Two footers fear the whizzing two wheelers

Concerns have been raised about the safety of pedestrians around cyclists after the City of Sydney Council announced plans for a new footpath and cycleway network.

Under the “Liveable Green Network Strategy,” Council hopes to provide an incentive for Sydneysiders to choose walking over cars, buses and trains for short trips.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP believes improving the footpath system and street façade is a good step towards this goal.

“Rather than footpaths just being seen as a way of getting from A to B, we want to make them quality open spaces,” she said.

Chairman of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, Harold Scruby, said the shared zones allocated for both pedestrians and cyclists will prevent people from choosing to walk.

“People are not going to use them when they have made 51 kilometres of the footpath’s ‘shared paths’, where cyclists can travel on those paths with no speed limits, no insurance, no risk assessment,” Mr Scruby said.

“These are nice words but we won’t believe them until they take cyclists off the footpaths.”

Councillor Meredith Burgmann said the safety of pedestrians has been placed at “the bottom of the barrel”.

“I support the cycleways,” she said. “But in the equation pedestrians really don’t get enough thought, particularly older pedestrians.”

Councillor Burgmann believes there needs to be more regulation and enforcement of cyclists’ behaviour, especially in shared zones.

“A lot of them go very fast with their head down and don’t use their bells. If a pedestrian even went slightly to the side they could be killed. It’s actually very dangerous,” she said.

The Pedestrian Council of Australia wants compulsory third party insurance for all cyclists as well as compulsory identification plates for bicycles and maximum speed limits of 10 kilometres per hour that are enforced by police and rangers. They believe such measures will increase pedestrian safety in the shared zones that are detailed by the strategy.

The strategy is part of the Sustainable Sydney 2030 program and will include new lighting, furniture, paving, plants and signage on Sydney streets.

Footpaths will be widened and digital tools such as smart phone apps to create simple directions for pedestrians are to be developed.

By Tara Blancato