The cyclist Dr Teresa Foce died on a poorly maintained path, awash with gravel. The ACT Government needs to show more responsibility for path maintenance of the bike paths.
The unfortunate death of a cyclist is Canberra has highlighted what cyclists in Canberra know well. The maintenance of the cycling path in Canberra falls far short of what is required.
In 2018 Dr Teresa Foce, a psychiatrist working at the Canberra Hospital was killed because of an accident that occurred when she was riding on a shared bike path.The ACT Coroner has now released findings about the circumstances leading to Dr Face’s death and has found that the poorly maintained path, awash with gravel, materially contributed to the death of Dr Foce.The Coroner has recommended that the ACT Government institute a regular audit program for its off-road bicycle paths and that inspections should occur at sufficient frequency so as to minimise the risk that a path becomes dangerous to persons using the path.
Coroner’s recommendations reflect Pedal Power’s ongoing plea to government to increase shared path maintenance across Canberra, Pedal Power ACT, press release, 14 October 2020
Pedal Power has responded reminding the ACT Government, once again, that it needs to step up the path maintenance.
Just last week, cannberra.bike showed the deplorable state of the Aranda hill bike path. Hopefully, this and other bike paths in Canberra will finally get some attention soon.
