Cyclists on the road

Why controversial ?

Some moron driving a car tried to kill or injure a group of road users by using their vehicle as a weapon. The police should throw the book at the fool when they catch them.

As for cyclists being annoying, are they any more annoying than slow caravans or trucks blocking up roads ? At least cyclists are easier and safer to overtake than some idiot towing a huge caravan at 80 Km.Hr in a 110 Km/Hr zone .....

Serg,

A very stupid and cowardly act by this car driver. One could probably ask the same question of him as you have of the cyclist- How can an uncaring, angry and dangerous driver be classed as a legitimate road user?

Having been on the receiving end of bleep s such as these, I have no empathy for any road user that treats another legitimate road user (by law) with the contempt that this bleep wit has, regardless of cyclist, motor cyclist, stereotypically metrosexual vespa driver etc. Regardless of whether he has been made an extra minute late for his soyamochacappalatte, at the end of the day it is actions of stupidity such as these that WILL kill someone.

Cyclists annoying, yes at times, but so are silver haired geriatrics towing caravans 25+km below the speed limit ;)

Have a good one

Yes , I fail to see what is controversial about this article . Please explain what you mean .
Willie .

Geez- I thought 4WDing was expensive...
$9 grand for a pushie !!!!- (now how many Cooper Tires could I buy with that) ??

Make them pay rego and insurance the same as other road users have to and see how many of the tools ride in traffic. We have them here riding in the very early morning with just one piddly little LED light on the front, nothing like giving them a cold bath with bottled water, mind you a bit of two week old road kill on their spandex and lycra suits is good too! Get off the bloody road and use a velodrome. . . . . yes this is a pet hate of mine too.
Cheers
Wetty

I find the most annoying road users the ones who have no respect for other road users.

It is intimidation with little regard for someone else (or their life). Like it or not cyclists are legitimate road users who have every right to be there as everyone else.

Possibly heavy transport drivers on the Hume Highway at night in their massive B-doubles find us mere four-wheel drivers annoying, but imagine the uproar in here if they staring muscling us around; same thing.

There seems to be no logical rules for cyclists, surely they should be restricted to single file inside double white lines?

And before the cyclists here get their lycras in a knot, I do ride a mountain bike & at times on the road.

Maybe I'm different but I just don't like w@nkers whether they are in trucks, 4wd's, cars or on bikes.

GB

dont know the road myself but it looked pretty much like a freeway lane on tv should the bikes have even been there ??? and be interesting to know if they were being "good" cylists and only riding 2 abreast or like most of the morons and riding anthing up to 5 abreast

steve

ps we ride bikes have a 4b and tow a van

Gday,
Nothing to do with the original post, but it is to do with cyclists and it was bloody hilarios so Ill tell you any way.
A mate and I were going to work one morning with 3 rolls of sisolation on the roof racks. One must have been a fraction smaller diameter than the other.....
We were crusing along at about 120-130km ish when we come across a group of cyclists doing there morning training. The problem was they riding 3-4 wide on an undulating road so slowing and trying to pass was more dangerous than just scooting past.
Anyway...they gave me the bleep s so (for there own safety), I didnt give them a lot of room.
As we went past I could see them in the rear veiw mirror heading bush....Laugh..I nearly shat!!!!
When I got to work I noticed one roll of sisolation had slid out under the roof rack and was hanging out of the side of the car by about 2 feet.
They would have had the equivilant to a lump of steel wizzing about 3 inches above there heads at 120-130 kph.
Yes....it would have been my fault.....ABSOLUTELY!!!

But the moral to the story is........
I would have survived....they could have died!
Where and how they were riding was bloody stupid..........
I also ride a bike, and my theory is....treat everyone on the road like they are out to kill you and they are all bloody idiots.

Cheers

The lack of tolerance & empathy by many above is unbelievable! This incident would be no different from a semi trailer tailgating a 4x4, overtaking it then slamming his brakes on forcing him to run up the rear. It is irrelevant what the 4 wheel driver may have done or what other drivers have done in the past, it's simply a criminal act.
Make the idiot pay for the damage then lock him up to think about it for a few years.
Cheers Craig.........

I have lived in Australia for 45yrs now and am appalled at the way YOUNG cyclist treat our roads. They do not obey the road rules and quite often do not know if they are cyclists or pedestrians. They quite often get off their bikes at traffic lights and walk them across against a red light and remount on the other side. Another thing that they do is not stop at stop signs, although a number of car drivers do the same and I have yet to hear of a cyclist being booked for these offences.
As far as I know there is no training program for young cyclists or the checking of bicycles for road worthiness and in a lot of cases the bikes are too small for the rider and most do not have adequate lights or no lights at all, bells or mudguards ( mudguards are essential in preventing stones being thrown up)
If there are any rules regarding cyclists and their bicycles they are not being enforced by Mr. Plod.

One situation in which I find that cyclists are very dangerous is on rural roads. Around here there are many narrow, windy roads frequented by cyclists doing very low speeds. Coming around a blind corner at the posted limit to find a couple of treadlies in front of you and vehicles coming the other way preventing you from overtaking can be scary.

If you broke down around a bend, due to the danger you would be quick to get your car off the road or send someone back to signal to other cars to slow down. Roadworks - warning signs before the bend. If a cow wandered on to the road, well, it's too stupid to know the danger it is in. Cyclists?

Just read this thread quickly after not having spent much time on EO for quite a while. Only because flicking through the topic titles I was drawn to it because I am a regular cyclist and a Bicycle Patrol Police Officer. Would like to thank those of you posting ignorant and arrogant camel faeces in this thread for remind me why I choose not to frequent here any more. Goodbye

I ride a bike and drive a 4WD.

As a rider, I understand that I have a soft shell and cars have a hard shell. When they meet, the soft shell usually breaks first. I ride though peak hour traffic, and I mostly get to the city faster than the buses and cars, not beacuase i'm doing anything stupid, illegal or dangerous, it just that I have the benfit of a bike lane.

When I need to get out of the bike lane, I always make eye contact with the driver behind me. 99% percent of drivers will give me the space I need and I give a wave in recognition. I don't see them again because thay are being held up by other drivers. The point I'm making is that sometime a little cooperation is required. I don't notice anyone getting upset or frustrated.

As a 4WD driver, I see many frustrated drivers in my rear vision mirror. My height and width create a visual barrier to the vehcile behind be which forces them (hopefully) to increase the distance between thier car and mine, Many will move to another llane just to avoid the problem.

I think I'm more of an impediment on the road as a driver than as a cyclist, althoug reading the posts, I'm sure there would be disagreement on that.

And remember that we could all be riding bikes soon :). I think it's not far away that we will see dedicated bike lanes on major arterials leading into cities, much like existing bus lanes, i.e. no cars allowed. I hope it happens soon, and I'd be happy for it to be a tollway to pay for the costs.

Just my two bob's worth.

I ride a bike to work - no costs, no parking hassles, and I can stay vaguely fit without going to the gym. I'm also lucky to be able to ride linear park to work.

But you won't catch me riding my bike on busy roads - too much chance of getting killed. Bike Lanes are bad - parked cars open doors, turning cars cut you off or pull out in front of you.

Need to separate bikes from cars - they are not compatible. Need more dedicated bike tracks.

Adelaide could be improved by scrapping the ridiculous trains and replacing them with a 2-way bike tracks and more O-Bahns.

Bikes already outsell cars in Australia - this situation isn't going to get better - especially with rising fuel prices.