Warnings about dangerous intersection ignored before cyclist’s death

The transport department and contractors building the West Gate Tunnel Project failed to act on warnings they created a “recipe for disaster and death” at a Footscray Road intersection before a truck ran over and killed a young cyclist there last year.

Angus Collins’ family is devastated that warnings about the blind spot and dangerous traffic light sequencing where their beloved son and brother died were not properly addressed.

The intersection of Footscray Road and Dock Link Road where 22-year-old cyclist Angus Collins was killed in February last year.Credit: Jason South

“A tragic death at the intersection was foreseeable,” said Ian Collins, Angus’ father. “I feel that if the warnings had been heeded and actions taken to address the dangerous situation, we would still have Angus with us today.”

The 22-year-old Deakin University sports science student was cycling west along the Footscray Road Trail and crossing Dock Link Road in West Melbourne on a green light on February 2, 2023, when a truck turned left into his path.

Cyclist Angus Collins was killed in a collision with a truck in February last year.

Collins, who was a competitive cyclist with the Brunswick Cycling Club and represented Victoria at a national level, attempted to brake but skidded on sand and debris, hit the side of the cement truck and was killed instantly.

A Victoria Police investigator told the Coroners Court in April that Collins and the truck driver could not see each other as they approached the intersection because of a 2.4-metre-wide cement pylon erected in 2020 by the West Gate Tunnel Project, a $10 billion partnership between Victoria and toll road giant Transurban.

Traffic signals that gave green lights for cyclists to ride straight and vehicles to turn left into the Port of Melbourne at the same time also contributed to the crash, the court heard. The coroner’s investigation is ongoing.

But the West Gate Tunnel Project received a string of earlier warnings that the new pylon and simultaneous green lights had created a tragedy waiting to happen, documents that The Age obtained through a freedom of information request show.

Fifteen months before the fatal crash, a freight company manager called and then emailed the state government Major Transport Infrastructure Authority to raise “an extreme safety concern” about the intersection after one of its drivers was in a close call, “which could have ended with a fatality”.

“Both the cyclist and the traffic have a green light. A cyclist was behind the concrete pole last night as the truck was driving past and the truck driver did not see the cyclist,” the November 11, 2021, email said.

‘The blind spot of the trucks and the closeness of the pole to the crossing is a recipe for disaster and death’

Email to West Gate Tunnel Project

“The Left Hand Side is a blind spot for trucks and the pole is very wide and close to the crossing. The lady jumped off her bike and the bike ended up underneath the trailers – seconds either side of this she would have been killed.”

The trucking company manager implored the transport department to resequence the lights so cyclists and trucks did not travel through the intersection at the same time.

“The blind spot of the trucks and the closeness of the pole to the crossing is a recipe for disaster and death and we are all very lucky that this did not eventuate last night. Thousands of trucks use this road daily and the risk of reoccurrence [sic] is extremely high,” the email said.

The email was sent to a state government “Big Build” inbox and referred to the Department of Transport. Construction giants CPB Contractors and John Holland [CPBJH], which are building the project through a joint venture, advised the complaint was referred to a “traffic team”, the documents show.

Another complaint alerted the project a woman was almost killed crossing the intersection on foot that same month.

“There is a green light for both traffic & pedestrians at the same time, and it can be hard to see pedestrians because of a concrete pole blocking the view,” the email said, which was also sent to CPBJH and Transurban.

Complaints date back to 2018, when the project first removed a left-turn slip lane into Dock Link Road. One email in October that year about a close call between a cyclist and truck warned it was “a fatality waiting to happen”.

Another in early 2019 said: “Another day, someone almost got hit. If someone dies at this intersection, I’ll be sure that the coroner gets a copy of these messages of me pleading with you to do something about it!”

CPB and John Holland have launched legal proceedings to prevent The Age obtaining a further 15 documents about the fatal crash, arguing they could prejudice future investigations and result in a “trial by media”.

A spokesperson for the West Gate Tunnel Project – who responded to questions sent individually to the state transport department, Transurban and CPBJH – said the project responded to earlier safety complaints by erecting “give way to pedestrians” and “watch for bikes” signs. It also removed screens and realigned the bike path to improve visibility.

After the fatal 2023 crash, the project installed more warning signs, deployed traffic controllers and resequenced the traffic lights so path users and vehicles did not go through the intersection at the same time.

The Footscray Road Trail is now closed indefinitely, with VicRoads saying too many trucks queuing up at Dock Link Road made it “unsafe for people on bikes”.

A tribute for cyclist Angus Collins at the Footscray Road intersection where he was killed.Credit: Jason South

“Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Angus Collins – the safety of road users and the community is paramount to all works carried out as part of the West Gate Tunnel Project,” the spokesperson said.

Ian Collins said the project and department should have done more to properly address the safety issues that had been raised.

“That risk should have been addressed. It appears that very limited or no action had been taken,” he said. “We can never really get over losing someone like Angus. We miss him profoundly every day.”

The West Gate Tunnel spokesperson said independent road safety audits were conducted before each change was made to the intersection.

A Road Safety Assessment completed on January 11, 2023, just three weeks before Collins was killed, is among the documents CPBJH is trying to prevent being publicly released.

An email accompanying the assessments sent to West Gate Tunnel Project director Michael O’Sullivan, which has been released, says the project would add “look right” and “look left” pavement markings on the bike path but “no other countermeasures (other than monitoring) are recommended”.

The WGTP did not answer questions about which party – the department, Transport or CPBJH – was ultimately responsible for managing safety at the intersection.

But in a March 6 email to transport department deputy secretary William Tiepoo responding to a request for information about the crash, acting WGTP CEO Peter Lellyett said Transurban and CPBJH had “the primary obligation in regard to monitoring the operation of public roads in the project area and management of the worksite traffic management implementation”.

A green light for cyclists and for turning vehicles at the Footscray Road intersection.Credit: Jason South

CPBJH has applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to review a decision by the transport department’s FOI officers to release a further 15 documents to The Age about the crash.

The construction companies have argued those documents should remain secret because they could “contaminate evidence” in a possible coronial inquest, or criminal and civil trial.

Releasing the documents would lead to a “trial by media” and cause “reputational, operational and financial” harm to them, including by damaging their ability to attract clients and staff, they said.

Coroner David Ryan said during April’s hearing that the Department of Transport and Planning was well aware of the risk posed by dual green traffic lights for cyclists and vehicles after the death of Arzu Karakoc in Footscray six years earlier.

A 2021 inquest into the death of the Moonee Ponds mother-of-two recommended the department “review the risk and therefore appropriateness” of the light signals due to their safety risks.

Ryan said there were many other similar intersections in Victoria, and he encouraged the department to “act now in relation to pursuing strategies to reduce the safety risks”.

“There is no need to wait until this investigation is concluded. It’s in [the] public interest that prevention opportunities be explored as soon as possible.”

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