Cyclist Trial In Newcastle Mall

Sun Herald

Sunday March 16, 2008

By Frank Sullivan

BIKE riders could soon be legally riding down the Hunter Street Mall in a trial organised by Newcastle City Council.

The council voted last week to ask the Roads and Traffic Authority for a 12-month trial of cyclists in the mall.

The vote overrode a council staff recommendation that pushbikes be excluded from the mall's shared central traffic channel.

The move marks a long-awaited victory for councillor Ian McKenzie, who tried eight years ago to get council to allow cyclists through the mall. His motion at the time was narrowly defeated.

The council will ask the Roads and Traffic Authority to approve a pedestrian/bicycle shared zone, with a 10 kilometre-per-hour speed limit for bikes.

Cr McKenzie said last week that he did not believe the trial would change much in terms of safety for mall pedestrians.

"It's an issue of management rather than banning. If we wanted safe traffic, we'd ban alcohol and high speeds," he said.

"I'm OK with skateboarders. One of the problems is that we treat young people and their boards as anti-social outlaws.

"We'd be better off bringing them into the fold and getting everybody to learn to live with each other."

© 2008 Sun Herald

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