Rebekka Tine Lousdal Meyer was cycling to university when she was hit and killed by a truck. Credit:Facebook Queensland police confirmed on Friday morning that Ms Meyer's family had been notified of the death. The intersection of Stanley Street and Annerley Road has long been recognised as a "danger zone" for cyclists. Annerley Road was identified earlier this year as Queensland's worst cycling blackspot, with 36 collisions causing injury or death since 2007. In August 2013, 40-year-old Greenslopes man Les Karayan was crushed to death when a truck toppled on top of him him after crashing into the Dutton Park railway overpass on Annerley Road.

Lobby group Cycle.org.au contacted Brisbane City Council in writing and in person earlier this year to voice their concerns about the blackspot, saying it was another "disaster waiting to happen". Gabba to Goodwill Bridge bike lane Bicycle Queensland chief executive Ben Wilson said Thursday's fatal crash made it imperative the state government and Brisbane City Council bring forward plans to build a dedicated 2.5 metre-wide bike lane running down Stanley Street between Woolloongabba and the Goodwill Bridge at South Bank. He said the designated bike lane was first proposed in 2011, at the same time plans for high-rise development in Woolloongabba were first discussed. Mr Wilson said the state government "had made plans" and the council "had looked at the plans".

"But no plans have been adopted," he said. "We are disappointed at the lack of action ... and it is awful to think that this might be the catalyst for us getting together with council and the state government to look at what we could do." Mr Wilson said the young university student had been making a "naked turn" from Stanley Street onto Annerley Road when she was hit and killed on Thursday. He said the Gabba to Goodwill Bridge bikeway was the much-needed missing link on Brisbane's southside cycle network. "That would mean a person who wanted to turn up Annerley Road would do it from a protected bike lane, rather than from a 'naked' street," he said.

Uninterrupted green bike lanes Cycle.org.au Queensland director David Mitchell raised concerns with Brisbane City Council's current policy of marking intermittent 1.2 metre bike lanes on roads, He said the narrow bike lanes were "bicycle awareness zones" which alerted drivers to the possible presence of cyclists, but did not provide protection for riders. The bike lanes, which are painted green and carry a white cycling symbol, were different to Brisbane's network of "off-road" bikeways, he said. "It is a definite issue that we have bicycle infrastructure that stops and starts and often is scrubbed out from cars driving over the top of it," Mr Mitchell said.

"We can't have bicycle lanes that are also motor vehicle car parks – it is either one of the other, it can't be both. "We are one of the few states in Australia where we have that issue. What we are stating as bike lanes, or bike ways are also being used for on street car parking." CBD Bicycle Users Group "Council needs to have a comprehensive review of Annerley Road from Dutton Park cemetery inbound. You can't have that many crashes there and not realise something is wrong," Mr French said. "There is no off-road alternative.

"That whole section of road from the 'Gabba Fiveways' through to the intersection of Vulture and Stanley streets, there is people on bikes converging from southern suburbs and eastern suburbs, people getting frustrated and rat runners are impatient. "Even in a green painted bikeway you're not safe. Slow riders are sitting ducks along there." Mr French said relocating car parking spaces closer to the traffic and placing bike lanes on the left side of the spaces would create a safety buffer zone for cyclists. While the council had invested heavily in green bike lanes across the city, Mr French said, cyclists were often forgotten in the council's competing traffic-congestion busting agenda. "Council's budget for cycling is window dressing, less than two per cent of council's annual transport budget," he said.

"The budget is massively geared towards expanding the road network. Brisbane City Council review Councillor Peter Matic said a road safety review had been conducted on Annerley Road earlier this year. "This review identified a number of improvements to enhance safety including refreshing line markings, replacing missing and damaged signs, and removing overgrown vegetation. This work has been completed," he said. The council has set aside $220 million for new bikeways, but Cr Matic declined to comment on the suggestions raised by cycling groups on Thursday.

"Council will await the results of the Queensland Police Service investigation into [Thursday's] tragic incident and discuss any findings with key brisbane cycling groups," he said. University community deeply saddened by student's death Police were in the process of notifying the crash victim's family in Denmark on Thursday night. University of Queensland vice-chancellor Peter Hoj said the UQ community was deeply saddened by the student's sudden death. "I extend my deepest sympathy to the young woman's friends and family in Australia and in Denmark," he said.

Professor Hoj said counsellors with UQ Student Services and the Employee Assistance Program were available to speak with any affected staff or students. Local councillor and cyclist Helen Abrahams said the incident was a tragedy for everyone involved, including the truck driver. "But what it demonstrates is that council's current approach ... is to designate bike lanes ... only where the road is wide enough to make sure that it does not interfere with the lane space of the vehicles," she said. "This means that when it comes to a narrowing in the street, the bike and the vehicle are still on the road, but the bike loses the safety of being in a dedicated area. "And they just have to fare as best they can. And it fails. And [this] is an example of that failing."

Cr Abrahams agreed a dedicated bikeway and safe "protected" turns had be a priority for the council, because Annerley Road was a popular link for students to the University of Queensland.





