cyclists on the road

[jules]

according to our tour de france runner up cadel evans, aussie drivers are the worst in the world from a cyclists' perspective.

i used to do a lot of cycling when i was younger (and fitter) and competing in amateur road racing. while i've never cycled overseas, i'd have to agree a lot of aussie drivers just don't care whether you live or die when you're on your bike. they know too well that "oops" is a perfectly acceptable excuse.

a lot of cyclists are complete idiots, i've got to admit. when i rode, i learned to be assertive on the road, but in a disciplined manner that minimised the risk of my sharing the road with other cars, as well as the inconvenience i caused them. i made my own 'rules', drawing on the experience of 1000s of km of on road training and never got hit by a car during that time (despite some unbelievable stuff i saw on the part of some drivers).

many cyclists don't have much experience and just go out to the shops every now and then. i see a lot of stupidity that results from that. pulling out into the lane from behind a parked car without even looking to see if there was room was one suicidal move a cyclist tried on me the other day.

but that doesn't mean it's ok for drivers to behave like idiots as well.
what do you reckon?

 

[greenfoam]

What I think is that as a car driver you should allways remember that you have the least right to be on the road, since it's the least natural and worse resource waster of jsut about any form of travel. Pedestrians should allways come first, then Cyclists then after all those guys are safe and on there way you can do your stuff in a car. After many years of walking around and riding that's how I feel about it

 

[Emackulation]

I haven't had too much trouble with cyclists, but I do need to ask why do they continue to ride on the roads when we supply them with perfectly good shared pathways for them? The y are most annoying when they ride in groups and don't bother to form a single lane when a car is approaching, they would rather sit 2/3 abreast.

 

[Kikki]

Teenagers on BMX's bother me.... no helmet and no respect, they jump out in front of cars, aparently its "funny" to make a car slam its breaks on... well its not!

Cyclists, as in tight shorts lol I dont have an issue with as long as they dont cut in front of me (which has happened a few times) and its bloody dangerous, and as long as they do the whole single file then good. As long as they obey the rules then so should drivers, I know my dad use to drive his Semi through Melbourne and had a few altercations (on his part) he hates them and will do anything to annoy the **** out of them, which is plain stupid.

They have as much right to the road as us drivers do.

 

[Kikki]

I haven't had too much trouble with cyclists, but I do need to ask why do they continue to ride on the roads when we supply them with perfectly good shared pathways for them? The y are most annoying when they ride in groups and don't bother to form a single lane when a car is approaching, they would rather sit 2/3 abreast.

Last I was told it is actually illegal for a bike to ride on a Footpath unless it specifies (signs) that it is a shared pathway, and there isnt many of those here. I know lots of people who ride there bikes to work etc and have no choice to use the road for the above reason.

 

[jules]

They are most annoying when they ride in groups and don't bother to form a single lane when a car is approaching, they would rather sit 2/3 abreast.

the reason for this is that on many roads, riding in single file invites drivers to squeeze past at full speed, when there isn't really room, instead of changing lanes. this makes it more likely for the rider to get cleaned up.

this is why it's legal to ride two abreast. personally i never really felt comfortable doing that, and mostly rode on my own anyway, although the logic is there.

 

[Bravotwozero]

I'll happily share the roads with cyclists when they have to cough up for rego like the rest of us! :thumbsup:

They're bloody everywhere where I live.

 

[Troy711]

what annoys me is when they ride 2 wide on tight roads with blind corners

 

[Emackulation]

Last I was told it is actually illegal for a bike to ride on a Footpath unless it specifies (signs) that it is a shared pathway, and there isnt many of those here. I know lots of people who ride there bikes to work etc and have no choice to use the road for the above reason.

Yeah you are right with them not allowed to be on the footpath unless signed. I work for a council and design shared pathways, I always see them riding on the road instead of the empty pathway.

 

[Rufus®]

What I think is that as a car driver you should allways remember that you have the least right to be on the road, since it's the least natural and worse resource waster of jsut about any form of travel. Pedestrians should allways come first, then Cyclists then after all those guys are safe and on there way you can do your stuff in a car. After many years of walking around and riding that's how I feel about it

I would have though cars had the most right to be on the road. we pay rego, some of which goes towards the cost of building and maintaining roads.

Pedestrians have footpaths to walk on.

I live in an area where a lot of cyclists travel, these are 100km roads with doudle lines and little visibility around corners. when you have cyclists sitting 2-3 abreast WTF are you supposed to do, hit the anchors and hope that they don't do too much damage to your car?

Then we have single lane roads, ie, there isn't enough room to have 2 cars pass without using the shoulders, so they sit 2-3 abreast taking the entire width of the road and force oncoming traffic and passing traffic to use the opposite shoulder as well. which is actually ok, cause i like to sit on the shoulder and kick up as much dust as possible so they have a super fine ride.

It is actually about time cyclists were held accountable for their actions, failing to stop at intersections/ red lights / giving way to pedestrians. It would be interesting to see how many accident were caused by cyclists too, i know i've had one thanks to some dick that failed to give way (unfortunately the cyclist wasn't injured, nor did they stop).

Okay so i don't actually want to see people injured, but they do need to be held accountable, compulsory rego??