Thread: chery pop?

He makes some fair points there. I tend to agree that if cycling on roads were to be tried for the first time in these times it'd probably be banned as too dangerous.
If a lot of cyclists actually obeyed road laws (red lights etc) there'd probably be a few less fatalities too.

Originally Posted by wardy1

If a lot of cyclists actually obeyed road laws (red lights etc) there'd probably be a few less fatalities too.

Same can be said for car drivers

Originally Posted by Psimpson7

Same can be said for car drivers

Absolutely. Personally I think riders around the Melbourne CBD have got better in the last couple of years. I see less running red lights now than before, but it also comes down to courtesy - it works both ways, but I'll always try and do the right thing by cyclists, and most of them appreciate the effort.

It shouldn't be an 'us and them' mentality. I'm not a cyclist (any more - used to be before I got a licence...) but we all need to share the road and do the right thing by each other.

No point getting up tight or ****ty about what the other party is doing - life's too short - take a chill pill and we can all use the roads together.

Exactly... I ride for fun / fitness, and occasionally to go somewhere, both on and off road, and I see poor driving and poor cycling, quite often on every ride.

So far I have done 140km this month which isn't a huge amount compared to a lot of cyclists , but I haven't been knocked off yet or even been close to having being knocked off. Personally I don't find cycling to be dangerous at all

Again this month, I have only had one very poor bit of driving (directly affect me) from a youngish person in a kia on p plates where they overtook me about 20m before an traffic island then proceeded to stop directly in front of me when there was no other traffic in sight atall.

Other than that, most of the drama I see is people pulling out of junctions who simply dont seem to see you. I tend to be prepared for that though and keep a close eye on whats happening.

I only skim read the article. From what I read though it sounded like some of the things being said I don't agree with.
I am all for more people using bicycles.
I do however think more road awareness for both cyclist and other road users is needed.
I wish we could register quads and ride them on roads that have limits under a certain speed limit.
I am glad that Australia is finally getting more bicycle lanes though, I like the idea but unfortunately for me it is not ideal at the moment as I drive or walk.

If I ride my bike on/walk along the roads around here I'd like both cyclists and drivers obey the rules as they are, not just blithely run me over because of ideological differences. The rules include taking due care and slowing where sight lines are poor. Unless the law actually changes and bans me from legally using a particular road I will use it whatever way is legal, if I choose to. The people who want to get bikes off the roads had better run for parliament and become the majority so they can legislate my rights away.

Mind you I tend to avoid cycling main roads where I can, relying on random drivers' skill in safe driving will likely lead to my sticky end. Various cyclists I have known have been killed when they were riding safely, visibly, on good roads with excellent sight lines and little traffic and this hasn't helped them. That's not the fault of the cyclists but a failure of the drivers concerned to drive safely. These are the drivers that smash into roadside trees because they're not sufficiently visible.

I can see both sides and do agree people should be allowed to ride bikes. However the two issues I mainly have are bikes on roads with high speed limit that are not designed for bikes at all and arrogant bike riders blocking roads.
The other thing I have observed is the arrogance of these lycra gangs even on bike paths that take up the whole area on either dedicated bike paths or shared paths and expect other bike riders an pedestrians to move for them.
On the other side I also detest car drivers that park on footpaths or bike paths. I have instructed my kids to stay on the paths and if they scratch or damage someones car then so be it and the person illegally parked can take it up with me and then we can take it up with the police. My daughter had such an encounter in Esperance when riding with the school, a car parked on the bike path and had nowhere to go when trying to get around the car. The owner tried to tell the teacher that she had to pay for the damage, the teacher a big cyclist just took a photo of where the car was parked and said to the owner ok please make your complaint to the police and we will take the matter that you are illegally parked and causing a danger for cyclists and pedestrians.
This day and age there is no excuse for not including bike paths when building new roads or upgrading. Where possible building bike paths off the road. Then there are cyclists that dont use them, many times in our 80kmph zone cyclists are on the road when there is a great bike path just 20-30m away.

Funny how people interpret the same article differently.
I read it as being about inconsistency of policy using cycling as an example....

Ah well, mum always said I was a bit different

Steve