Wife of Australian cyclist killed after crashing into “invisible, camouflaged” cycle lane barrier launches legal action against local authority and calls for more safety considerations for cyclists

The wife of a cyclist who died in Australia after colliding with a “camouflaged” grey barrier on a shared-use path has launched legal proceedings against the local government over her husband’s death and in a bid to prevent similar tragic incidents in the future.

66-year-old Graham Forte was riding his bike on a shared cycle and pedestrian path in Albany, a city at the southern tip of Western Australia, 250 miles south of Perth, on 3 March when he crashed into a metal railing at the entrance to a car park, suffering serious spinal injuries.

“I got to the car park, he was lying on the ground, he couldn’t move but was well and truly conscious,” Graham’s wife Joan, who was informed of her husband’s crash by a witness, told ABC.

After being treated at the scene, Graham’s condition deteriorated when he suffered a heart attack as he was about to board a Royal Flying Doctor Service flight to Perth, where doctors told him that the best-case scenario would leave him almost completely paralysed.

“He agreed to hold on for another half a day, in awful circumstances, and bravely said we will wait for the organ donor team to do their work,” Joan continued.

“On Thursday morning his life ended, [and] as a result there are three successful body parts being transplanted and donated to other people.”

Reflecting on the circumstances that led to the 66-year-old’s death, Joan said that the metal barrier Graham, a prominent member of Albany Cycling Club who rode his bike “every day”, crashed into – located at the end of the path – was essentially invisible.

“He said he was riding at about 25kph towards the car park, he had no idea that rail was there,” she said.

“In front of the car park, which was empty, all you could see is black car park, some white markings, some grey kerbing beyond.

“And this grey railing, you couldn’t see it at all, it just disappeared into the background. And Graham, who was a very experienced, skilled, and careful cyclist, he had no idea it was there.”

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Since Graham’s death, Joan says she has learned of numerous other incidents involving unsuspecting path users colliding with the barrier.

“In January, a young man on a scooter basically did the same thing, ran into it, and he was off work for a period of time because of his injuries,” she added.

“He feels very upset that he hadn’t reported it now, and that’s something I’d like to encourage people to do. If you see something like that, it doesn’t even have to cause an accident, please report it, please make someone aware of it, because you could prevent something like this happening.”

In the wake of the 66-year-old’s tragic crash, the City of Albany, which manages the area, has installed high-visibility, reflective stickers along the metal railing, along with signs warning cyclists that the path ends in 10 metres.

However, Joan believes that by taking civil action against the local government over her husband’s death, similar incidents can be prevented in other areas and called on councils and construction firms to take into consideration all road users when installing infrastructure.

“I don’t think the council took cyclists into account when they installed the barrier,” she concluded.

“One thing I’d like is for all councils and people doing construction is to consider all road users – consider the cyclist, consider the pedestrian.

“How does it work for everyone? It’s not just for motorists. You really have to take into account all of the members of the community who are going to use it.”

Responding to the legal case, the City of Albany’s chief executive Andrew Sharpe said the local authority was unable to provide comment.

“This is an ongoing matter, therefore the city is unable to comment at this time,” he said in a statement.

> Cyclist who suffered “life-changing” injuries after hitting bike lane kerb sues council in multi-million euro claim

In a similar case last year, this time in Ireland, a cyclist who suffered a “life-changing and catastrophic” brain injury when he fell from his e-bike while riding in a protected cycle lane, hitting a kerb and striking his head off a series of granite bollards, sued Dublin City Council in a multi-million euro claim.

The cyclist sued Dublin City Council, the cycle lane’s designer AECOM Ireland, and Co. Kildare-based construction company Clonmel Enterprises, which carried out the work on the cycle lane, claiming that he suffered personal injuries, loss, and damage due to the defendants’ “negligence and breach of duty” in the maintenance, design, upkeep, and condition of the protected cycle lane.

The cyclist claimed that his fall was caused by the design and layout of the bike lane and an adjacent pedestrian plaza, and that there was a failure on the part of the council and the lane’s designers to give “sufficient consideration” to the difficulties that could allegedly arise from the “intermingling” of cyclists and pedestrians at the location.

An uneven raised kerb of between 60 to 70mm in height was also allegedly permitted to feature as part of the cycle lane when, the man claims, the defendants should have known that it would present a hazard or danger to cyclists using the infrastructure.

The previous month, we reported that well-known 80-year-old Scottish racing cyclist John ‘Jocky’ Johnstone was awarded compensation after he crashed when he hit a pothole that South Lanarkshire District Council had failed to repair properly despite a number of complaints about the road defect.

And in September 2022, a group of club cyclists who crashed on a road filled with loose gravel – leaving three members badly injured – sued Derbyshire County Council for the estimated £10,000 worth of equipment damage.