Fatal cycle crashes prompt call for Government action

An American cruise ship passenger was killed in a collision between her bike and a truck while on a cycle tour in Tauranga in November. Photo/File

A string of fatal crashes involving trucks and bike riders has stirred a call for Government action.

Three cyclists have died in crashes involving trucks in less than a month, and five of the last seven cycling fatalities involved a truck.

The Cycling Action Network says the Government is doing great things, like improving cycling infrastructure.

But spokesman Patrick Morgan said it had done nothing about safety ideas a Transport Agency panel came up with two years ago.

The panel recommended better mirrors, sensors and cameras, and side-under-protection to deflect cyclists or pedestrians away from trucks.

Morgan said local councils also needed to address black spots such as poorly designed intersections and roads without shoulders.

On Thursdaya 54-year-old cyclist was killed in a collision with a truck in Pakowhai, near Hastings on a road which had been earmarked for a new cycleway since 2015.

On March 15, one person was killed and another critically injured after a serious crash between a truck and two cyclists in the South Island. The crash happened on the Tekapo-Twizel Rd near the Mt Cook turnoff.

In November, a 71-year-old American tourist was killed after the bicycle she was riding was hit by a truck in Tauranga.

The woman and her husband had been travelling on the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice which berthed at the Port of Tauranga that day. The woman was on a harbourside bike tour with several other passengers when the collision occurred.