Thread: Cyclists.

Originally Posted by bee utey

The majority of one eyed internet trolls don't earn my respect either.

good thing im not one eyed then

Originally Posted by Eevo

the majority of cyclists do nothing to earn respect.

Quite a generalisation there.

I'd reckon the opposite.

Suppose you can support your statement?

And aren't we all going to enjoy the new rules to come into Queensland shortly where a cyclist has the right to use the full lane and block roundabouts etc etc, I can hear the screams now.


The problem as I see it, they have brought in rules that don't work on our narrow roads. A problem created by a minority group getting the majority of the say, why, because the majority didn't have an interest until the minority got it's way.


All the majority have to do is now lobby as hard as the minority did and we go back to bike riders getting pushed out of the way, as it should be.

Originally Posted by sam_d

While on the subject of running red lights, right at the beginning of the video as the cyclists approaches the very first set of lights you will notice they are green as he approaches yet a car is being driven through the junction in conflict with the green lanterns shown.

This can only mean that the driver ran a red light from whichever direction he came from. Given the apparent speed I doubt very much that he went through on a green and didn't have time to complete the maneuver during the amber phase.

Just saying.

That video is hilarious.
One car running either an orange or red light :1 naughty motorised vehicle
One cart with 2 horses running 4-5 red lights:5 strikes against horseman
One bike filming another running a red then filming a SLOWER vehicle in "his" lane blocking his progress, getting the ****s , then proceeding to run at least 2-3 red lights to film the horse n cart along with stupidly stopping short in front of the horses to try and block him : 4-6strikes and a double dose of hypocrisy!
Who is he to get the ****s at a person slowing him down when he is doing exactly that on any street where he doesn't use a bike lane.
Also how hard would a bunch of 4-5 cyclists scream (3-4 passengers in carriage)if you Stopped short of them in a defender because they where in your lane and slowing you down?

Originally Posted by tonic

And aren't we all going to enjoy the new rules to come into Queensland shortly where a cyclist has the right to use the full lane and block roundabouts etc etc, I can hear the screams now.


The problem as I see it, they have brought in rules that don't work on our narrow roads. A problem created by a minority group getting the majority of the say, why, because the majority didn't have an interest until the minority got it's way.


All the majority have to do is now lobby as hard as the minority did and we go back to bike riders getting pushed out of the way, as it should be.

Most of those rules are already there, if you look hard enough. And the minority group has been able to get some minor changes made because the majority group has so many members in it who are incompetent, ignorant, negligent, malicious or a combination of all four.

But that is to take too simplistic a view. The majority group is not 'motorists' and the minority group is not 'cyclists'. Far from it. The majority group is more like 'people who need to get around not only today but tomorrow as well' and the minority group is 'people who know how to make that happen'.

Of course most of that majority group are pretty clueless about how to build a sustainable transport infrastructure and have this nonsensical idea that if you spend a shipload of cash on building roads and making it easy for cars and trucks that will fix it.

It won't. Worse than that, it is not just that we can predict a future failure from modelling; it is that we can observe the current failure from existing data. We can see from plenty European experience that moving people from cars to bikes makes things work better. We can see from current Chinese experience that going the other way makes things worse. And we can see from specific European and, oddly, Korean experience that closing roads actually makes it easier to get around.

It's just that in Australia we have a culture that cannot get to grips with evidence-based planning; there are too many entrenched prejudices. Concepts that don't fit the prevailing mind set don't even get looked at.

A bit like Toned Abs' focus on building roads to shift resources and manufactured goods around. We know rail is cheaper for freight, even accounting for local distribution costs. From that perspective, roads are a brake on productivity and, hence, competitiveness. And that is not some greenie-lefty pressure group speaking there, it is the government's own productivity commission. Bankers, financiers, industrialists and the like. Hardly a bunch of rabid tree huggers, no?

But back to the point. Cycling is cheap, cars are expensive. Not just fuel, or manufacturing costs, but health and wellbeing costs as well.

Just a pity there are so many people around unable to understand the data and to draw objective and logically sound conclusions.

Originally Posted by London Boy

But back to the point. Cycling is cheap, cars are expensive. Not just fuel, or manufacturing costs, but health and wellbeing costs as well.

Just a pity there are so many people around unable to understand the data and to draw objective and logically sound conclusions.

We are at 2 different levels of the argument.


The current push for change is coming from Tour De France want to be.

What has become clear to me in my 8 years of living and cycling in Australia is that much of the cyclist bashing and hate that occurs comes from the ingrained attitude in society that one must be the strongest, the best, the fastest and of course the most macho.

Since being the strongest/best/most macho is not something that most people can achieve there is a pressure on them to prove themselves another way. And how does the school bully do that? He picks on the smaller kid and when you're in a car, the easy target is the cyclist. Boast about how much more you hate cyclists than anyone else in your group will increase your status within it.

Couple this need to be "macho" with the rampant anti-intellectualism that exists in Australia and you end up with the same tired, discredited and irrelevant cycle hate being spouted over and over by people who cannot (or refuse to) understand facts and evidence which are contrary to their view.

Originally Posted by London Boy

..[snips] But back to the point. Cycling is cheap, cars are expensive. Not just fuel, or manufacturing costs, but health and wellbeing costs as well.

Just a pity there are so many people around unable to understand the data and to draw objective and logically sound conclusions.

Take care with 'conclusions'. The 'health & wellbeing' issue is not all cut n dried.
Canberra has about 360,000 people (ABS 2010). Its supposedly bike friendly. Well, on the cycleways or on the streets, the fact is people on bikes are getting injured. So Canberra's not a major urban situation but its still not safe enough to ride a bike. All it takes is one or two close calls, a taste of the costs of the modern medical system and you park the bike in the garage. As I said up thread, I'd prefer a bike in a slow country town. Bikes and urban roads? No. At peak hour? With the demographics of current drivers? Death on a stick.

Here's a fairfax article I bookmarked after my bike prang the other year..
(recent 3 years data involved):
Canberra MAMILs increase hospital admissions

Lets all walk.

edit- btw, any trauma doctors want to come to Canberra and work at the hospitals emergency dept? The vacancy ad says they pay $140 an hour. 'They' is us plebs.