CYCLIST crashes leading to deaths or serious injuries on Maribyrnong roads have more than doubled since 2007 and most of them involved a collision with a car or a truck.
According to VicRoads crash statistics, there were 107 crashes in the five years to the end of last year, rising from 11 in 2007 to 24 in 2011.
That included one death and 33 serious injuries requiring hospitalisation.
Analysis of the crash data reveals:
■Almost a third of crashes occurred between 8 and 9am and 5 and 6pm
■Of the 107 cycle crashes, close to 100 involved a collision with car or a truck
■The two worst locations for crashes are the intersections of Parker and Whitehall streets in Footscray, and Hyde Street and Somerville Road in Yarraville. Both locations are busy truck routes.
Yarraville resident John Weldon commutes by bike to Victoria University's St Albans campus.
He says Francis Street is particularly bad.
"There's trucks queuing to get into container depots and parking right up to the intersection, which is illegal, so you have to go right into the middle of the road to see what's coming left and right."
Mr Weldon said he relied on his bike, but it was "no fun" riding in Maribyrnong.
"I can ride to work, drive, or pay $11 for public transport. My bike is my car and we're a one-car family, but I try to avoid riding on the roads as much as possible because you're constantly on the look-out for trucks."
The council's spending on bike infrastructure to date has yielded 22 kilometres of on-road bike lanes, 22 kilometres of off-road paths, including eight kilometres of shared walking and cycling path beside the Maribyrnong River.
Yet Bicycle Network Victoria's analysis found the council's bike-related spending had more than halved this financial year, from $207,000 in 2010-11 to about $100,000.
Bicycle Victoria's Jason denHollander said the bike network in the inner-west of Melbourne was very weak compared to the rest of Melbourne despite being close to the city and its flat landscape.
"The inner west also has the one of the highest car-per-household rates and poor public transport provision," he said.
"Bicycle infrastructure would seem the best solution for the local and state government authorities that want to improve transport from the west without breaking the bank."
A police spokesman said Footscray Road would be included in a month-long operation targeting road trauma involving vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and, cyclists as it was a main commuter route from Melbourne's
west.
VicRoads regional director Nial Finegan said it had carried out a detailed investigation for the intersection of Whitehall and Parker streets last year and had prepared a funding proposal to install bicycle-pedestrian-operated signals and line-marking improvements at the intersection.
Other projects, such as improvements to Shepherd Bridge, are still under review.
In the coming weeks, VicRoads will launch a campaign to foster mutual respect between road users, clarify cycling-related road rules for all road users, and encourage drivers to treat bike riders as legitimate road users and share the road safely.
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