AN interactive online map shows that cyclists view a section of Frankston-Flinders Road as one of the most dangerous on the Mornington Peninsula. The map released last month by Bicycle Network sees the road described as a high speed rural road where motorists can drive at 100kph despite “many recent near misses … from Balnarring to Flinders”.
BikeSpot 2023 was launched in October last year with the public being invited to add spots to a map indicating whether the location felt safe or unsafe to ride. Other roads marked on the map as being dangerous to cyclists include Balnarring Beach Road, Balnarring, Nepean Highway, Frankston South, The Esplanade, Mornington and Mount Martha, Boundary Road, Dromana and Marine Drive, Safety Beach.
Details attached to the map describe the problems seen by cyclists, including a “blind corner” followed by an unmarked bike and pedestrian crossing at Balnarring; children leaving mountain bike trails and riding alongside a road used by quarry trucks; vehicles parking in bike lanes; lack of bike lanes; and “aggressive and impatient tourists” accused of harassing cyclists and “making dangerous overtakes”.
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 2020-2025 road safety strategy shows that “most [61 per cent] cyclist trauma” comes from “side impact and side swipe by vehicles” with half of fatally and seriously injured cyclists being aged 50 to 69.
Cr David Gill said “problems” on Frankston-Flinders Road had taken a long time to be tackled by VicRoads and the state government. The road had been prioritised by the shire “for lower uniform speeds and continual road improvement”. “We are edging closer on some of the issues being resolved, hopefully this year,” he said. Gill said the council was unable to set speed limits but he would ask that more consideration be given to bike safety.
Bicycle Network said it had received nearly 73,000 submissions after it sought comments before last month’s map release. “The interactive map displays location defined as safe by users with green bubbles and places defined as unsafe with amber bubbles. The larger the bubble, the higher the amount of submission activity. “The hope is that these crowd-sourced insights from bike riders around the country can help advocates, researchers and planners build better places to ride and prioritise areas in need of improvement.”
First published in the Mornington News – 6 August 2024
