Southport is the gold coasts bicycle accident capital - blame the (cyclist) tourists

[Cheesewheel]

Its a subscriber story so its here in full to save you the effort of chasing it down through google news and also the mental anguish of having to read the comments the article will inevitably attract . So far there are no comments, but its early days.( ... is it just me or do 75% of the paragraphs contain at least one point designed to trigger motorist responses in the comments section?)

Southport is the Gold Coast’s cyclist accident capital as tourists blamed for collisions


ALMOST 30 cyclists a week are involved in accidents on the Gold Coast, with experts saying the high crash rate is due to bike-riding tourists not following our road rules.

Last year 1510 cyclists were rear ended, side swiped, hit objects or pedestrians, with many requiring medical treatment or hospitalisation.

ACCIDENT HOTSPOTS


The latest figures from the Department of Main Roads and Transport show the Gold Coast rates as the second-highest accident site in the state for bike and vehicle accidents, behind Brisbane.

Gold Coast bike riders are most likely to be injured while riding in Southport, with the central suburb topping the 2016 chart for accidents at 150 for the year, most of them on Smith St or Garden St.


Scene of a collision between a cyclist and a car on the corner of Markwell Avenue and the Gold Coast Highway, Surfers Paradise.
Surfers Paradise comes in a close second with 89 accidents occurring in 2016, the majority of which occurred on the Gold Coast Highway or Clifford St.

Robina, Varsity Lakes, Burleigh Heads, Broadbeach and Mermaid Beach also rate as some of the worst places to head out for a morning or afternoon ride.


Southport is the Gold Coast’s cyclist accident hotspot.
As a result of the shocking data, Shine Lawyers have joined with Cycling Australia to set up a dedicated hotline for those involved in cycling accidents.

Shine Bundall branch manager Tina Ibraheem said it was no surprise some of the Coast’s most popular tourist areas rated as among the worst place to cycle.

“The top sites are tourist destinations and that’s because tourists come here and don’t really know the road rules,” she said. “It’s often backpackers that use bicycles as a mode of transport.”


Police investigating after a cyclist was killed.
Cycling Queensland chief executive officer Sean Muir said while laws to protect cyclists had been introduced in recent years, there was still room for improvement when it came to cars sharing the road with bike riders.


“Queensland has come a long way,” he said.

“Legislation around the two metre laws … is really showing it’s all around sharing the road.


Shine Lawyers have joined with Cycling Australia to set up a dedicated hotline for those involved in cycling accidents. Pic: Tricia Watkinson
“There is a still a lot of work that needs to be done on riders and drivers.
“There is not a lot of protection (on a bike).
“When a car and bike come into play all cyclists have is one millimetre of Lyrcra to protect them.”

Gold Coast-based athlete Katrin Garfoot, who injured her back after an accident on her bike in Helensvale in February, said Coast traffic was “very aggressive” and “getting worse every year”.


Katrin Garfoot Photo: Steve Holland
“I know some cyclists are no angels on the roads, but there is also a false sense of ownership of the road by drivers,” the 2014 Commonwealth bronze medallist said.

Ms Ibraheem said many cyclists who are involved in accidents on the Coast don’t know they could take legal action if injured on the road.

“They are entitled to compensation for the injuries they’ve sustained. When cyclists are involved, they’re always going to be worse off,” she said.

The hotline number is 1800 751 004.

[brumby33]

Crikey....I'm shocked to learn this, I was up there a few weeks ago for a 3 day holiday break and was amazed how nice the roads were and the cycling lane infrastructure they have up there, almost every main road has catered for cyclists and because the GG area is generally flat, it's ideal. They advertise up in the Goldie that they have over 1,000kms of bike paths and lanes in the entire area.
I did see quite a few cycling up there including tourists but mainly locals and Surfers has mainly 30kph speed limits in the city streets. Didn't see many in Lycra either, mostly normal t-shirt and shorts type riders.
I was wishing I had my bike up there to give it a go.
There is quite a few people riding on what appeared to be electric scooter bikes and they ride them on the walkways and everything, we thought that was a bit risky with so many people walking around.
I guess being a top holiday spot, I seen cycling up there a great way to get around, but that was early September, it may be a lot different during the peak holiday periods when the entire place is chockers full of tourists trying to get around on bikes.

Cheers

brumby33

(Dave)

[Usernoname]

Gold Coast-based athlete Katrin Garfoot, who injured her back after an accident on her bike in Helensvale in February, said Coast traffic was “very aggressive” and “getting worse every year”.
Katrin Garfoot Photo: Steve Holland
“I know some cyclists are no angels on the roads, but there is also a false sense of ownership of the road by drivers,” the 2014 Commonwealth bronze medallist said.
They advertise up in the Goldie that they have over 1,000kms of bike paths and lanes in the entire area.

I live in Southport, there's a little bit of safe cycle infrastructure along Bermuda St, south of Broadbeach, loop around Emerald Lakes and a bike lane on Hedges street from Broadbeach to Miami. There may be some south of Tallebudgera where I don't ride. The rest is either in the door zone or shared with peds. It's generally OK to ride from 5-7am. I've just about given up riding during the day except very carefully via back roads and bike paths. Last few times on the roadie, I had at least 2 very close calls. Just not worth it anymore. Their 1000k's of bike paths well, some very good for casual ride if you don't mind dogs, prams, kids on scooters and mumbies with earphones.

[brumby33]

Aaaargh now you've buggered it for me Usernoname

One of the reasons for going up there was for checking it out for future semi-retirement ideas and of course i can't observe everything in 3 days, it takes longer than that but compared to Sydney, I seen nice roads for which to cycle on, realistic speed zones in the busy areas of Surfers and Southport ( One of the areas i'm seriously considering laying money down for a place)....apart from holiday times, I see the Goldie as being less stressful as Sydney yet having all the conveniences of a major city like good hospitals as I get creakier with age.
I was talking to one bloke on a bike who lived locally for about 10 years and was giving me some advice about cycling around and he said it's now his only preferred option because he has no reason to have a car up there...he did say its that hot up there during the summer days that sometimes the heat from the concrete melts your shoes lol.
I had visions of riding around the canals, up the peninsulas, along beaches, to a part time job perhaps (i did say semi-retirement )
So...maybe i'm gonna have to have more holidays up there and observe what you've said....thanks for bursting my cycling bubble

cheers

brumby33
(Dave)

[Cheesewheel]

South of tallebudgera, the highway is pretty dangerous along palm beach when the traffic thickens up with parked cars (there have been a few fatalities on that stretch) ... townson av or mallawa drive run parallel to the highway (2 or 3 blocks further inland from the highway) and are a far more popular choice amongst locals due to being superior in safety and traffic flow (if you look at that stretch on google maps you can see it quite clearly).

The bikelane in broadbeach is a joke ... despite the numerous bicycle only signs, it functions as a shared path and speeds over 25km/hr can be dangerous due to thick pedestrian traffic (my pet hate are skateboarders ....as you come up behind them they spontaneously pump their board from side to side all over the lane to go faster or groove to the tunes of their earphones).

Shooting up to the spit is usually pretty good and if you choose the right roads, you can do a pretty nice circuit out towards nerang with nerang broadbeach road or neilsens road or robina via robina parkway even when the traffic is thick (nice long roads woth few traffic lights, no parked cars and huge riding shoulder that is only rarely occupied by a broken down car .... completely bereft of the usual pedestrian issues)

But yeah, this is all the heavenly planets compared to cycling in sydney or even brisbane

[Usernoname]

There's 3 facebook links to local ride groups (middle to north of coast) and 2 shops at Nerang that have Sat/midweek rides. Most shops will have a shop ride or 2 and there be more groups. The early morning group rides are pretty good for safety (in numbers) and less vehicles.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/539857539403665/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/603861543095284/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/603861543095284/
https://www.facebook.com/toplinecycles/ ... intro_card
https://www.facebook.com/justridenerang?fref=ts

I don't think it's much hotter here than Sydney/Melbourne/ Adelaide in summer and much warmer in winter. Plenty of good hospitals, shopping and lots more trendy cafes if that your thing. Being a tourist area there are probably hundreds of restaurants as well. Having been here for a while the traffic seems shirt, but it only take a trip to Bris to realise it's not bad.

[RobertL]

Aaaargh now you've buggered it for me Usernoname

One of the reasons for going up there was for checking it out for future semi-retirement ideas and of course i can't observe everything in 3 days, it takes longer than that but compared to Sydney, I seen nice roads for which to cycle on, realistic speed zones in the busy areas of Surfers and Southport ( One of the areas i'm seriously considering laying money down for a place)....apart from holiday times, I see the Goldie as being less stressful as Sydney yet having all the conveniences of a major city like good hospitals as I get creakier with age.
I was talking to one bloke on a bike who lived locally for about 10 years and was giving me some advice about cycling around and he said it's now his only preferred option because he has no reason to have a car up there...he did say its that hot up there during the summer days that sometimes the heat from the concrete melts your shoes lol.
I had visions of riding around the canals, up the peninsulas, along beaches, to a part time job perhaps (i did say semi-retirement )
So...maybe i'm gonna have to have more holidays up there and observe what you've said....thanks for bursting my cycling bubble

cheers

brumby33
(Dave)

And don't forget, if you want to do any "serious" riding the Gold Coast hinterland is very close, and has some really good rides with some serious hill climbs:
https://www.strava.com/segments/1166693
https://www.strava.com/segments/831925
https://www.strava.com/segments/3929338

[AUbicycles]

As an attractive tourist location, if they are identified as hiring bikes and having a high accident rate, I could identify a number of sensible solutions to improve. In the long term it would benefit all but in the short term there would be complaints from some people and politicians about sacrificing some road space for public space and and routes and paths for pedestrians and bike riders.

The safe passing distance is often applauded as THE solution but is it just part of the solution and in the current form, needs more work and reenforcement.