Cycle city: Melbourne’s worst streets for bike crashes revealed

MELBOURNE’S worst streets for bicycle crashes have been revealed. And with almost three quarters of all accidents involving cars, a leading cycling group says drivers are mostly to blame.

• Five of the best bike rides in Melbourne
• Dear cyclists, stop behaving like idiots
• Victoria ‘too dangerous’ for cyclists
• Blocked bike lanes risking cyclists’ lives
• Cyclist hater spills oil on bike paths

COLLINS St and La Trobe Street are Melbourne’s worst roads for bicycle crashes — with riders blaming car drivers for the majority of accidents.

The Bicycle Network says four out of five bicycle crashes involve cars, leading to fresh calls for greater separation between bikes and cars.

A study using data from nearly 2500 bicycle crashes between 2012 to 2016 by its 50,000 members found most crashes took place on Collins St and La Trobe St.

Elizabeth St recorded a large number of crashes, particularly around intersections at Lonsdale St and La Trobe St.

Cyclists heading into the city. Picture: Mark Wilson

Just outside the CBD, Queensberry St in Carlton also recorded a large number of crashes.

Bicycle Network chief executive Craig Richards said a key finding from the report was despite popular belief, the vast majority of bicycle crashes happened during good weather, on flat roads and at intersections — not when riders are travelling downhill and in the rain.

“These results are not entirely surprising when you consider that when it comes to bike crashes or collisions with vehicles, studies show that car drivers are mostly at fault,” Mr Richards said.

“While our data shows that crashes are minimal, they are still avoidable and it is clear that the number one action we need to take to make bike riding even safer is to improve separation between bikes and cars.

“Crashes occurring in areas that are seemingly non-risky but are dominated by cars show just how important it is that we build more bike paths and lanes that keep bikes and cars separate.”

Key statistics.

Mr Richards said the data went a long way to dispelling the myth that riding a bike was a dangerous and risky activity.

“Our crash report shows that the chance of being involved in a crash when you ride a bike is minuscule, just 0.003 per cent on any day, and 0.99 per cent in a year,” he said.

“More people go to hospital each year from falling off chairs than they do falling off bikes.”

The data found most crashes occur when the weather is fine (81 per cent) and the road flat (71 per cent).

The number of crashes in the morning peak (7-10am) was almost double those of the afternoon (4-7pm).

October and January are the two most common months for crashes.

Intersections are the highest risk area, where 43 per cent of crashes occur.

Only 21 per cent of crashes occurred when there were no motor vehicles.

Almost half of crashes were reported to the police, however, a quarter of people described the experience as negative.

[e-mail]

@AndyJeffo