There had not been any major deep-sea oil leak before BP’s Gulf of Mexico incident. BP and the United States are now embroiled in an environmental and economic disaster.

If BP had their time again, they’d have invested heavily in ways to minimise the risk of a catastrophic leak and developed means to quickly respond to an incident should one occur.

In the same way, that statistics show there’s not been a death or injury recorded on the Victoria Bridge is no excuse for doing nothing about a safe pedestrian and cycle crossing.

The risk to pedestrians and cyclists is real and plain for all to see. The solution is simple – build a dedicated pedestrian and cycle crossing to eliminate the risk once and for all.

Do we really need to wait until there has been a serous injury or death of a user of the bridge before something is done to provide for a safe crossing of the Nepean River at Victoria Bridge?

This ‘black-spot’ only approach is entirely rear-looking and if perpetuated by current and future political leaders could bring about a tragic and unnecessary loss of life. The political cost to those who ignored the risk or vacillated about a solution is likely and rightly to be severe.

Far better to be proactive and take steps to eliminate the risk to users of the bridge.

We’ll not know whose life will be saved by providing for a safe crossing, but save lives it will.