Interesting Crash Survey Response

We have received many (too many!) responses to our call for reporting cycle crashes on tram tracks. The following response is from somebody who hasn't actually come off his bike, but his views and observations warrant their own article. So here it goes.

Interesting Crash Survey Response

I cycle to and from work approx 19 days per month via Hagley Park, Armagh Street, Victoria Sq to Oxford Terrace.
In 4yrs I have not fallen once on the tram tracks but have come very close about 6 times and I witness one crash every 6-8 weeks. I'm very cautious particularly on wet days and always try to cross at 30+ deg angle.
Accidents are becoming more frequent as people change from wide tyre knobbly tyred mountain bikes to narrow tyred mountain bikes, road bikes, or hybrids as they have less grip on the slick steel rails.
On this route most crashes I witness occur west of Cranmer Sq (slide 20). Because of the parked cars you can't cross the tracks at a decent angle. The yellow lines need to be extended one parking space further as currently there's essentially no exit as cars routinely car at the very end, or even slightly over the yellow no parking lines. Hence people tend to not cross the tracks there and try furhher down towards Cranmer Sq.
Because of the tracks I avoid the Armagh Colombo cnr (slide 1) completely by cutting through Victoria Sq but that isn't always so popular with pedestrians !
Both sides of Armagh Durham cnr heading east (slides 3 & 4) are always a balance of crossing at enough angle and not cutting off cars.
Not on my communting route but a problem I completely avoid by cutting thru Cathedral Sq when I'm heading north on Colombo is the problem in slide 8. Don't know if allowed to cycle through Cathedral Sq [editor's note - it's illegal to do so] but the Police ignore it and it's safer so I do it!
Refering to slide 19 when heading east a fair proportion of cyclists skip from the left side cycle lane into the right side cycle lane and back again when the right side cycle crossing has the green but the left is red. That causes a few tram track slips and confuses cars heading west and turning into Montreal. I always wait for the main car traffic lights as it avoids two unnecessary tram track crossings.
The following isn't intended to be shouting. It's just to make the next section clear as seperate from the above :-)
ULTIMATELY THOUGH THE GREATEST SAFETY ISSUE ON MY ROUTE IS NOT THE TRAM TRACKS BUT THE LACK OF SAFE CYCLE CROSSING AT ARMAGH ENTRANCE OF HAGLEY PARK.
THE ZEBRA CROSSING HELPS BUT ALMOST ALL CARS ONLY RESPECT HALF OF THE ZEBRA CROSSING AND NOT BOTH SIDES. THERE ARE A LOT OF PEDESTRIAN / CYCLE VS CAR CONFLICTS AND NEAR MISSES THERE AT PEAK TIMES.
WHAT'S DESPERATELY NEEDED IS PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST TRAFFIC LIGHTS, LIKE AT KILMARNOCK STREET / DEANS AVE OR HARPER AVE.
CYCLIST & PEDESTRIAN VOLUME AT ARMAGH PARK ENTRANCE IS LIKELY THE HIGHEST OF ANY PARK ENTRANCE / EXIT.

So what is Spokes doing about it

We are talking to Christchurch City Council about the issues raised above.

Survey Results 

View a summary of the survey responses so far.