Bike Spot 2023 - NSW Report Summary

“We look at the most-voted Safe and Unsafe spots for cycling in Sydney and the rest of NSW and the primary safety concerns around the unsafe spots (hint, it is not a lack of bicycle stencils painted in the road!). ”

The BikeSpot 2023 project invited anyone with cycling experience to “vote” for safe and unsafe spots by placing a marker on an interactive map over the course of three months from October 2023.  It resulted in a crowd-sourced map of cycling safety perceptions, which will contribute to future bike infrastructure priorities and broader active transport projects.

The project was previously conducted in Victoria (in 2016 and 2020), and was conducted nationally for the first time in 2023.  

When a respondent nominates a spot, various ancillary information is obtained (age, gender, confidence level, purpose for riding) as well as the reason the spot is safe/unsafe and a measure of the stress experienced at an unsafe spot.  

Interestingly, in Greater Sydney relatively few respondents stated that their riding purpose as “fitness” (7.2%), compared with 36.2% in regional NSW and 20.0% nationally. 

A greater proportion of Sydney respondents cycled for commuting or “tasks/errands” (68.4%) than nationally (60.0%).

Across NSW, 68.7% /25.3%/ 6.0% of respondents were male/female/other or not stated;  this proportion was reflected in Greater Sydney also, and is consistent with known gender breakdowns for riders.

Nationally, 70.7% of respondents identified as “very confident” (65.0% in Sydney), with 25.7% “somewhat confident” (30.7% in Sydney) and the remaining 3.5% (4.4%) “interested but concerned” (open to cycling but with reservations due to safety concerns).

Issues at Unsafe Spots and Stress Levels

Figure 1 below charts the proportion of unsafe spots by stress level.  The top right quadrant indicates a high proportion of unsafe spots together with higher stress. Inadequate infrastructure is the main cause of high stress for a large proportion of unsafe spots (no bike lane or dangerous intersection).  Other high-stress factors included too much vehicle traffic, high speed of traffic, aggressive driver behaviour and the fear of car dooring, with all these factors applied to a lesser proportion of unsafe spots (top left quadrant).

Figure 1: Issues by av. cycling stress and percentage of unsafe spots (NSW v National)

Different Stress Levels for Less Confident Riders

When stress levels are classified by rider confidence level and stress factor, some interesting insights emerge (Figure 2).  Not surprisingly, “interested but concerned” riders reported higher stress for most issues, but the difference was most marked for “car dooring” and “bike lane blocked”/“bike lane ends”.  While such riders comprised a small minority of respondents, we know that they are a very large segment of the population and critical to consider in active transport planning and design if cycling for transport is to become truly accessible.

Figure 2: Issues by Cycling Stress and Rider Confidence

Safe and Unsafe Spots

In Sydney, the most-voted Unsafe Spots were:

• Victoria Rd in Rozelle (known for its lack of bike lanes, narrow obstacle-strewn paths and dangerous intersections)

• Coward Street, Mascot (bike lanes ending, large trucks and poor surfaces)

• Bourke Road, Alexandria (as above)

…while the most-voted Safe Spots were:

• Wilson St (Newtown)

• Bourke St (Redfern and Surry Hills)

• George St (Green Square to Redfern)

All the Safe Spots above feature separated bike lanes and good measures to manage intersections.

In outer metro and regional areas of NSW the most-voted Safe Spots include:

• Northern Rivers Rail Trail (Tweed River)

• Fernleigh Track (Newcastle)

• Wiradjuri Track (Wagga Wagga)

..all of which are long, quiet cycling/walking tracks well away from motor vehicles.

The most-voted Unsafe Spots in NSW (outside of Sydney) are in Greater Newcastle at:

• Hillsborough Rd, Warners Bay

• Bareki Rd, Eleebana

• Glebe Rd, Merewether/Adamstown

All these unsafe spots are fast-moving arterials with dangerous features including abruptly ending bike lanes, narrow shoulders and sufficient road space to invite fast vehicle speeds but insufficient space for adequate separation of bicycles from motor vehicles.

Crash Data

Police crash data involving cyclists for the five years 2018-2022 was compared with the most voted unsafe spots.  All three of the most unsafe spots in Sydney (above) saw 7-12 crashes in the period.  Some of the top ten most unsafe spots saw very few or no crashes, possibly since the issue did not cause a crash sufficiently serious to be reported to police, or the perceived lack of safety unsafeness was so great that riders went to some lengths to mitigate the risk.  The locations with the most frequent crashes in NSW were all multi-lane, fast-moving arterial urban highways (e.g. Anzac Parade, Grand Parade, Pittwater Road), which were perhaps not frequently used due to their obvious lack of safety.

Recommendations

The two biggest concerns in NSW for cyclists are the lack of bike lanes and dangerous intersections, both in terms of the volume of unsafe spots and stress levels. Cyclists seek safer, designated spaces to ride and improvements at intersections.

The recommendations are split by region:

Greater Sydney:

• Increase cycling separation on key routes.

• Improve intersections at popular cycling spots (e.g. Wilson St, Bourke St).

• Expand efforts beyond the top 10 priority areas.

Regional/Outer Metro:

• Address network gaps ("missing links").

• Enhance safety at off-road path-road intersections.

• Widen narrow road shoulders on high-speed roads.

The full report can be found here: BikeSpot Report