
Kinglake road crashes (2014) - scottmcdot
http://the-way-to-the-centre.com/blog/2014/10/25/kinglake-road-crashes/
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Asbostos
This analysis doesn't lead to any relavent conclusion at all. It just shows
more vehicle accidents of any type than cycle accidents. It needs to at least
be scaled by the ratio of bikes to other vehicles on that road. Without even
any statistics, it could be meaningful if it also showed crashes elsewhere
nearby too. Maybe severe bike accidents are actually more common just off that
road than on it? We have no idea from this presentation.

Good on him for having a go though. This is what journalists should be doing
to help inform people better than a policeman's bluster.

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ryan-allen
There would probably be more motorcycle deaths on that road than regular cars
as well, as it's a popular spot for enthusiast riders. They have an accident
counter sign on that exact road, that if I recall, said there were 200+
motorcycle accidents in the past 10 years (that's off the top of my head).
That doesn't correlate with the data in the article either so it makes me
wonder if it's correct.

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cup
278 last I checked, but I don't think It's for that particular stretch of
road.

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ryan-allen
As someone who's driven that road dozens of times, I can tell you that it's
one of the most dangerous I know.

It has very steep cliffs and it's very narrow. It's the only main road between
the two small towns.

I can understand the locals annoyance when they're stuck behind a cyclist for
the whole stretch and cannot safely get around them without risking their life
or the life of others.

There are plenty of roads in the area that are safer, not to mention the
abundance of off road riding trails for mountain bikers in the area.

Cyclists deaths is misinformation, but the sentiment from the locals is real
and warranted: please choose another road, this is our only road and we got
places to be.

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jokamoto
Based on the maps and Street View imagery, I only see one potentially safer
road nearby (C727/C725; C726 is just as narrow). Other roads in the area are
either dead ends (a problem for obvious reasons) or unpaved (a problem for a
large share of recreational riders on traditional road bikes).

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nickzoic
The climb up from Whittlesea is impressively direct in places on a pushie.
I've seen plenty of people do it, but it is a different kind of ride and I'm
not going to try it any time soon ...

I like his GIS work, but there is no conceivable way that there were only 3
pushie accidents on that road in 7.5 years so sorry VicRoads but I doubt the
dataset is accurate.

Funny to see my neighbourhood on HN :-).

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zik
This was a big issue in the media in Melbourne a while back - media pundits
calling for the road to be closed to bikes with lots of invective about how
cyclists clearly didn't have the sense to take care of their own lives.

I love it when simply looking at the data shows the bigots for who they really
are.

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tomellis271
In a car this road scares the crap out of me. Personally I'm not convinced
that it should even allow two way traffic as the road is frequented by large
4x4s that almost always enter into the oncoming traffic lane.

Its narrow, has no run off and the hill climbing driver is faced with a close
call with incoming traffic or a slip down a steep cliff with no barrier.

Sheer lunacy.

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cup
It's an interesting road.

Theres a rumour amongst the motorcycle community that police turn a blind eye
to that road so that tourists arn't turned off from visiting the area and
spending the money.

Considering the relatively low speed limits there one would presume it would
make a great speed trap but I've never seen a radar gun up there in the last
10 years or so.

