Safer Australian Roads and Highways Group president Peter Frazer backs Collins St bike lane trial

Peter Frazer, whose 23-year-old daughter was tragically killed in a roadside crash in 2012, has backed the Hobart City Council’s Collins St bike lane trial, declaring it could “save lives”.

Concept design of Collins St bike lane trial. Picture: Hobart City Council

A national road safety advocate who tragically lost his daughter in a crash thirteen years ago has thrown his support behind the Hobart City Council’s plan to make Collins St safer for cyclists and pedestrians, predicting that it will prevent serious injuries and “potentially save lives”.

Peter Frazer, the president of the Safer Australian Roads and Highways Group (SARAH), was in Hobart on Tuesday to promote the council’s two-year Transforming Collins St trial, which is expected to officially begin next month.

It will involve the construction of separated bike lanes, the establishment of streetside dining, and a pedestrian crossing.on the block between Victoria and Harrington streets.

Peter Frazer president of the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group. National road safety advocate backs Collins Street trial safety upgrades. Picture: City of Hobart

About 35 parking spaces will be removed from Collins St, with all loading zones to be retained and two new accessible spaces to be established.

Mr Frazer, whose 23-year-old daughter Sarah was killed in a roadside crash on the Hume Highway in New South Wales in 2012, said vulnerable road-users such as pedestrians and cyclists “should be able to be safe on every street”.

“Having experienced the loss of our beautiful daughter, Sarah Frazer, which took me into this space 13 years ago, you realise that the grief that people suffer either from being seriously injured themselves or from losing someone is a lifetime thing,” he said.

“And I think we’ve got to start to recognise that all of us have got to actively look after each other on our roads and highways. So what’s going on here [on Collins St] is the start of saying, ‘We’re changing the behaviour of people. We’re going to make certain that people are safe on the street’.

“The work that’s happening right here on Collins St is going to not only save injuries and potentially lives, but … will also improve the amenity of this city.”

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds. Picture: Linda Higginson

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said there had been more than 700 traffic crashes involving vehicles and active transport users in Hobart over the last decade and about seven had occurred on Collins St in the last five years.

“It is a more comfortable environment, a safer environment than Davey and Macquarie [streets], but we can still make it even safer and even more comfortable and even more pleasant through these changes that we’re implementing,” she said.

There has been significant backlash to the Collins St plan from Hobart’s business lobby groups.

A bike rider on Collins St in Hobart. Picture: Supplied

The Confederation of Greater Hobart Business forced the council to hold a public meeting on the issue last month but the opponents of the trial were outnumbered by people who supported it.

A coalition of local business groups, including the Property Council, has launched a petition to compel the Hobart City Council to fund a non-binding elector poll regarding the Collins St trial, which would cost ratepayers about $200,000.

Property Council Tasmanian executive director Rebecca Ellston said last week that Collins St property-owners were “some of the largest contributors to the council’s coffers through rates in the entire city”.

“The lecturing and lack of engagement from council about this proposal is unprofessional to say the least,” she said.

Originally published as Safer Australian Roads and Highways Group president Peter Frazer backs Collins St bike lane trial