Kenngineering Notes: Cycling along the Great Ocean Road

I have worked on many Great Ocean Road projects over the years. This has included acting as an expert witness for two motorcycle crash cases, developing safety upgrade projects, and assessing strategic infrastructure plans.

Once again, I have recently been investigating crashes on the Great Ocean Road. It is an iconic tourist route, a popular motorcycle road, and heavily trafficked at this time of year with holiday makers heading down the coast.

One area I still struggle with is recreational cycling on this route.

Victorian research (Boufous et al. 2012) confirms what we would expect. Rural roads with speed limits of 70km/h and above are associated with more severe cyclist injuries. On the Great Ocean Road within Surf Coast Shire alone, there were 18 police reported crashes involving cyclists in a recent five year period, including 7 serious injury crashes (Surf Coast Safer Cycling Strategy 2022). Other research shows that up to 38% of cyclist crashes on these types of roads involve vehicles overtaking and close passes (Rubie et al. 2023).

I have used or suggested a range of treatments on other routes to try to lessen the risk for people riding bikes. These include off-road cycling facilities, bicycle activated warning signs (see the TMR guideline on these), shoulders or bicycle lanes, speed limit reductions, and working with cycling clubs on training times and route selection.

But the Great Ocean Road is a real challenge. Constrained geometry, limited cross section, disparate riding cohorts, tourism and cultural heritage constraints, and very high driver workload all come into play.

What else is out there that actually works on high speed, constrained recreational cycling routes like this?

Or what innovations should we be trialling?

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