Dog owners call for Yarra Council action over cyclists speeding through Edinburgh Gardens
Pet owners and elderly pedestrians at a popular inner-city park are going to war against speeding cyclists after several recent collisions and near misses, including one where a man tried to “kick a dog out of the way”.
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Dog owners are calling on Yarra Council to clamp down on cyclists darting through Edinburgh Gardens after crashes on the park’s busy shared path.
Fitzroy North resident Andy Mathews, 64, said he had recently seen collisions along the path shared by pedestrians and cyclists in the popular gardens.
Mr Mathews said the council should build speed bumps along the path because confrontations between cyclists and dog owners in the park were “not infrequent”.
“The other day a young bloke on a pushbike came hurtling down and people said, ‘slow down,’ and he actually tried to kick a dog out of the way,” he said.
“And that was a bit much for me to take, so I promptly offered to sort it out the gentleman’s way.”
The designated off-leash park, bounded by Brunswick St and St George’s Rd, and Alfred Crescent and Freeman St, was used by cyclists as a shortcut across the suburb.
Dog owner Greg Spark, 65, said he had also witnessed a frightening collision between a woman and a labrador puppy in the gardens.
“She went somersaulting off her bike and laid on the ground and she looked as though she was out for the count,” Mr Spark said.
“It was only after about half a minute that she curled up into a foetal position so that people realised that she wasn’t knocked out.
“The bike was okay, the dog was okay.”
Yarra Councillor Bridgid O’Brien said while the council strongly supported cycling, it had received complaints from elderly residents about “aggressive behaviour” from cyclists zipping through the gardens.
Cr O’Brien said she was told of one incident where a dog had been hit by a bike.
“The shared pathways are part of the problem,” she said.
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