in Specialised Hotrock to school, which is 2km away. My wife’s ride of choice to do our two-year-old’s daycare drop off and pick up is her Giant Crosscity, with a Yepp Maxi child seat.

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