West Melbourne cycling advocacy group BikeWest has been busy collecting data on near misses experienced by cyclists around Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay roads within the past 10 years.
BikeWest has been collating the location, dates, types and descriptions on a number of incidents classified as near misses, which can include verbal abuse, threatening driving, close shaves and collisions.
BikeWest president John Symons said the aim of the resulting study would be to capture the scope of issues faced by cyclists on a daily basis and then present it to local and state governments to advocate for more action ahead of the upcoming state election.
“The level of understanding is very poor,” he said.
Mr Symons said he saw videos on a regular basis of local cyclists encountering near misses or dangerous driving.
“It is terrifying watching those videos,” he said.
Mr Symons said a particularly dangerous road for cyclists in Hobsons Bay was Kororoit Creek Road in Altona.
He said a number of local council’s initiatives to improve cycling safety such as pop-up bike lanes were “very disappointing”.
Details: docs.google.com/forms/d/1p0aynJk1eN9byKapoPQT_ljawt0olXGpHmvYUWwv4PY
Matthew Sims
