An injury lawyer has warned Councils of the consequences of not having proper bike lanes, bike paths and signage. His words of warning were in media commentary about a bicycle rider who was injured in a collision with a pedestrian on a bike path in central Melbourne.
With Victoria’s TAC not covering riders involved in crashes with pedestrians on roads or paths, injured parties could seek other avenues for compensation.
Injury lawyer Jeremy King of Robinson Gill Lawyers said, “You can definitely see cases where councils could be sued for not having proper signage or not having proper bike lanes.”
National General Manager for OmniGrip Direct, Justin Strunk said, “It’s vital that Council ensure their bike lane surfaces, and any other coloured surface treatment, are compliant with standards and specifications. They should seek independent NATA accredited testing to determine compliance with skid-resistance requirements before they accept the project from their contractor, to reduce their exposure to risk should a rider later fall or be involved in a collision.”
“In our experience, NATA skid-resistance testing isn’t mandated in many specifications we see. The end result is the Asset owner is exposed to increased risk of litigation with the potential of an unsafe surface being installed with no testing verification. Visual inspections aren’t enough to validate skid resistance.”
OmniGrip Direct is always happy to have clients test its surfaces using independent NATA accredited testing laboratories, or to arrange for NATA testing on behalf of a client.
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