St Kilda resident Mark Saunders said cycle paths were an asset for the city, but they could be dangerous if grit was not cleared often enough.
Mr Saunders said he came off his bike near Watercooled Sports in central Dunedin on Thursday last week, at the start of a cycle path, after he attempted a left turn made much more challenging by a vehicle intruding on the Kitchener St cycle lane.
The car was stationary and diagonal in an area marked with yellow lines and the driver was still inside, he said.
"If the car had not been parked across the cycleway, I would have had a straight approach and the accident would not have occurred."
Mr Saunders said loose gravel made it harder for him to maintain control.
"Due to the fact there was so much grit spread across the pathway, combined with the fact it was wet, the bike slid out from underneath me," he said.
Mr Saunders said he was subsequently well looked after by staff at the Musselburgh Medical Centre, who dressed the wound on his left leg.
Dunedin City Council transport group manager Jeanine Benson said the council was sorry to hear about an incident resulting from "what sounds like some pretty inconsiderate parking".
"We operate a regular schedule of cycleway maintenance, including sweeping and removing debris, but debris can accumulate sporadically at different locations, at times," she said.
"We also respond to public requests for additional work, as required."
Mr Saunders, an accounts manager who has been working from home, said his injury would keep him away from lunchtime swims for the next week or two.
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Comments
Cyclists are never satisfied. Although this one has inadvertently drawn attention to a fundamental problem with cycleways that's always ignored by lobbyists.
Yeah yeah, he had it coming & all that didn't he. Presumably because cyclists always run red lights, or something.
We are always ,drivers, cyclists and everybody in between, being told you have to drive/ride to the conditions and that includes unwelcomed stationary objects. Young people are very reluctant to admit that they made a mistake and are quick to pass the blame onto somebody else!
So Mr Saunders was the only factor in this that was actually moving. All other factors were stationary.
If this was motorist, the cause would be excess speed, driver error or not driving to the conditions.
Maybe Mr Saunders needs to be more careful while riding and adjust his cycling technique appropriately around stationary objects.
He was the only one moving yes and also the only one not at fault.
Honestly this is just one of many issues with our terribly designed cycle lanes. I use to cycle everywhere before they built the new lanes on the one way system, and honestly it felt far safer the way it use to be.
Previously you just had to keep a slight eye on wing-mirrors to see if someone was going to hop out of a car (but normally you can see them park so it was a non-issue).
Now you have to try keep an eye on traffic turning in that's on the other side of parked cars (so they can't even see you're there either).
And you have to figure out which side of the road the cycle lane is on since it changes every block.
They also haven't textured the green paint properly in most places (seriously, look for all the skid marks) so it's incredibly slippery and hard to stop/corner on.
You then have to contend with e-scooters treating the one way road as a two way road and trying their best to hit you.
They also put a cycle light on the Great King St/Union St W intersection even though Union St W is one way so traffic can't turn that way.
Then they forgot to put one on the Great King St/St David St intersection (Presumably they mixed them up and never fixed it).