EMILY FERNANDEZ
Concern that cyclists lives are being put in danger on a busy CBD route has prompted one Brisbane councillor to start his own campaign.
Greens Councillor for the Gabba Ward, Jonathan Sri is calling on the Brisbane City Council for safer cycling infrastructure on Victoria Bridge to prevent deaths.
Cr Sri is concerned Brisbane City Council is not considering cyclist and pedestrian safety with the planned changes to cycling and pedestrian lanes.
“The broad concern we have in Brisbane is that the city council is not investing enough in safe cycling infrastructure and its resistance to lowering speeds, to improve safety for pedestrian and cyclists,” Cr Sri said.
On Saturday, July 22, Brisbane cyclists laid across on the Victoria Bridge to symbolise cyclist deaths, in protest against the City Council’s decision.
Space4Cycling representative, Belinda Ward is campaigning against the metro changes since the proposals first began and were happy to support Cr Sri.
“At Space4Cycling we were keen to support Cr Sri’s protest initiative,” Ms Ward said.
“We had raised concerns since the beginning of the metro proposal that council appeared to be making it more difficult to ride a bicycle across Victoria Bridge.”
Ms Ward hopes the council will change its current metro plans as they do not enable cyclists to cross Victoria Bridge safely.
“I mean it’s a really important, incredibly important pedestrian route, there are a lot of people that walk across that bridge and to sort of say that cyclists can really just go on a shared path is not good enough.”
Cr Sri believes the council is beginning to listen.
“There’s already prospect from multiple directions coming within Council and I like these sorts of protests because they attract a lot of media attention, public scrutiny will help to shift the political establishment in that respect,” said Cr Sri.
The local Gabba council and cyclists are still waiting for a response from City Council.