This morning I saw the results of another cyclist who had been cleaned up by a car crossing Northbourne Avenue into Morphett St Dickson and was being carted off to hospital.
In the past I have found this intersection particularly dangerous for cyclists both as a driver and as a cyclist. This is because, the turn is quite a fast one (with hardly any angle and without a stop sign), the cars maintain momentum while trying to beat three lanes of oncoming cars and the cyclists are unexpectedly a little behind the cars that have accelerated away from the pedestrian lights a few metres further along Northbourne. As well, I don’t remember seeing it this morning but there has been some sort of workman’s tape on the nature strip for a while which seems to obscure vision and, in the morning, the sun shines off the windscreen at just the wrong angle to make these cyclists difficult to see from the left.
I don’t want to start another driver versus cyclist war but I have seen several near misses and had a couple myself (both in the car and on the bicycle) so I just wanted to warn people who might travel that way. Also, if I stop to check that area thoroughly before going across Northbourne please don’t act like the odd impatient driver who honks because I didn’t accelerate straight through.
My sympathies to the cyclist and the driver and I hope the cyclist recovers quickly.