A Meter Matters

My mum came off her bike whilst riding to work this morning in an incident involving a car. For those of you familiar with the streets of Armidale she was riding down Erskin Street (a steep hill) approaching Markham Street when a car over took her and then proceeded to turn left in front of her indicating at the last second. Braking suddenly her front brake cable snapped, her front wheel hit the car coming off and she hit the ground. Fortunately she is ok - just bruising and scrapes. The bike also suffered some damage with the front dropout bent. There are several things to learn from this incident, firstly that brake cables should be checked regularly!!!! But also that motorists need to be much more mindful of cyclists on roads.

I often encounter people who are surprised that I choose to ride my bike everywhere, concerned for my safety in traffic on Brisbane roads (N.B. I don't own a car... and don't intend to get one any time soon). Unfortunately their cause for concern is not unwarranted with the incidence of cyclist/motorist incidents all too common. The main causes of accidents involving cars and bikes are motorists overtaking cyclists, motorists turning into cyclists, motorists failing to give way to cyclists and car dooring. It's not just motorists who are to blame though with a significant proportion of crashes also being caused by cyclists failing to give way to cars!

It really saddens me (and enrages me when they do something dangerous) the attitude of some drivers on the roads who feel the need to accelerate past cyclists in a low gear to make the engine rev, honk loudly, yell abuse, throw things out windows or worst of all ignore your presence on the road and drive (or almost drive) straight into you. Check out this clip I came across this afternoon on nine msn: Cyclist 'hit-and-run' caught on film. Road rage is a scary thing, with motorists I fear often forgetting that cyclists are people too and doing stupid things that can put their life at risk. The road should not be such a dangerous place and wouldn't be if people (both motorists and cyclists) obeyed the road rules, payed more attention and didn't act out of rage.

What to do next time you're confronted with road rage

As a cyclist it is easy to get caught up in blaming motorists for the incidence of accidents on the road, flagging them as the "baddies" in the motorist/cyclist war. The truth is though that both sides are to blame. In my hours traversing the streets of Brisbane on my humble push bike (and trust me, that’s a lot of hours) I have seen numerous cyclists riding up the wrong side of the street, going the wrong way around roundabouts, running red lights, not stopping at stop signs, weaving through traffic, riding 5 a breast, not using the cycle lane when there is a perfectly good cycle lane available, not indicating and the list goes on. As cyclists we are not exempt from road rules. I am not going to pretend that I have not been guilty of some of the above but we all need to be mindful that if we want motorists to respect us, we need to start respecting the road rules.

To everyone out there who drives a car, please be aware that cyclists DO have a right to be on the road. Yes there are cycle paths but these are often winding, narrow and shared with pedestrians - all in all not suitable for riding above about 20kmph. Whilst training, or even commuting cyclists often travel at 30-40kmph on the flat and even faster going downhill. If you’re annoyed at us being on the road causing delays in your commute... its other cars you should be annoyed at. They’re the ones taking up all the space and slowing you down. In a world troubled by rising fuel prices, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels, serious threats of global warming not to mention the obesity crisis, riding bikes is the way to go folks ;)

Space taken to transport 60 people in cars and on bikes

I know which one I'd choose...

Next time you’re in your car and you encounter a cyclist, remember that waiting a few seconds for them to safely clear the intersection, or until there’s room for you to safely overtake might just mean the difference between a happy, healthy cyclist making it through their ride safely and an injured or possibly killed cyclist. Never forget cyclists are people too!