A coroner has found authorities and developers ignored multiple safety warnings about an intersection affected by construction of the West Gate Tunnel before the “preventable” death of a young cyclist.
Coroner David Ryan said numerous concerns from road users were raised with the Victorian government and its subcontractors – CPB Contractors and John Holland – in the months leading up to Angus Collins, 22, being hit and killed by a truck, yet those in charge failed to ensure temporary changes at the intersection were safe.
Collins’ distraught family and friends say the companies involved did not do enough to make the intersection safer, despite being repeatedly told someone was going to be killed.
On Monday, the coroner highlighted a complaint in November 2021 from a transport company manager who emailed the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority expressing serious concerns about a dangerous, near-miss at the intersection of Footscray and Dock Link roads due to changes in traffic-light sequencing and the construction of large concrete pillars.
“The left-hand side is a blind spot for trucks. The lady jumped off her bike and the bike ended up underneath the trailers – seconds either side of this she would have been killed,” the manager wrote.
“The blind spot of the trucks and the closeness of the [pillar] to the crossing is a recipe for disaster and death, and we are all very lucky that this did not eventuate last night. Thousands of trucks use this road daily and the risk of recurrence is extremely high.”
Fifteen months later, in February 2023, Collins died after being hit by a truck while he was cycling through the same intersection.
His father, Ian Collins, also a regular cyclist, said he was devastated to learn the developers were long aware of the risks and of actions that could have saved his son. He said he hoped the coroner’s findings would lead to widespread change to bike-rider safety.
Credit: The Age