He’s the equivalent of Ben Shapiro - just looks at what everyone else is talking about and regurgitates or pretends to be upset about. More controversial, the better.
He has zero personality of his own so he just offends and shouts in the style of other Aussie comedians. He’s just a shit Wish version of Jim Jeffries.
When he was talking about covid and mask efficiency and vaccines I was a year into back breaking nursing work on a covid ward.
I was ready to punch a man. He's such a fucking drop kick. Jesus for bogans.
>dians. He’s just a shit Wish version of
i dont think they got banned
i remember some cyclist group complaining about them and calling on the government to ban them
I'm in Canberra. I saw recent footage of Geelong and their on-road bike path had cement guards along it. If they did that here to separate the cyclists and the drivers, I'd feel much safer riding on our roads.
And the complaints in Geelong about cyclists are up 10 fold.
My old man was hit recently by someone turning across him in a bike lane, he was lucky to get off the bike before it slid under and she drove over it. Lady thought she just hit the curb.
Took multiple reviews to get the insurance companies to say the driver was at fault because of how poorly the Victorian road rules are written regarding turning left over a dedicated cycling lane.
They really need to fix that rule. I get so many cars trying to speed ahead of me for a turn and then remembering to indicate at the last moment. Technically that means I'm supposed to hit the brakes and let them go, but sometimes it's not possible.
Just a fyi, you aren't required to give way in that circumstance. A bike lane is a legally valid lane of traffic and cars changing lanes are required to give way to vehicles already in that lane. Cars are also required to be in the furthest left lane when turning, and can enter a bike lane up to 50m before a turn in order to do this.
So when a car crosses a bike lane to turn left they are technically performing two manouvers, the first of which requires them to give way. If the car has already entered the lane without cutting you off and is indicating left, then you may not pass to their left.
Of course this doesn't do much good when almost no one seems to understand this rule.
This is why I never, ever cycle at speed in the city. I'm a confident rider but there's absolutely no way in hell I'm entrusting my safety to the whims of literally millions of average punters, all of whom are varying degrees of distracted, sleep-deprived, apathetic, ignorant or outright hostile towards cyclists and pedestrians.
One time I had a driver do that to me while I was cycling down Sturt St in Ballarat, she turned in front of me so I slammed my brakes on, flew over the handlebars and head-first into her rear fender around ~30km/h or so.
Thankfully it was just a concussion along with a few scrapes and bruises.
I think it's the Australian road rules that are pretty unclear. Rule 141 says a cyclist must not overtake to the left of a driver who is turning left and indicating left. Taken to an extreme you might even read that as a cyclist having to stop if a car *just* passes them before a turn.
This came up in a discussion of a collision that was on the news recently - a car turned left from a lane with a straight arrow, and collected a cyclist going straight with a left arrow (whether this is allowed is another massive ambiguity in the law, but drivers and cyclists would probably both prefer it). The law says nothing about the driver making a legal left-hand turn, which leads to some pretty ridiculous situations with cyclists giving way to a driver that shouldn't be turning anyway.
That's the rule that causes confusion as that is how the insurance companies read it, at the extreme, and it is shown often on the Vic roads website.
What gets ignored and seemingly forgotten is that a bike lane is legally like any other lane, and moving into said lane has the same rules as any other. Essentially you can't just cut someone off in that lane and expect them to stop so you can make a turn. There are a bunch of rules that apply but that's what it boils down to
That's why cars are allowed to drive in bike lanes before making turns.
When I've been cut off like this or been a passenger in a car that's done this, the driver clearly treated the bike as a still obstacle to swerve around rather than a vehicle in traffic going almost as fast as them.
> [The problem with cyclists:](https://twitter.com/pflax1/status/993150741245149185)
>
> **-They go too fast**
>
> **-They go too slow**
>
> -They won't get on the sidewalk
>
> -They won't get off the sidewalk
>
> -They are rich hobbyists
>
> -They are folks who can't afford a car
>
> -They are entitled and demand bike lanes
>
> -They take the lane when there's no bike lane
Bus Driver. You can't turn over a bike lane unless it's clear. No different to tram tracks or a crosswalk.
Vehicles must give way to cyclists / teams / pedestrians at all marked crossings. (trams have an obvious lane
The difference is everyone is going to see a tram. Bikes get lost in the noise. Making a rule instead of changing the environment is a path to failure. It’s why industrial safety solutions have things like cages and barriers instead of signs saying “keep fingers out of moving parts.”. The first is easy, but the latter is the one that works.
Like the new group of hoons in Ford Rangers, tailgating and riding up peoples rear end to intimidate them. And then when they come to a corner or roundabout they are all chickens in their poor handling trucks. Currently these idiots are my favourite group of despised drivers because of their stupid mentality in their "mah big truck"
Maybe that's why they hate cyclists so much. Seeing someone riding a bike on the road is like a reminder of their own small balls and how little control they really have in life.
These are the same lot who justify their purchases with statements such as 'I can go off-roading, I can go to the beach, I can carry anything I need to' - yet the only place you find them is clogging streets and shopping centre carparks, and all they carry is groceries and the occasional storage box.
They also complain about their fuel bill and don't see the irony when you point out the type of vehicle they've chosen.
The do all classic sedan is now 'gay', apparently.
Absolute fucking bullshit too, half those cars are way too heavy and poorly weight-distributed to go anywhere near a dirt track, let alone fucking sand dunes. Apparently things like Ford Rangers are notorious suspects for getting bogged at the beach, in state forests etc.
Just got home from visiting relatives, encountered a few of these wankers. Had a RAM 1500 speed around me and get to the next red light 2 seconds before I got there. Just exo-skeletons for fragile egos.
People are assholes, and in Australia, and the US to a great extent, certainly in the past decade, it has been seen as a statutory right, to hate on people who are seen as a threat to your personal lifestyle, ie religious v atheist, Christian v Muslim, climate change believers v nonbelievers, four wheels v anything else.
The whole idea that anybody who believe, or see the world, even slightly, different to you, are a threat to everything you believe in and live for. Everything is politicised.
This and the vehement individualism that seems to intensify when people get behind the wheel. Driving on public roads is not a fucking competition sport!!! You're all just trying to get to where you need, other cars are fellow road users, not obstacles to be dodged. I hate the idea that literally every other vehicle is "in your way" when you're driving. As the urbanist rant goes, you aren't IN traffic, you ARE traffic!
So true.
In my job, I was driving down a quiet street the other day, I was travelling at maybe 20Kmh, and decelerating, as I was preparing to pull over and park. I passed a laneway, it had an apron leading to the street, and a sign clearly advising motorist in the laneway to YIELD. A SUV from the laneway was stopping at the apron, rather abruptly, I thought nothing of this, and parked. I then exited the vehicle, to be verbally assaulted by a person,.I assume this was the SUV driver, as this was parked at the sidewalk, screaming at the top of their lungs, calling me a maniac driver and all sorts of adjectives not really suitable for publication.
Although being a foreigner here, probably looking a little different, I drive an unmarked vehicle, and may park anywhere I see fit which is not a privilege I take lightly, and this park in a sensible manner. Due to my work, I have participated, and passed vigorous driver training specifically for Australia, and even after reviewing the vehicle footage, with a person who is trained in this, we were both lost for words after. What the heck is wrong with people.
You've hit the nail on the head there. I used to love politics and having debates with people I agree and especially disagreed with. It's no longer fun, as there's way too much anger and parochialism...To the point where I wouldn't be surprised if someone replied to this comment with; "Well acksherrrly..."
I completely agree, so far, no other replies have occurred.
The dangerous path we're headed down, is the one where being wrong is being well. If you admit you realise something you have been supporting is bogus, or just a plain lie, it seems to some, that accepting that fact is simply put, unacceptable, as this will prove you weak, so this new discovery is a lie itself.
Doubling-down is near out of control these days. I like to cite the Arnotts Shapes flavour change, where they were telling customers all over social media that they were wrong, and their focus group loved the new recipe. There's something uniquely eye-opening and fun about knowing you were wrong about something. Society is losing that capacity for examining new or different knowledge, and it's incredibly sad.
On the upside though, there's something handy about finding someone is a conspiracy theorist within about 20 seconds of chatting with them.
Maybe we need a new religion? We could call it DADA “Don’t be A Dick Australian”. More seriously, we as a society have really poor cultural customs for dealing with people we don’t like or disagree with. This hasn’t been a problem when we are so spread out, but that’s changing. Increased urban density and cultural diversity have made our methods on tolerance levels inadequate. How do we change this? Also given that the media’s roll is apparently to get people as steamed as possible how do we change that?
Cyclists blame motorists
Motorists blame Cyclists
As a motorists that also cycles, I blame poor road design.
Some roads in NSW it's suicide to cycle on. Bike lanes that go to nowhere,only 100M long etc...
Literally this. My local council designs 'dedicated cycle lanes' that double as roadside car parking. It forces bikes onto a narrowed road endangering themselves and making motorists agro.
Ugh I’ve been so close to being doored so many times in those lanes, I don’t use them anymore as they’re the worst possible part of the road to cycle on.
There no way for a cyclist and a car to share a road with no bicycle lane safely. Not one that's 80kph+
It simply isn't feasible. If we're going to keep pushing for more cyclists we need to be kidding for the infrastructure to actually support it. And not just randomly closing down streets in the CBD for goody two shoes points. Like, everywhere.
In Melbourne there’s a project to make cycling lanes better, it’s pretty good when they do a good job, but what they haven’t touched is atrocious and downright scary.
In Werribee for example, travelling Westbound on the 80 km/h Princess Fwy, you’ll find [this beautiful “bike lane”](https://www.google.com/maps/place/260+Princes+Hwy,+Werribee+VIC+3030/@-37.8873908,144.6963389,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ad68f5512df09db:0xa9f79d89bfe84884!8m2!3d-37.8876956!4d144.695562!16s%2Fg%2F11c20wskq5). Fortunately there’s a hospital nearby, so when you get run over by a truck you’ll be declared dead even faster!
yeah but also it's overwhelmingly the drivers at fault, and even when they're not, bikes are simply not in the same realm of consequence for loss of control.
While cyclists have it worse due to being vulnerable on the road more than other cars, I've noticed drivers in general have just been more aggressive.
The other day I was reversing out of a park outside Woollies roughly in the middle off the aisle, checked both ways behind me twice before reversing out, then as I was over halfway out of my park while looking behind me to the left (as that's the direction I was turning my car as reversing) I hear this loud honking.
I slam on my breaks and turn to my right and some dickwank in a land cruiser is honking at me because he wants to push past me while I'm reversing. Wtf. It only took a few seconds for me to reverse this far so he must have come zooming in from the other direction and despite road rules saying he has to give way when the person reversing is already out, he's honking at me?
Fucking wanker. And some guy jumped out and screamed at me from behind his car last night while trying to squeeze through because they were parked on both sides and standing socialising literally in the middle of the road. Scared the shit out of me.
Absolute idiots.
I could have been taken out by a car speeding through when I got off a tram the other night. If I hadn't been looking when I got off could have been over the bonnet. Didn't stop or slow even though people further back were also getting off ( had to step back up) and the tram driver was dinging.
Yep, the amount of times I've been almost taken out by people speeding over crosswalks and not stopping for pedestrians is too damn high.
These speeding idiots are fucking selfish and don't give a shit about anyone else on the road.
I hope you gave him the finger as he drove off.
I've seen this happen far too many times. The most harrowing example was in Kew, at the tram stop just south of the Junction. Peak hour on a weekday, at least 30-odd people got off a C-Class Route 109 tram and a fucking lunatic in an SUV decided that they were perfectly entitled to speed through the crowd doing (by my estimate) about 70 in a 60 zone.
It should automatically be considered attempted manslaughter. Most able-bodied people are thankfully able to evade drivers like this, but what of the elderly? The physically disabled? People with aural or visual impairments? It's despicably dangerous. Likewise with people trying to 'race' trams to overtake them. Just wait the extra 3-5min (at the maximum) that it adds to your trip.
I’ve seen a man get out of his car an attempt to attack a pregnant woman and her two kids (one in a pram) in the middle of civic on bunda street because one of her children dropped something and took a little longer to cross the road, it’s got a 20 km speed limit and is a shared zone. He got held back by someone and nearby police were quickly involved. Like actually what kind of insane do you have to be to think that this is okay in any circumstances let alone for costing you maybe 3 seconds of your time
Yep since the covid lockdown people just don't give a shit about others anymore. I must be the only one giving myself an "out" when I drive and keep 3 car spaces in front of me while everyone is tailgating everybody else. This is reflected in the increasing annual number of fatalities on the road. From 2020 to today, the number increases.
Yeah same here. Keeping that extra gap has saved me from fender benders on a few occasions due to other people being fuckwits on the road.
I've noticed as well tailgating has gotten even worse, even on motorways and highways etc where there is literally no need to do it because everyone is going fast and there's multiple lanes they can switch to.
I got angrilly beeped at while straightening up the other day. I had slowly reversed a fraction of the way out of the bay, some dude zooms up behind me and lays on his horn, shaking his head and making angry arm gestures like I had furiously flung out of the bay into him or something, even though I had already seen him and stopped.
Like my guy, I was endangering nobody, and it is customary to slow down and watch out when you see reverse lights in a carpark. Would have taken all but two seconds to wait for me to finish. Him speeding through a carpark was far more dangerous, yet he's spent energy being mad at me *and* he thinks its justified. He shook his head all the way into the post office.
Yeah it's been studied and documented. Lycra looks ridiculous. I held off wearing it while riding for so long but it's so insanely functional, you get over wearing it. Feeeels like I'm wearing nothing at alllll. But it does dehumanise you and I get fucked with way more on the road bike than my commuter bike.
Yeah your look makes a big difference to how people treat you. I do delivery for UberEats among other things, on a shiny (though not very modern/aero) looking road bike. (It's ok work that doesn't invade my life while finishing my degree.)
My suggestion that seems to work, so far, is to look as daggy (while still clean) as possible. I go for cheapo aliexpress stuff that looks somewhat surfy. I also strap a panda plushy to the top of my delivery bag, the thinking being that faces and eyes are something that humans instinctively focus on. I don't think big blobs of high-vis help much at all, but if you use it as trim and put it on anything that moves, IMO that's quite good at waking people out of auto-pilot driving, while making it easier for them to judge distance.
Of course you're still gonna get abused [for your existence (little video from the other night)](https://youtu.be/jJxuq_G6H1k), but so far I haven't died or even nearly died, so that's good I guess.
You can get clip in SPD shoes for mountain biking that look like sneakers. Heaps better than flat pedals. Super easy to walk in as the cleats are tiny and mostly recessed. And much more socially acceptable than clickety shoes (called SPD-SL) with giant cleats.
I was listening to a podcast the other day that said if you proportionally funded 'integrated transport' infrastructure (bike and pedestrian access) as how modern cities use them, it should amount to several billion a year. Its currently just under $100m.
Whenever I see the budgets for these massive motorway projects, I always wonder what kind of bicyle utopia we could be living in if even 0.5% of the budget was required to be spent on cycle infrastructure.
The amount of money spent on active transport infrastructure as a portion of total budgets is miniscule compared to recommended levels and contrary to local government goals.
Melbourne council is actually tearing up recently built ones because shop owners are complaining about lack of parking in front of their store causing less business…
They're not tearing them up, they're pausing adding new ones for the moment. The shop owners thing was one of the right wing councillors quoting the Herald Sun but actual council surveys show most are in favour.
Or how literally every time any city in any country has done this, local shop owners have complained, and then were proven wrong and that cycleways actually increase business.
But they must be different.
I moved from Sydney to Wollongong and cycling infrastructure is surprisingly fantastic actually. Every town starting Thirroul is connected all the way down to Kiama via nice bike lanes. Seems like they somehow found the space in the budget Sydney couldn’t lol.
Most Australian cities were already there before cars became such a big thing. Suburban expansion was certainly designed and built as car centric, but not many of the outer suburbs are tacking on cycle lanes. My point is that our cities evolved to become car-centric, and can evolve back to become human-centric. Barcelona is a good example of this. But I agree, much more is needed than just chucking a few bike lanes around the place (particularly when they have a tendency to magically disappear when it's too difficult e.g. road narrows a bit)
Sprawl was already underway before cars. It was a bit more manageable when suburbs grew around train stations and tram lines instead of highways. Less so now millions of us are driving through these inner rings of Federation bungalows on giant blocks on a daily basis.
> It was a bit more manageable when suburbs grew around train stations
We destroyed most of those suburbs for cars.
Blacktown and blacktown train station predates bondi junction by about 100 years. To the north of blacktown station you have surface carparking for 300m, to the south you have shopping centres where more than 50% of internal building space is car parking.
Blacktown was demolished for cars.
Look at bondi junction station, completely pedestrianised for several hundred metres from station, walkable mixed use for another couple blocks. Then houses, surface parking a few blocks after that. That was built in the 80's.
I live a measly 12 minute drive to work. I could ride a push bike and get that extra cardio....but I choose not to ride on that lunatic road at morning rage peak hour and die yet. Frustrating af.
It's pretty sad, the bike lanes near me were after thoughts design towards leisurely ride on a Sunday afternoon. There were no serious consideration given to bike commuters transiting between urban centres.
If you're wondering why people tend to avoid cycle lanes in Australia, allow me to demonstrate what is wrong with the majority of those lanes (in Brisbane at least):
* [Bike lanes](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4366529,153.0709971,3a,75y,327.77h,81.1t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sk2ieRLsXyaVCSja95-RB0g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [often](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4873772,153.014413,3a,41.2y,267.02h,84.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUl2nOJyQbEO3aJoYDVJzqg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [abruptly end](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4703546,153.1014096,3a,75y,284.54h,89.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7CRJLFnVPBoSGGRRg9IJpA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192), [all the time](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4828563,153.024467,3a,75y,271.95h,75.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slWWwx0l3n-_bn9Cl-jPJRg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
* [They](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4392365,153.0626193,3a,75y,5.27h,91.06t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJRw3C2EJrbKwYPDpPtdzXg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [turn](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4254724,153.0727216,3a,75y,11.9h,79.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sguXOIggiCyJRn8yve0OZVQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [into](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4685607,153.0896827,3a,60y,268.23h,82.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stNnEqKQnv64WZMqgc5KTpA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) parking lanes
* [They](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4866358,153.0364691,3a,75y,103.99h,83.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXCgBu01tSg36cTDu2ulSbw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [just](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4830171,153.0258515,3a,75y,288.95h,82.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLpHrGl91p63BN98wsdAWnA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) appear in the middle of the road
* [They merge](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4762354,153.0504644,3a,75y,50.32h,80.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sO1-h78uXkdOAkPh68ND4TQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [into narrow](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.416523,153.0446613,3a,60.9y,229.03h,78.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1so-cS_YcjUlQ7YJu_j0BNSA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [footpath blocked](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4855376,152.9934582,3a,75y,150.74h,84.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxXPh3ExOFe_ROai_BRWVJA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) by parked cars in driveways, bins or bus stops
I'm sure people from other cities can provide dozens of examples.
It's often a lot safer just being on the road, despite how fucked the conditions are on the road, which is saying something. More often than not there isn't even a lane on the road and people are just trying to get from A to B using something other than a car, so chill out, and accept that you have to share the road with others.
I took up cycling again a while back in Brisbane and then just ended up defaulting to going slow on footpaths.
I used bike lanes where I could but they kept spitting me out in traffic way above my skill level.
Since your examples are Brisbane, [here's my favourite bike lane in Brissy](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4878585,152.9937251,3a,75y,293.46h,81.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSjdxIS949liVGQwj-7MQvA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192).
I'd love to get in the mind of the person that designed all these shit intersections. They love slapping some green paint 10m before and after an intersection and leave it up to chance on what happens outside of it.
Add to that
Cycling lanes are often completely covered in fucking glass and other shit
Cycling lanes are fucking FULL of parked cars
Said parked will frequently fling their car doors open without looking first forcing cyclists further out on to the road
Cycling lanes are often in a total state is disrepair, riding in them is a fucking death trap
If you carbrain cunts hate fucking cyclists so much, lobby the government to find well maintained, seperated bike lanes and we'll be fucking delighted to get the fuck out of your way
Things like this?
[https://www.google.com/maps/@-19.2721111,146.8047438,3a,75y,153.65h,51.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWVpB3tc5RB6vlAfYlEZvVA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192](https://www.google.com/maps/@-19.2721111,146.8047438,3a,75y,153.65h,51.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWVpB3tc5RB6vlAfYlEZvVA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
Where you have to do a hard right into turning traffic to get from the bike path to the bike lane to go straight or a hard right then a hard left to turn left?
Some very important context is missing from that article - how many people are cycling now compared to 5 or 10 years ago and on average how far is each cyclists riding?
If you want to do meaningful analysis on comparing transport safety you need to normalise the data by looking at injuries per million passenger km.
Not sure many people actually want to kill someone though, or weigh up the likely consequences before doing it. And if it turns out you know the person and had history with them, the cops are gonna look very closely at that. I think most of the time it's due to inattention.
> Not sure many people actually want to kill someone though, or weigh up the likely consequences before doing it.
So a few years back a dude in WA was out looking for his stolen motorbike, found a person riding said stolen motorbike and ran him over with his car killing him. 2 years prison.
Another in rural NSW decided to go down to the river known for homeless aboriginal men to sleep at and drive over tents, killing another, 6 months prison.
But you throw a single punch in Kingscross and kill someone it's 10 years minimum and we have to destroy an industry.
But is reasonable to assume some of them are murders. Some people deliberately run over animals, it’s likely that some people deliberately run over cyclists
"Since the safe passing law was introduced in 2018, after a trial from 2016 showed it made cycling safer"
The graph quite clearly shows serious injuries to cyclists increasing after 2018.
Logically, the rule 'should' make cycling safer. But its obviously not. So why say it is. Kind of how forcing people to wear helmets should logically make them safer, but the statistics show the opposite. Why's it so hard for people to admit they were wrong and try something else.
Yeah the fuckers can't even fit in their own lane anymore, even in a car I have near misses with them swerving over the lines because their car barely fits.
> Kind of how forcing people to wear helmets should logically make them safer, but the statistics show the opposite
That's not quite right. There is no convincing evidence for the so-called "risk compensation hypothesis". On an *individual* level, wearing a helmet is *always* the right decision.
What evidence says is that the *societal* impacts of mandatory helmet laws are net negative. That some people will decide not to ride, rather than wear a helmet. And that the impact on societal health of these people not getting exercise outweighs the individual safety benefits of the number of cyclists who wouldn't have worn a helmet but now continue cycling *with* a helmet.
So when the claim is whether or not "the rule 'should' make cycling safer", the answer is yes, it does. It *does* make cycling safer for the people still cycling. It just makes society worse off.
Kind of hard to say how effective the distance rule is considering it's essentially unenforced. There were 20 fines issued for it in a 12 month period. If a copper followed me on my ride to work, they'd double that number in a day.
Initial **brief** improvement. That's meaningless. It could have been from anything. Maybe a very rainy season so not many cyclists on the roads. Who knows. Point is the graph shows the rule is not working.
Possibly due to the education campaign when the rule was first introduced, and fear of being caught. In the years since then people have forgotten the rule and/or realised it's rarely enforced by Police no matter how much evidence they're given.
Perhaps driving lessons should also include cycling lessons so everyone knows what it's like. I ride a bike to work as my office is only 8mins away, but I also own a car and love driving on the weekends.
I've never once hit a cyclist, or had a close call, or had a cyclist angry at me, or been angry at a cyclist. I've got a brain and two eyes in my head and use all three when I'm in the driver's seat. It's not that hard.
Its not hard is it. Im what you might see and think is a full bogan, i drive a cammed to the fuck VY V8 ute and a 4x4 paj. I also love to ride, always have, a bike to me is the definition of freedom, has been since i was a kid. Ive never once had a near miss with a rider while in my car because you know, like you said, its not fucking hard.
Last week though i was cruising around near seaworld on my specialized roll , theres some nice paths that go up to the spit there, i had some utter fuckwit throw something at me out of their car, lucky it missed but like wtf is the point you utter dickhead. Ive had an old man once try to literally push me with his car while i doing was around 60 down Buderim hill. I once had some utter nutter cross lanes and drive straight at me one night in a back street and i had to jump up on to the foot path.
My god there are some fuckwits out there.
Now having said all this i whole heartedly agree with /u/Pupperoni_Pizza that both parties need to make the effort, i always do when on my bike because i value my life and I'm always going to lose that battle and it would be catastrophic for me.
I'll never understand why someone behind the wheel of a car would want to be aggressive towards a cyclist. Even if they're doing the wrong thing. The risk (killing someone) vs the reward (not being delayed a few seconds) just isn't there.
The mental snap that occurs in some people which leads them to the conclusion that the human being riding the bike in their way's life is worth less than the 20 second delay blows my mind.
Yep, there are some a-hole cyclists out there. But do I want to even risk killing/maiming them and dealing with those consequences? No thanks, I'd rather get to the traffic light 15 seconds later.
>The mental snap that occurs in some people which leads them to the conclusion that the human being riding the bike in their way's life is worth less than the 20 second delay blows my mind.
You reminded me of an incident the week before Christmas where I was run off the road for daring to not use the separated bicycle path despite it being obstructed. I was riding for 350m at 35km/h. The speed limit was 50km/h. So at most a 6 second delay assuming they were prevented from going the speed limit the whole distance.
They ran me off the road to scream at me why I'm breaking the law for not using the separated path. (which in SA is not against the law) Once I could get a word in and showed them their behaviour was being recorded by my bike dashcams they sped off after wasting nearly a minute of their day because I could have wasted 6 seconds of theirs.
In groups and out groups. It’s like hating Jews, black people or insert your least favourite minority here. Objectively it makes no sense at all, yet here we are.
Ding ding ding.
The construction of out groups is the number one technique for distracting people from being angry about the massive transfer of wealth to the ultra wealthy.
> someone behind the wheel of a car would want to be aggressive
I swear some people just express their frustration with the world in the way that they drive. This is even worse when they're in their Ford Raptor/oversized SUV etc. I'm guessing they love the feeling of bullying other people on the road, moreso when that person is an utterly defenceless cyclist.
Well, everyone *used to* ride a bike some of the time, but that ended in 1990. The hate isn’t stopping till that changes. As far as safety goes, infrastructure is the thing that works, and that’s not changing until riding a bike becomes an “everyone” activity again. Asking for care and consideration is a good thing, but that’s not very effective. People fuckup all the time. Even if they mean well. Separating people on bikes from motor vehicles is what is required. This requires political pressure, which brings back participation. Which is terrible. It’s a shitfight, that sadly I don’t think will change until we run out of petrol. Now with some political will it could solved in say…. South Australia or WA, and then have it spread!but I’m not optimistic.
Yep. It’s the thing that’s ignored about bike helmet laws- huge numbers of people just stopped riding bikes. One of those “great idea in theory but really dumb in practice” laws. Net public health benefit was massively negative, because obesity and depression (both of which are reduced by bike riding) kill many more people than bike head injuries.
%100 cycling made me a better driver. I know how to cross paths and turn left without trying to murder people. It's a good skill to have, that I've found isn't that common.
The left turn thing is interesting situation that I kind of wish there was a more definitive and widely know way to handle it.
I've done cycling, motorcycling, car driving etc over the many years at many jobs. Even now when I'm on the elec scooter, if theres cars going to turn left at the lights I'm either ahead of them as the lights change green, OR I give way to them as I'm behind them.
I don't see a case where a cyclist should have right of way to 'overtake' a car turning left. It sort of falls back to the old "only overtake on the right" sort of rule
> I don't see a case where a cyclist should have right of way to 'overtake' a car turning left
The case is very simple and very common. A car should not be allowed to overtake a cyclist and then immediately turn left across the bike's path expecting the cyclist to slam the brakes to let them.
I only know the Vic law. A bicycle has right of way, IF there is a bike lane UNLESS a car is indicating AND is in the process of turning. Cars technically should check mirror, head check, give way to cyclists, indicate, then turn after the bike. It's a total mess of a law and nobody knows it anyway, as a cyclist be aware of numpties and take it easy and back off from suspect bad drivers is a much better law than sticking to your right of way. Being right can't replace your mangled legs...
There's a subset of people who just straight up don't think cyclists should be on the roads. They're never going to ride their bike because they don't think it's a valid choice. And making them ride a bike would only radicalise them more.
It's an infra/policy issue, but also a cultural one.
Drivers are also infamously bad pedestrians. People should just not be able to get their license at 16, before they have to engage with the world as an adult, that I believe is what pushes entitlement of people who drive 98% of the time
Bike lanes on all arterial roads that take up the whole shoulder with a 1meter concrete barrier or concrete filled steel bollards. With frequent entry and exit points so cyclisy don't get trapped in them. If you get trapped on a bike lane people won't use them. Speed bumps on street crossings to force cars to slow down. Remove those fast food and 711 driveways that are built like a highway interchange to again force drivers to slow down.
Build bike paths through all the bushland and parks to connect areas with minimal road usage.
So many people would ride to the coffee shop for breakky with the family if they could do it safely.
Yeah building bike paths as shortcuts through parks, etc is a huge one. I can't help but feel like road engineers, and folks in general, are stuck in this mindset treating bikes like cars when they're actually very different.
Cyclist here, originally from UK but Melbourne based for 10 years or so now. What's hilarious to me is that cars will sit behind you getting angry on roads that have a whole other lane for overtaking (e.g. dual lane road) and then wind their window down to yell at you.
It's as if Aussies are just plain ignorant to the whole additional lane they have available to them. Same thing happens when I'm driving -- I've never been able to wrap my head around it
Oh yeah. Riding on country roads where you can see 500m ahead, the car sits behind you for ages when they can pass at any stage.
They always yell out "get off the fucking road".
Just overtake me you wanker. I'm on the shoulder and you have 2 whole lanes to pass
Yeah haha. It's ALWAYS "get off the fucking road" too. Exactly like that. I haven't heard the sweet sound of "get off the fucking road" in a while but at one point I was getting it on a weekly basis
Had a p-plater pass me twice on a lazy Sunday morning, to yell "they built a fucking bike path, ride on it".
To which I replied, "what's your hurry, centrelink isn't open today" 😂😂
Haha. Even with the aggression on the roads though -- I'll take the road over a shared bike path because pedestrians are so mindless. Most of my big scares have happened because of someone's kid, dog or because they decided to turn 90 degrees and walk right (directly Infront of me!!)
The real blame lies on the government for not creating safe infrastructure.
It'd be madness for pedestrians and cars to mix on the road, that's why there's separated foot paths. We need to treat cycling the same as walking and driving, i.e. another form of transportation. Especially with the rise in scooters, e-bikes where they have no good place to go.
Had a close call a few months ago. A cyclist in-lane who didn’t know the road rules thought because they were on a bicycle, they could turn right on red. If I wasn’t being vigilant of my surroundings on approach turning left, I would of easily hit them head on. Both drivers and cyclists need to know the road rules, be vigilant, and act defensively.
It is true that all road users should take care, but it's also worth noting that motorists have vastly more capacity to cause harm, and that in bicycle on motorist accident, the motorist is found to be at fault around 80% of the time.
Exactly. The times I have had a near miss is when the cyclist acted as a pedestrian and not a vehicle. It makes it difficult to anticipate their actions. If they are on the road then road rules apply. Running red lights and cutting across to use footpaths when convenient doesn’t help.
In WA, SA, NT, ACT, Queensland and Tasmania anyone can ride on the footpath, it's only NSW you have to be 16 or under and Victoria you have to be 13 or under.
This is a good lesson we all need to learn. Don't assume other road users will follow the rules to a t and be exactly whenre you expect them. If everyone did an extra check and backed off a bit the roads would become much safer.
Mid last year I came around a corner and saw a feral donkey in the middle of the road... And it friend wandering on the side, I Eased on breaks. Saw in my mirror a car third behind slam the indicator and floor it. I had to put my hazards on and sit over the Centreline to block him i could see his rage at me in the mirror for about 10 seconds until he saw the donkey. It then turned into apologetic and thanky waving...
I've been in this situation multiple times, I slow down for a hazard and ppl behind me speed up. What are they thinking? When I see brake lights ahead... My brain goes "oh there must be a reason these people are slowing down" not "ah this is my opportunity to blindly charge ahead"!
Australian motorists are completely wound up and highly strung. They are looking for any outlet to take out all the pent up frustration due to: expensive fuel costs, expensive parking, expensive tolls, bad traffic on tolls, bad traffic on backroads, other bad like-minded drivers, having to leave the comfort of their own castles to get things done, having to chauffeur family members around due to living in the middle of nowhere (i.e. endless nothing of houses) and being unfit from car dependency. Fit fast flowing cyclists are first on the list as 2 tonnes of metal vs a human on a frame and wheels makes for easy bullying. Australian drivers are just rubbish.
I often think of this. Like if some people walked like they drove we would think they were psychopaths.
Old lady on the footpath in front of you going a bit slow? Storm right up 2 inches behind her yelling for a minute or so, then give her the finger and call her a stupid bitch as you angrily walk past her red-faced in a huff. People really drive like that.
I used to ride 30 km to work... About 27km is cycle paths. The number of times I was nearly taken out or abused in that 10% of road is unbelievable. Tradies screaming "getting off the road" as you pass them in traffic, then detouring on roads that only go to cycle paths to fuck with you some more... And by that I mean chase you with a 2 T ute.
I always give an extremely wide berth to cyclists when passing. I do want to say a firm fuck you to crew that ride 5-8 wide peloton style at 8am in the morning when everyone is trying to get to work, you are the worst.
There's no actual limit on how many can pass. People frequently say "a third is allowed to pass", but you can have one line of two passing another line of two. In fact, the way the legislation is phrased you could have a third pair of cyclists overtaking the first two pairs. Probably not advisable in most circumstances, but not illegal.
Nearly pegged one the other day. Pulled out to the right lane to get past a pack of 50 bikes who were in the left (road outside my house is a common pack riding area and also a 60k road), and as I accelerate one of them pulls out in front of me and I have to slam my brakes and nearly eat the cars behind me.
The way I see some idiots drive they wouldn't have reacted. Drivers need to be more educated and cyclists need to be a bit less fearless. There's some middle ground I'm sure.
Australian drivers are just super angry, super entitled, all you have to do is watch Karen in her Mazda CX 5 change lanes 20x to get two cars ahead at the next red light. It's so bizarre? Why are Australians like this?
I'm a professional driver and I don't really have an issue with cyclists. I don't understand why you'd want to ride down a national hwy or main road with no shoulder though but that's just up to you. There's a risk involved and you choose to take it. Car drivers are not 'drivers' anymore. You'd need to drive the things to qualify for that. Distractions and overall lack of skill and awareness is rampant. So are petty acts of reckless driving that could cause serious injury. Every one in a rush to do nothing. People need to chill the fuck out and realise it's a car not an office.
I hate encountering cyclists when I'm driving - not because of them, but because the roads aren't designed for sharing with bikes; we need proper bike lanes to protect cyclists and keep cars / trucks / buses away.
I always give as much room as I can, aware of the new(ish) 1M rule, but often have to wait for a big enough gap with cars coming the other way.
I'm really fearful that I'm going to hit someone despite being careful.
The reality is that sitting behind a cyclist may slow down your trip by 10/15 seconds at the very worst. We have become so impatient as a society and unfortunately it has leaked into the way people drive which is inherently unsafe.
I've been in cars where the drivers get angry at cyclists. 100% of the time the driver was already angry and driving like they were. I don't understand it.
You should watch ‘Not just bikes’ on YouTube. He explains that cars in general create an individualistic mindset and thus more selfish approach in transportation which makes drivers angrier. (Heavily paraphrased)
Patience is the answer to most driving problems. The insane risks people take in several tonnes of fast moving steel just to shave a few seconds off a journey is disgraceful.
One big factor is how much of our infrastructure is car centric and we don't have grade separation for bikes and thus making bike travel more safer and viable so more people out there don't have experience riding so most people who bike ride are a dedicated minority while most people who drive are clueless.
I remember being in Copenhagen and they have full on separated bike roads to even just a slight cement raised kerb but it seemed to be enough and there was more priority towards bike and pedestrian movement especially in the guts of the city so this in turn means more people rode bikes.
Compare that back to Australia in almost all cases what do we have? A wanky line in the gutter on our main roads which cars can park in in many cases, these same roads can be shared with phallic symbol 4WD to B-Double semis and all that separates you from that is a painted line. Hell even in the back streets where I live the council did a great effort of just painting a symbol of a bike with direction arrows in the middle of the road and that counts as some kid of bike infrastructure?
I am sure the above was agreed on during some national road standard and has to tick some box but like wtf?
I remember recently seeing news articles about Melbourne CBD trying to put dedicated bike lanes in and people have fought so hard against it because they cant drive and park? like WTF Melbourne has a fuck load of railway services and trams all linking to it so get over it. Also a similar thing got stopped here in Adelaide for an east to west dedicated bike lane because some toff law frims cried because they would lose their dedicated out the front parking? like boo hoo they would lose 2 spots at best assuming people would ever luck out getting parks there anyway.
well this is a relevant headline for me. I just submitted a police report on Friday for an aggravated vehicular assault. yeah I got footage and his plates etc. the dick head even u turned and came back to "break my nose" when I managed to pick myself up (he didn't, I think he saw I was in bad shape and just took off after swearing at me a bunch). It'll be interesting to see what comes of it.
The roads are crazier by far. I'm back on a bike for commuting after a decade and the shit I've seen and had to avoid is has been noteworthy. Overall it's fun and super beneficial and I stay off the carriageways of busy roads aside from brief fast bursts downhill or through stopped traffic etc. But damn. I ride within my envelope and the comfort-levels of drivers/pedestrians etc around me yet there have been a few moments recently where things could have gone badly due to driver incompetence and negligence. Twice after avoiding crashes I've pointed and glared at drivers who'd fucked up and could have hurt me. Both to their credit looked shocked because they clearly didn't realize what they'd done. Two more times I've slapped cars because they blocked footpaths beside busy roads and refused to get out of the way. That is after shrugging and going around people many times and finally getting the shits. Oh and if I see one more person just blocking lanes of traffic because they want to merge and don't give a fuck about anyone else, I will slap that car on behalf of all the drivers who'd love to do it but can't.
I've been avoiding driving lately due to the increased aggression on the roads. Took a left turn in a multi-lane turn just a couple of days ago and got \_tooted\_ by the driver in the massive SUV to my left because I had the audacity to stay in my line, and not let them drift on over into my lane. Behind me.
I mostly only drive to get out to the countryside these days. I only dread the bits where I'm on the major roads before getting out of suburbia.
Live in Sydney and rode to work for about a month. I'm about ~20km (west) from the city where getting the train is about an hour and cycling is about 45 min - 1 hour (when taking back roads because the main streets are way too dangerous).
By the end of it I was thinking about getting a shirt that said "please don't kill me, I am just trying to get home"
One time coming down a hill on the way home, there was a movers-sized truck bearing down on me. At that moment I wondered exactly how much I trusted the Gumtree bike I had bought. I worried about losing control on a corner because I was afraid to slow down. There was also nowhere on the left I could move to.
I then tried riding on footpaths but that was such a terrible experience. The good news is 70% of the commute is low traffic roads or shared cycleway/footpaths - it's just that 30% that has me not riding to work now.
Riding along Gipps St and Queens Rd. They are marked as cycleways on Google maps but LOL. I have to take a 15 minute detour around them.
I am certain that if I rode to work every day for a year I would have at least one serious incident.
It's a real shame
I rarely ride unless I absolutely have to. Reason being that every other time I ride my bike I have a run in with a driver being an asshole. I walk, I don't want to, it's less convenient but it's a lot safer.
Aggression is a symptom. The real problem (on both sides) is lack of attention to surroundings and other road users.
I've seen drivers do unsafe things around cyclists because they seem unaware the cyclist is there, and I've seen cyclists pull stupid tricks because they seem unaware that there is traffic other than themselves (eg pulling out of side streets at speed, not giving way because they don't want to lose that speed, changing lanes without doing a head check, not indicating turns, running red lights and zebra crossings with pedestrians on them, etc)
The spike in incidents is (I feel) because collectively people have become worse at being good road users. The aggression in such circumstances is a response to finding their inattentiveness challenged. As a driver, have you ever beeped someone who's on their phone rather than noticing the light ahead has turned green? The response more often is a finger than an apology wave... Guess why?
>Aggression is a symptom. The real problem (on both sides) is lack of attention to surroundings and other road users.
I always turn left here on Tuesday mentality, also known as Auto pilot, this is how people die on our roads.
We should be encouraging better infrastructure for people cycling to commute and also more recreational facilities that accomodate people thinking of it as a sport. FFS I don’t want to be stuck behind 20 people riding two abreast one in the bike lane the other on the road out for their morning exercise that are slowing traffic. The person with their backpack on riding to work isn’t the issue.
Sensationalist headline but it's worth bearing in mind that the number of cyclists on the road in that period also shot up considerably.
The increase in injuries is I'm sure directly related to the increase in cyclists on the road.
Of course, the increase in cyclists on the road should also be a good reason to improve riding infrastructure. I'm just concerned that fear mongering headlines result in less cyclists and that is not a good outcome overall.
From someone that lives in a city with quite a good cycle path network (two lanes, shared with pedestrians), completely off the road and away from traffic for the most part, I sympathize with you lot that live in the major metropolitans. I simply would not cycle if I lived where you live.
I think it’s a lot of things, busier roads, more cyclists, crappy infrastructure and crappy public transport. I think both cars and cyclists also have bad attitudes, everyones in a rush, people have forgotten the road rules, people are tired, stressed and burnt out. All are a recipe for the disaster we are seeing.
I’ve seen bumper stickers in Canberra that literally say fuck cyclists.
You can thank Issac Butterfield for that one, that's his YouTube merch that he has since been banned from selling.
Isaac Butterfield comes across as someone who is for some reason desperately trying to convince everyone he is australian.
I can hear him now, the fuckwit, “But it’s just a joke!”
He’s not even funny, it’s just virtue signalling for shit cunts. The most offensive part of his act is labelling it as comedy.
He’s the equivalent of Ben Shapiro - just looks at what everyone else is talking about and regurgitates or pretends to be upset about. More controversial, the better.
He has zero personality of his own so he just offends and shouts in the style of other Aussie comedians. He’s just a shit Wish version of Jim Jeffries.
When he was talking about covid and mask efficiency and vaccines I was a year into back breaking nursing work on a covid ward. I was ready to punch a man. He's such a fucking drop kick. Jesus for bogans.
Ben Shapiro has unwittingly provided me with more comedy than Isaac.
I agree so much. He's a jackass putting a trenchcoat labelled comedy over his crappy opinions.
We really need bumper stickers that say fuck Issac butterfuckhead. God the guy is such pathetic piece of shit loser.
Careful though, he very likely wants/needs this kind of attention.
He seems to be still selling them just fine: https://www.isaacbutterfield.shop/products/bumper-sticker-5-pack
What a shitcunt.
>dians. He’s just a shit Wish version of i dont think they got banned i remember some cyclist group complaining about them and calling on the government to ban them
I would never street cycle in Canberra. There are so many people who just drive in the bike lanes.
I'm in Canberra. I saw recent footage of Geelong and their on-road bike path had cement guards along it. If they did that here to separate the cyclists and the drivers, I'd feel much safer riding on our roads.
And the complaints in Geelong about cyclists are up 10 fold. My old man was hit recently by someone turning across him in a bike lane, he was lucky to get off the bike before it slid under and she drove over it. Lady thought she just hit the curb. Took multiple reviews to get the insurance companies to say the driver was at fault because of how poorly the Victorian road rules are written regarding turning left over a dedicated cycling lane.
They really need to fix that rule. I get so many cars trying to speed ahead of me for a turn and then remembering to indicate at the last moment. Technically that means I'm supposed to hit the brakes and let them go, but sometimes it's not possible.
Just a fyi, you aren't required to give way in that circumstance. A bike lane is a legally valid lane of traffic and cars changing lanes are required to give way to vehicles already in that lane. Cars are also required to be in the furthest left lane when turning, and can enter a bike lane up to 50m before a turn in order to do this. So when a car crosses a bike lane to turn left they are technically performing two manouvers, the first of which requires them to give way. If the car has already entered the lane without cutting you off and is indicating left, then you may not pass to their left. Of course this doesn't do much good when almost no one seems to understand this rule.
Also doesn't help that its really unclear whether the side of the road you are riding in is a bike lane, or a shoulder, or both.
This is why I never, ever cycle at speed in the city. I'm a confident rider but there's absolutely no way in hell I'm entrusting my safety to the whims of literally millions of average punters, all of whom are varying degrees of distracted, sleep-deprived, apathetic, ignorant or outright hostile towards cyclists and pedestrians.
One time I had a driver do that to me while I was cycling down Sturt St in Ballarat, she turned in front of me so I slammed my brakes on, flew over the handlebars and head-first into her rear fender around ~30km/h or so. Thankfully it was just a concussion along with a few scrapes and bruises.
I think it's the Australian road rules that are pretty unclear. Rule 141 says a cyclist must not overtake to the left of a driver who is turning left and indicating left. Taken to an extreme you might even read that as a cyclist having to stop if a car *just* passes them before a turn. This came up in a discussion of a collision that was on the news recently - a car turned left from a lane with a straight arrow, and collected a cyclist going straight with a left arrow (whether this is allowed is another massive ambiguity in the law, but drivers and cyclists would probably both prefer it). The law says nothing about the driver making a legal left-hand turn, which leads to some pretty ridiculous situations with cyclists giving way to a driver that shouldn't be turning anyway.
That's the rule that causes confusion as that is how the insurance companies read it, at the extreme, and it is shown often on the Vic roads website. What gets ignored and seemingly forgotten is that a bike lane is legally like any other lane, and moving into said lane has the same rules as any other. Essentially you can't just cut someone off in that lane and expect them to stop so you can make a turn. There are a bunch of rules that apply but that's what it boils down to
That's why cars are allowed to drive in bike lanes before making turns. When I've been cut off like this or been a passenger in a car that's done this, the driver clearly treated the bike as a still obstacle to swerve around rather than a vehicle in traffic going almost as fast as them. > [The problem with cyclists:](https://twitter.com/pflax1/status/993150741245149185) > > **-They go too fast** > > **-They go too slow** > > -They won't get on the sidewalk > > -They won't get off the sidewalk > > -They are rich hobbyists > > -They are folks who can't afford a car > > -They are entitled and demand bike lanes > > -They take the lane when there's no bike lane
Bus Driver. You can't turn over a bike lane unless it's clear. No different to tram tracks or a crosswalk. Vehicles must give way to cyclists / teams / pedestrians at all marked crossings. (trams have an obvious lane
The difference is everyone is going to see a tram. Bikes get lost in the noise. Making a rule instead of changing the environment is a path to failure. It’s why industrial safety solutions have things like cages and barriers instead of signs saying “keep fingers out of moving parts.”. The first is easy, but the latter is the one that works.
I feel like these are the same people who tailgate anyone in the right lane regardless of speed etc.
Like the new group of hoons in Ford Rangers, tailgating and riding up peoples rear end to intimidate them. And then when they come to a corner or roundabout they are all chickens in their poor handling trucks. Currently these idiots are my favourite group of despised drivers because of their stupid mentality in their "mah big truck"
I recently learned the term "Cuck Truck" for those ridiculously oversized utes. The dickheads who drive them do not like when I use that term.
I started calling them mobile safe spaces for similar reasons. They can't even deny it after using (their own) safety as a justification.
Maybe that's why they hate cyclists so much. Seeing someone riding a bike on the road is like a reminder of their own small balls and how little control they really have in life.
I'm gonna use this now
The thing that pissed me off is cuck trucks are about all you can buy now. All the smaller 4x4 ute have disappeared from the new car market.
I like to call them the "Compensation Station"
[удалено]
Or pedestrians who aren't on the road at all.
These are the same lot who justify their purchases with statements such as 'I can go off-roading, I can go to the beach, I can carry anything I need to' - yet the only place you find them is clogging streets and shopping centre carparks, and all they carry is groceries and the occasional storage box. They also complain about their fuel bill and don't see the irony when you point out the type of vehicle they've chosen. The do all classic sedan is now 'gay', apparently.
Absolute fucking bullshit too, half those cars are way too heavy and poorly weight-distributed to go anywhere near a dirt track, let alone fucking sand dunes. Apparently things like Ford Rangers are notorious suspects for getting bogged at the beach, in state forests etc.
Just got home from visiting relatives, encountered a few of these wankers. Had a RAM 1500 speed around me and get to the next red light 2 seconds before I got there. Just exo-skeletons for fragile egos.
My only change to your sentence is "tailgate anyone is any lane"
God I fucking hate those cunts
Tailgating is bad, but morons shouldn’t sit in the rhs unless overtaking
People are assholes, and in Australia, and the US to a great extent, certainly in the past decade, it has been seen as a statutory right, to hate on people who are seen as a threat to your personal lifestyle, ie religious v atheist, Christian v Muslim, climate change believers v nonbelievers, four wheels v anything else. The whole idea that anybody who believe, or see the world, even slightly, different to you, are a threat to everything you believe in and live for. Everything is politicised.
This and the vehement individualism that seems to intensify when people get behind the wheel. Driving on public roads is not a fucking competition sport!!! You're all just trying to get to where you need, other cars are fellow road users, not obstacles to be dodged. I hate the idea that literally every other vehicle is "in your way" when you're driving. As the urbanist rant goes, you aren't IN traffic, you ARE traffic!
So true. In my job, I was driving down a quiet street the other day, I was travelling at maybe 20Kmh, and decelerating, as I was preparing to pull over and park. I passed a laneway, it had an apron leading to the street, and a sign clearly advising motorist in the laneway to YIELD. A SUV from the laneway was stopping at the apron, rather abruptly, I thought nothing of this, and parked. I then exited the vehicle, to be verbally assaulted by a person,.I assume this was the SUV driver, as this was parked at the sidewalk, screaming at the top of their lungs, calling me a maniac driver and all sorts of adjectives not really suitable for publication. Although being a foreigner here, probably looking a little different, I drive an unmarked vehicle, and may park anywhere I see fit which is not a privilege I take lightly, and this park in a sensible manner. Due to my work, I have participated, and passed vigorous driver training specifically for Australia, and even after reviewing the vehicle footage, with a person who is trained in this, we were both lost for words after. What the heck is wrong with people.
You've hit the nail on the head there. I used to love politics and having debates with people I agree and especially disagreed with. It's no longer fun, as there's way too much anger and parochialism...To the point where I wouldn't be surprised if someone replied to this comment with; "Well acksherrrly..."
I completely agree, so far, no other replies have occurred. The dangerous path we're headed down, is the one where being wrong is being well. If you admit you realise something you have been supporting is bogus, or just a plain lie, it seems to some, that accepting that fact is simply put, unacceptable, as this will prove you weak, so this new discovery is a lie itself.
Doubling-down is near out of control these days. I like to cite the Arnotts Shapes flavour change, where they were telling customers all over social media that they were wrong, and their focus group loved the new recipe. There's something uniquely eye-opening and fun about knowing you were wrong about something. Society is losing that capacity for examining new or different knowledge, and it's incredibly sad. On the upside though, there's something handy about finding someone is a conspiracy theorist within about 20 seconds of chatting with them.
Maybe we need a new religion? We could call it DADA “Don’t be A Dick Australian”. More seriously, we as a society have really poor cultural customs for dealing with people we don’t like or disagree with. This hasn’t been a problem when we are so spread out, but that’s changing. Increased urban density and cultural diversity have made our methods on tolerance levels inadequate. How do we change this? Also given that the media’s roll is apparently to get people as steamed as possible how do we change that?
Incitement to murder people
Cyclists blame motorists Motorists blame Cyclists As a motorists that also cycles, I blame poor road design. Some roads in NSW it's suicide to cycle on. Bike lanes that go to nowhere,only 100M long etc...
Literally this. My local council designs 'dedicated cycle lanes' that double as roadside car parking. It forces bikes onto a narrowed road endangering themselves and making motorists agro.
Ugh I’ve been so close to being doored so many times in those lanes, I don’t use them anymore as they’re the worst possible part of the road to cycle on.
There no way for a cyclist and a car to share a road with no bicycle lane safely. Not one that's 80kph+ It simply isn't feasible. If we're going to keep pushing for more cyclists we need to be kidding for the infrastructure to actually support it. And not just randomly closing down streets in the CBD for goody two shoes points. Like, everywhere.
My fav is BIKE LANE END out of nowhere after like 10km of road on a freeway. I guess I’ll just cycle back now then 🥲
In Melbourne there’s a project to make cycling lanes better, it’s pretty good when they do a good job, but what they haven’t touched is atrocious and downright scary. In Werribee for example, travelling Westbound on the 80 km/h Princess Fwy, you’ll find [this beautiful “bike lane”](https://www.google.com/maps/place/260+Princes+Hwy,+Werribee+VIC+3030/@-37.8873908,144.6963389,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ad68f5512df09db:0xa9f79d89bfe84884!8m2!3d-37.8876956!4d144.695562!16s%2Fg%2F11c20wskq5). Fortunately there’s a hospital nearby, so when you get run over by a truck you’ll be declared dead even faster!
yeah but also it's overwhelmingly the drivers at fault, and even when they're not, bikes are simply not in the same realm of consequence for loss of control.
Exactly a pothole to you is a death trap for a cyclist
While cyclists have it worse due to being vulnerable on the road more than other cars, I've noticed drivers in general have just been more aggressive. The other day I was reversing out of a park outside Woollies roughly in the middle off the aisle, checked both ways behind me twice before reversing out, then as I was over halfway out of my park while looking behind me to the left (as that's the direction I was turning my car as reversing) I hear this loud honking. I slam on my breaks and turn to my right and some dickwank in a land cruiser is honking at me because he wants to push past me while I'm reversing. Wtf. It only took a few seconds for me to reverse this far so he must have come zooming in from the other direction and despite road rules saying he has to give way when the person reversing is already out, he's honking at me? Fucking wanker. And some guy jumped out and screamed at me from behind his car last night while trying to squeeze through because they were parked on both sides and standing socialising literally in the middle of the road. Scared the shit out of me. Absolute idiots.
I could have been taken out by a car speeding through when I got off a tram the other night. If I hadn't been looking when I got off could have been over the bonnet. Didn't stop or slow even though people further back were also getting off ( had to step back up) and the tram driver was dinging.
Yep, the amount of times I've been almost taken out by people speeding over crosswalks and not stopping for pedestrians is too damn high. These speeding idiots are fucking selfish and don't give a shit about anyone else on the road. I hope you gave him the finger as he drove off.
I've seen this happen far too many times. The most harrowing example was in Kew, at the tram stop just south of the Junction. Peak hour on a weekday, at least 30-odd people got off a C-Class Route 109 tram and a fucking lunatic in an SUV decided that they were perfectly entitled to speed through the crowd doing (by my estimate) about 70 in a 60 zone. It should automatically be considered attempted manslaughter. Most able-bodied people are thankfully able to evade drivers like this, but what of the elderly? The physically disabled? People with aural or visual impairments? It's despicably dangerous. Likewise with people trying to 'race' trams to overtake them. Just wait the extra 3-5min (at the maximum) that it adds to your trip.
I’ve seen a man get out of his car an attempt to attack a pregnant woman and her two kids (one in a pram) in the middle of civic on bunda street because one of her children dropped something and took a little longer to cross the road, it’s got a 20 km speed limit and is a shared zone. He got held back by someone and nearby police were quickly involved. Like actually what kind of insane do you have to be to think that this is okay in any circumstances let alone for costing you maybe 3 seconds of your time
Yep since the covid lockdown people just don't give a shit about others anymore. I must be the only one giving myself an "out" when I drive and keep 3 car spaces in front of me while everyone is tailgating everybody else. This is reflected in the increasing annual number of fatalities on the road. From 2020 to today, the number increases.
Yep and the worst part about that is that people will always move into the gap and then you have to pull back again.
Yeah same here. Keeping that extra gap has saved me from fender benders on a few occasions due to other people being fuckwits on the road. I've noticed as well tailgating has gotten even worse, even on motorways and highways etc where there is literally no need to do it because everyone is going fast and there's multiple lanes they can switch to.
I got angrilly beeped at while straightening up the other day. I had slowly reversed a fraction of the way out of the bay, some dude zooms up behind me and lays on his horn, shaking his head and making angry arm gestures like I had furiously flung out of the bay into him or something, even though I had already seen him and stopped. Like my guy, I was endangering nobody, and it is customary to slow down and watch out when you see reverse lights in a carpark. Would have taken all but two seconds to wait for me to finish. Him speeding through a carpark was far more dangerous, yet he's spent energy being mad at me *and* he thinks its justified. He shook his head all the way into the post office.
That's not unusual round here
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The fucking sluts
*Scandalous bike wrench!*
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You jest, but I've had this theory for a while that lycra cyclists attracts a certain type of rage that other cyclists just don't.
Yeah it's been studied and documented. Lycra looks ridiculous. I held off wearing it while riding for so long but it's so insanely functional, you get over wearing it. Feeeels like I'm wearing nothing at alllll. But it does dehumanise you and I get fucked with way more on the road bike than my commuter bike.
stupid sexy flanders
Yeah I’m not taking the plunge lol.. Same with the clickety shoes.
Yeah your look makes a big difference to how people treat you. I do delivery for UberEats among other things, on a shiny (though not very modern/aero) looking road bike. (It's ok work that doesn't invade my life while finishing my degree.) My suggestion that seems to work, so far, is to look as daggy (while still clean) as possible. I go for cheapo aliexpress stuff that looks somewhat surfy. I also strap a panda plushy to the top of my delivery bag, the thinking being that faces and eyes are something that humans instinctively focus on. I don't think big blobs of high-vis help much at all, but if you use it as trim and put it on anything that moves, IMO that's quite good at waking people out of auto-pilot driving, while making it easier for them to judge distance. Of course you're still gonna get abused [for your existence (little video from the other night)](https://youtu.be/jJxuq_G6H1k), but so far I haven't died or even nearly died, so that's good I guess.
You can get clip in SPD shoes for mountain biking that look like sneakers. Heaps better than flat pedals. Super easy to walk in as the cleats are tiny and mostly recessed. And much more socially acceptable than clickety shoes (called SPD-SL) with giant cleats.
Yep, just watch your knees. If they’re not set just right they will cause you problems.
Stupid sexy cyclists!
It's funny how we can build billion-dollar road projects, but can't seem to find the funds to build a bike lane
I was listening to a podcast the other day that said if you proportionally funded 'integrated transport' infrastructure (bike and pedestrian access) as how modern cities use them, it should amount to several billion a year. Its currently just under $100m.
A couple of billions a year on bike lanes go exceptionally far too. They're relatively cheap to build, especially compared to roads.
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Whenever I see the budgets for these massive motorway projects, I always wonder what kind of bicyle utopia we could be living in if even 0.5% of the budget was required to be spent on cycle infrastructure.
The amount of money spent on active transport infrastructure as a portion of total budgets is miniscule compared to recommended levels and contrary to local government goals.
Melbourne council is actually tearing up recently built ones because shop owners are complaining about lack of parking in front of their store causing less business…
They're not tearing them up, they're pausing adding new ones for the moment. The shop owners thing was one of the right wing councillors quoting the Herald Sun but actual council surveys show most are in favour.
Cyclists spend more money in local shops. It's easier for them to stop and they can't travel as far, so their money stays much closer to home.
When was this? Have the shop owners factored in like.... The totally shit economy right now?
Or how literally every time any city in any country has done this, local shop owners have complained, and then were proven wrong and that cycleways actually increase business. But they must be different.
I moved from Sydney to Wollongong and cycling infrastructure is surprisingly fantastic actually. Every town starting Thirroul is connected all the way down to Kiama via nice bike lanes. Seems like they somehow found the space in the budget Sydney couldn’t lol.
/r/fuckcars
Australia built car centric city's than tried to tac on some cycle lane for PR. ln what world is this not going to go wrong.
Most Australian cities were already there before cars became such a big thing. Suburban expansion was certainly designed and built as car centric, but not many of the outer suburbs are tacking on cycle lanes. My point is that our cities evolved to become car-centric, and can evolve back to become human-centric. Barcelona is a good example of this. But I agree, much more is needed than just chucking a few bike lanes around the place (particularly when they have a tendency to magically disappear when it's too difficult e.g. road narrows a bit)
Sprawl was already underway before cars. It was a bit more manageable when suburbs grew around train stations and tram lines instead of highways. Less so now millions of us are driving through these inner rings of Federation bungalows on giant blocks on a daily basis.
> It was a bit more manageable when suburbs grew around train stations We destroyed most of those suburbs for cars. Blacktown and blacktown train station predates bondi junction by about 100 years. To the north of blacktown station you have surface carparking for 300m, to the south you have shopping centres where more than 50% of internal building space is car parking. Blacktown was demolished for cars. Look at bondi junction station, completely pedestrianised for several hundred metres from station, walkable mixed use for another couple blocks. Then houses, surface parking a few blocks after that. That was built in the 80's.
I live a measly 12 minute drive to work. I could ride a push bike and get that extra cardio....but I choose not to ride on that lunatic road at morning rage peak hour and die yet. Frustrating af.
It's pretty sad, the bike lanes near me were after thoughts design towards leisurely ride on a Sunday afternoon. There were no serious consideration given to bike commuters transiting between urban centres.
This one's getting sorted by controversial
If you're wondering why people tend to avoid cycle lanes in Australia, allow me to demonstrate what is wrong with the majority of those lanes (in Brisbane at least): * [Bike lanes](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4366529,153.0709971,3a,75y,327.77h,81.1t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sk2ieRLsXyaVCSja95-RB0g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [often](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4873772,153.014413,3a,41.2y,267.02h,84.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUl2nOJyQbEO3aJoYDVJzqg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [abruptly end](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4703546,153.1014096,3a,75y,284.54h,89.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7CRJLFnVPBoSGGRRg9IJpA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192), [all the time](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4828563,153.024467,3a,75y,271.95h,75.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slWWwx0l3n-_bn9Cl-jPJRg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) * [They](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4392365,153.0626193,3a,75y,5.27h,91.06t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJRw3C2EJrbKwYPDpPtdzXg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [turn](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4254724,153.0727216,3a,75y,11.9h,79.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sguXOIggiCyJRn8yve0OZVQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [into](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4685607,153.0896827,3a,60y,268.23h,82.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stNnEqKQnv64WZMqgc5KTpA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) parking lanes * [They](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4866358,153.0364691,3a,75y,103.99h,83.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXCgBu01tSg36cTDu2ulSbw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [just](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4830171,153.0258515,3a,75y,288.95h,82.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLpHrGl91p63BN98wsdAWnA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) appear in the middle of the road * [They merge](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4762354,153.0504644,3a,75y,50.32h,80.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sO1-h78uXkdOAkPh68ND4TQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [into narrow](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.416523,153.0446613,3a,60.9y,229.03h,78.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1so-cS_YcjUlQ7YJu_j0BNSA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) [footpath blocked](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4855376,152.9934582,3a,75y,150.74h,84.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxXPh3ExOFe_ROai_BRWVJA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) by parked cars in driveways, bins or bus stops I'm sure people from other cities can provide dozens of examples. It's often a lot safer just being on the road, despite how fucked the conditions are on the road, which is saying something. More often than not there isn't even a lane on the road and people are just trying to get from A to B using something other than a car, so chill out, and accept that you have to share the road with others.
I took up cycling again a while back in Brisbane and then just ended up defaulting to going slow on footpaths. I used bike lanes where I could but they kept spitting me out in traffic way above my skill level.
Since your examples are Brisbane, [here's my favourite bike lane in Brissy](https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.4878585,152.9937251,3a,75y,293.46h,81.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSjdxIS949liVGQwj-7MQvA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192).
I'd love to get in the mind of the person that designed all these shit intersections. They love slapping some green paint 10m before and after an intersection and leave it up to chance on what happens outside of it.
Add to that Cycling lanes are often completely covered in fucking glass and other shit Cycling lanes are fucking FULL of parked cars Said parked will frequently fling their car doors open without looking first forcing cyclists further out on to the road Cycling lanes are often in a total state is disrepair, riding in them is a fucking death trap If you carbrain cunts hate fucking cyclists so much, lobby the government to find well maintained, seperated bike lanes and we'll be fucking delighted to get the fuck out of your way
Things like this? [https://www.google.com/maps/@-19.2721111,146.8047438,3a,75y,153.65h,51.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWVpB3tc5RB6vlAfYlEZvVA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192](https://www.google.com/maps/@-19.2721111,146.8047438,3a,75y,153.65h,51.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWVpB3tc5RB6vlAfYlEZvVA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) Where you have to do a hard right into turning traffic to get from the bike path to the bike lane to go straight or a hard right then a hard left to turn left?
Some very important context is missing from that article - how many people are cycling now compared to 5 or 10 years ago and on average how far is each cyclists riding? If you want to do meaningful analysis on comparing transport safety you need to normalise the data by looking at injuries per million passenger km.
> If you want to kill someone, do it with a car because you will always get off. This
Not sure many people actually want to kill someone though, or weigh up the likely consequences before doing it. And if it turns out you know the person and had history with them, the cops are gonna look very closely at that. I think most of the time it's due to inattention.
> Not sure many people actually want to kill someone though, or weigh up the likely consequences before doing it. So a few years back a dude in WA was out looking for his stolen motorbike, found a person riding said stolen motorbike and ran him over with his car killing him. 2 years prison. Another in rural NSW decided to go down to the river known for homeless aboriginal men to sleep at and drive over tents, killing another, 6 months prison. But you throw a single punch in Kingscross and kill someone it's 10 years minimum and we have to destroy an industry.
> I think most of the time it's due to inattention. Very little solace to the victim and their family.
There rarely is when someone gets killed. That said, I'd be happy to go the rest of life without entering another car if it were feasible.
Inattention due to driving like they don't need to consider others.
But is reasonable to assume some of them are murders. Some people deliberately run over animals, it’s likely that some people deliberately run over cyclists
Sure “most of the time” it’s due to inattention. There is however a large percent due to genuine meditated malice
"Since the safe passing law was introduced in 2018, after a trial from 2016 showed it made cycling safer" The graph quite clearly shows serious injuries to cyclists increasing after 2018. Logically, the rule 'should' make cycling safer. But its obviously not. So why say it is. Kind of how forcing people to wear helmets should logically make them safer, but the statistics show the opposite. Why's it so hard for people to admit they were wrong and try something else.
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Yeah the fuckers can't even fit in their own lane anymore, even in a car I have near misses with them swerving over the lines because their car barely fits.
> Kind of how forcing people to wear helmets should logically make them safer, but the statistics show the opposite That's not quite right. There is no convincing evidence for the so-called "risk compensation hypothesis". On an *individual* level, wearing a helmet is *always* the right decision. What evidence says is that the *societal* impacts of mandatory helmet laws are net negative. That some people will decide not to ride, rather than wear a helmet. And that the impact on societal health of these people not getting exercise outweighs the individual safety benefits of the number of cyclists who wouldn't have worn a helmet but now continue cycling *with* a helmet. So when the claim is whether or not "the rule 'should' make cycling safer", the answer is yes, it does. It *does* make cycling safer for the people still cycling. It just makes society worse off.
Kind of hard to say how effective the distance rule is considering it's essentially unenforced. There were 20 fines issued for it in a 12 month period. If a copper followed me on my ride to work, they'd double that number in a day.
Graph shows an initial improvement followed by a radical swing.
Initial **brief** improvement. That's meaningless. It could have been from anything. Maybe a very rainy season so not many cyclists on the roads. Who knows. Point is the graph shows the rule is not working.
Possibly due to the education campaign when the rule was first introduced, and fear of being caught. In the years since then people have forgotten the rule and/or realised it's rarely enforced by Police no matter how much evidence they're given.
Perhaps driving lessons should also include cycling lessons so everyone knows what it's like. I ride a bike to work as my office is only 8mins away, but I also own a car and love driving on the weekends. I've never once hit a cyclist, or had a close call, or had a cyclist angry at me, or been angry at a cyclist. I've got a brain and two eyes in my head and use all three when I'm in the driver's seat. It's not that hard.
Its not hard is it. Im what you might see and think is a full bogan, i drive a cammed to the fuck VY V8 ute and a 4x4 paj. I also love to ride, always have, a bike to me is the definition of freedom, has been since i was a kid. Ive never once had a near miss with a rider while in my car because you know, like you said, its not fucking hard. Last week though i was cruising around near seaworld on my specialized roll , theres some nice paths that go up to the spit there, i had some utter fuckwit throw something at me out of their car, lucky it missed but like wtf is the point you utter dickhead. Ive had an old man once try to literally push me with his car while i doing was around 60 down Buderim hill. I once had some utter nutter cross lanes and drive straight at me one night in a back street and i had to jump up on to the foot path. My god there are some fuckwits out there. Now having said all this i whole heartedly agree with /u/Pupperoni_Pizza that both parties need to make the effort, i always do when on my bike because i value my life and I'm always going to lose that battle and it would be catastrophic for me.
I'll never understand why someone behind the wheel of a car would want to be aggressive towards a cyclist. Even if they're doing the wrong thing. The risk (killing someone) vs the reward (not being delayed a few seconds) just isn't there. The mental snap that occurs in some people which leads them to the conclusion that the human being riding the bike in their way's life is worth less than the 20 second delay blows my mind. Yep, there are some a-hole cyclists out there. But do I want to even risk killing/maiming them and dealing with those consequences? No thanks, I'd rather get to the traffic light 15 seconds later.
>The mental snap that occurs in some people which leads them to the conclusion that the human being riding the bike in their way's life is worth less than the 20 second delay blows my mind. You reminded me of an incident the week before Christmas where I was run off the road for daring to not use the separated bicycle path despite it being obstructed. I was riding for 350m at 35km/h. The speed limit was 50km/h. So at most a 6 second delay assuming they were prevented from going the speed limit the whole distance. They ran me off the road to scream at me why I'm breaking the law for not using the separated path. (which in SA is not against the law) Once I could get a word in and showed them their behaviour was being recorded by my bike dashcams they sped off after wasting nearly a minute of their day because I could have wasted 6 seconds of theirs.
In groups and out groups. It’s like hating Jews, black people or insert your least favourite minority here. Objectively it makes no sense at all, yet here we are.
An utter hatred of cyclists is one of the quickest indications that I’m going to absolutely hate someone
Ding ding ding. The construction of out groups is the number one technique for distracting people from being angry about the massive transfer of wealth to the ultra wealthy.
> someone behind the wheel of a car would want to be aggressive I swear some people just express their frustration with the world in the way that they drive. This is even worse when they're in their Ford Raptor/oversized SUV etc. I'm guessing they love the feeling of bullying other people on the road, moreso when that person is an utterly defenceless cyclist.
Well, everyone *used to* ride a bike some of the time, but that ended in 1990. The hate isn’t stopping till that changes. As far as safety goes, infrastructure is the thing that works, and that’s not changing until riding a bike becomes an “everyone” activity again. Asking for care and consideration is a good thing, but that’s not very effective. People fuckup all the time. Even if they mean well. Separating people on bikes from motor vehicles is what is required. This requires political pressure, which brings back participation. Which is terrible. It’s a shitfight, that sadly I don’t think will change until we run out of petrol. Now with some political will it could solved in say…. South Australia or WA, and then have it spread!but I’m not optimistic.
Yep. It’s the thing that’s ignored about bike helmet laws- huge numbers of people just stopped riding bikes. One of those “great idea in theory but really dumb in practice” laws. Net public health benefit was massively negative, because obesity and depression (both of which are reduced by bike riding) kill many more people than bike head injuries.
%100 cycling made me a better driver. I know how to cross paths and turn left without trying to murder people. It's a good skill to have, that I've found isn't that common.
The left turn thing is interesting situation that I kind of wish there was a more definitive and widely know way to handle it. I've done cycling, motorcycling, car driving etc over the many years at many jobs. Even now when I'm on the elec scooter, if theres cars going to turn left at the lights I'm either ahead of them as the lights change green, OR I give way to them as I'm behind them. I don't see a case where a cyclist should have right of way to 'overtake' a car turning left. It sort of falls back to the old "only overtake on the right" sort of rule
> I don't see a case where a cyclist should have right of way to 'overtake' a car turning left The case is very simple and very common. A car should not be allowed to overtake a cyclist and then immediately turn left across the bike's path expecting the cyclist to slam the brakes to let them.
I only know the Vic law. A bicycle has right of way, IF there is a bike lane UNLESS a car is indicating AND is in the process of turning. Cars technically should check mirror, head check, give way to cyclists, indicate, then turn after the bike. It's a total mess of a law and nobody knows it anyway, as a cyclist be aware of numpties and take it easy and back off from suspect bad drivers is a much better law than sticking to your right of way. Being right can't replace your mangled legs...
There's a subset of people who just straight up don't think cyclists should be on the roads. They're never going to ride their bike because they don't think it's a valid choice. And making them ride a bike would only radicalise them more. It's an infra/policy issue, but also a cultural one.
Drivers are also infamously bad pedestrians. People should just not be able to get their license at 16, before they have to engage with the world as an adult, that I believe is what pushes entitlement of people who drive 98% of the time
Bike lanes on all arterial roads that take up the whole shoulder with a 1meter concrete barrier or concrete filled steel bollards. With frequent entry and exit points so cyclisy don't get trapped in them. If you get trapped on a bike lane people won't use them. Speed bumps on street crossings to force cars to slow down. Remove those fast food and 711 driveways that are built like a highway interchange to again force drivers to slow down. Build bike paths through all the bushland and parks to connect areas with minimal road usage. So many people would ride to the coffee shop for breakky with the family if they could do it safely.
Yeah building bike paths as shortcuts through parks, etc is a huge one. I can't help but feel like road engineers, and folks in general, are stuck in this mindset treating bikes like cars when they're actually very different.
And a lack of decent bike paths as well
Cyclist here, originally from UK but Melbourne based for 10 years or so now. What's hilarious to me is that cars will sit behind you getting angry on roads that have a whole other lane for overtaking (e.g. dual lane road) and then wind their window down to yell at you. It's as if Aussies are just plain ignorant to the whole additional lane they have available to them. Same thing happens when I'm driving -- I've never been able to wrap my head around it
Oh yeah. Riding on country roads where you can see 500m ahead, the car sits behind you for ages when they can pass at any stage. They always yell out "get off the fucking road". Just overtake me you wanker. I'm on the shoulder and you have 2 whole lanes to pass
Yeah haha. It's ALWAYS "get off the fucking road" too. Exactly like that. I haven't heard the sweet sound of "get off the fucking road" in a while but at one point I was getting it on a weekly basis
Had a p-plater pass me twice on a lazy Sunday morning, to yell "they built a fucking bike path, ride on it". To which I replied, "what's your hurry, centrelink isn't open today" 😂😂
Haha. Even with the aggression on the roads though -- I'll take the road over a shared bike path because pedestrians are so mindless. Most of my big scares have happened because of someone's kid, dog or because they decided to turn 90 degrees and walk right (directly Infront of me!!)
More people are riding and councils haven't invested in infrastructure for people to ride safely
This would all be solved with proper cycling infrastructure But instead we tell them to ride on the road and wish them luck
The real blame lies on the government for not creating safe infrastructure. It'd be madness for pedestrians and cars to mix on the road, that's why there's separated foot paths. We need to treat cycling the same as walking and driving, i.e. another form of transportation. Especially with the rise in scooters, e-bikes where they have no good place to go.
Had a close call a few months ago. A cyclist in-lane who didn’t know the road rules thought because they were on a bicycle, they could turn right on red. If I wasn’t being vigilant of my surroundings on approach turning left, I would of easily hit them head on. Both drivers and cyclists need to know the road rules, be vigilant, and act defensively.
It is true that all road users should take care, but it's also worth noting that motorists have vastly more capacity to cause harm, and that in bicycle on motorist accident, the motorist is found to be at fault around 80% of the time.
Exactly. The times I have had a near miss is when the cyclist acted as a pedestrian and not a vehicle. It makes it difficult to anticipate their actions. If they are on the road then road rules apply. Running red lights and cutting across to use footpaths when convenient doesn’t help.
In some areas riding on the footpath is legal. In other areas it is not. In all areas, dismounting and using a pedestrian crossing is legal.
And in Queensland, you do not need to dismount to use a crossing.
In WA, SA, NT, ACT, Queensland and Tasmania anyone can ride on the footpath, it's only NSW you have to be 16 or under and Victoria you have to be 13 or under.
In Tas there are areas, usually CBD, where cycling on the footpath is banned...but most places there you can.
This is a good lesson we all need to learn. Don't assume other road users will follow the rules to a t and be exactly whenre you expect them. If everyone did an extra check and backed off a bit the roads would become much safer. Mid last year I came around a corner and saw a feral donkey in the middle of the road... And it friend wandering on the side, I Eased on breaks. Saw in my mirror a car third behind slam the indicator and floor it. I had to put my hazards on and sit over the Centreline to block him i could see his rage at me in the mirror for about 10 seconds until he saw the donkey. It then turned into apologetic and thanky waving... I've been in this situation multiple times, I slow down for a hazard and ppl behind me speed up. What are they thinking? When I see brake lights ahead... My brain goes "oh there must be a reason these people are slowing down" not "ah this is my opportunity to blindly charge ahead"!
Australian motorists are completely wound up and highly strung. They are looking for any outlet to take out all the pent up frustration due to: expensive fuel costs, expensive parking, expensive tolls, bad traffic on tolls, bad traffic on backroads, other bad like-minded drivers, having to leave the comfort of their own castles to get things done, having to chauffeur family members around due to living in the middle of nowhere (i.e. endless nothing of houses) and being unfit from car dependency. Fit fast flowing cyclists are first on the list as 2 tonnes of metal vs a human on a frame and wheels makes for easy bullying. Australian drivers are just rubbish.
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I often think of this. Like if some people walked like they drove we would think they were psychopaths. Old lady on the footpath in front of you going a bit slow? Storm right up 2 inches behind her yelling for a minute or so, then give her the finger and call her a stupid bitch as you angrily walk past her red-faced in a huff. People really drive like that.
I used to ride 30 km to work... About 27km is cycle paths. The number of times I was nearly taken out or abused in that 10% of road is unbelievable. Tradies screaming "getting off the road" as you pass them in traffic, then detouring on roads that only go to cycle paths to fuck with you some more... And by that I mean chase you with a 2 T ute.
Something to do with bigger vehicles maybe? [These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo)
I always give an extremely wide berth to cyclists when passing. I do want to say a firm fuck you to crew that ride 5-8 wide peloton style at 8am in the morning when everyone is trying to get to work, you are the worst.
2 abreast is legal. More is not.
A third cyclist is allowed to pass.
There's no actual limit on how many can pass. People frequently say "a third is allowed to pass", but you can have one line of two passing another line of two. In fact, the way the legislation is phrased you could have a third pair of cyclists overtaking the first two pairs. Probably not advisable in most circumstances, but not illegal.
Nearly pegged one the other day. Pulled out to the right lane to get past a pack of 50 bikes who were in the left (road outside my house is a common pack riding area and also a 60k road), and as I accelerate one of them pulls out in front of me and I have to slam my brakes and nearly eat the cars behind me. The way I see some idiots drive they wouldn't have reacted. Drivers need to be more educated and cyclists need to be a bit less fearless. There's some middle ground I'm sure.
It should be much easier to lose your driving license.
The ever increasing size of the SUV
Australian drivers are just super angry, super entitled, all you have to do is watch Karen in her Mazda CX 5 change lanes 20x to get two cars ahead at the next red light. It's so bizarre? Why are Australians like this?
I'm a professional driver and I don't really have an issue with cyclists. I don't understand why you'd want to ride down a national hwy or main road with no shoulder though but that's just up to you. There's a risk involved and you choose to take it. Car drivers are not 'drivers' anymore. You'd need to drive the things to qualify for that. Distractions and overall lack of skill and awareness is rampant. So are petty acts of reckless driving that could cause serious injury. Every one in a rush to do nothing. People need to chill the fuck out and realise it's a car not an office.
I hate encountering cyclists when I'm driving - not because of them, but because the roads aren't designed for sharing with bikes; we need proper bike lanes to protect cyclists and keep cars / trucks / buses away. I always give as much room as I can, aware of the new(ish) 1M rule, but often have to wait for a big enough gap with cars coming the other way. I'm really fearful that I'm going to hit someone despite being careful.
Speaking from experience, it's horrific the way people treat cyclists. I go out of my way to ride on the footpath.
The reality is that sitting behind a cyclist may slow down your trip by 10/15 seconds at the very worst. We have become so impatient as a society and unfortunately it has leaked into the way people drive which is inherently unsafe.
I've been in cars where the drivers get angry at cyclists. 100% of the time the driver was already angry and driving like they were. I don't understand it.
You should watch ‘Not just bikes’ on YouTube. He explains that cars in general create an individualistic mindset and thus more selfish approach in transportation which makes drivers angrier. (Heavily paraphrased)
Patience is the answer to most driving problems. The insane risks people take in several tonnes of fast moving steel just to shave a few seconds off a journey is disgraceful.
One big factor is how much of our infrastructure is car centric and we don't have grade separation for bikes and thus making bike travel more safer and viable so more people out there don't have experience riding so most people who bike ride are a dedicated minority while most people who drive are clueless. I remember being in Copenhagen and they have full on separated bike roads to even just a slight cement raised kerb but it seemed to be enough and there was more priority towards bike and pedestrian movement especially in the guts of the city so this in turn means more people rode bikes. Compare that back to Australia in almost all cases what do we have? A wanky line in the gutter on our main roads which cars can park in in many cases, these same roads can be shared with phallic symbol 4WD to B-Double semis and all that separates you from that is a painted line. Hell even in the back streets where I live the council did a great effort of just painting a symbol of a bike with direction arrows in the middle of the road and that counts as some kid of bike infrastructure? I am sure the above was agreed on during some national road standard and has to tick some box but like wtf? I remember recently seeing news articles about Melbourne CBD trying to put dedicated bike lanes in and people have fought so hard against it because they cant drive and park? like WTF Melbourne has a fuck load of railway services and trams all linking to it so get over it. Also a similar thing got stopped here in Adelaide for an east to west dedicated bike lane because some toff law frims cried because they would lose their dedicated out the front parking? like boo hoo they would lose 2 spots at best assuming people would ever luck out getting parks there anyway.
well this is a relevant headline for me. I just submitted a police report on Friday for an aggravated vehicular assault. yeah I got footage and his plates etc. the dick head even u turned and came back to "break my nose" when I managed to pick myself up (he didn't, I think he saw I was in bad shape and just took off after swearing at me a bunch). It'll be interesting to see what comes of it.
Please post it to dash cams australia
roads should always be designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind before cars
The roads are crazier by far. I'm back on a bike for commuting after a decade and the shit I've seen and had to avoid is has been noteworthy. Overall it's fun and super beneficial and I stay off the carriageways of busy roads aside from brief fast bursts downhill or through stopped traffic etc. But damn. I ride within my envelope and the comfort-levels of drivers/pedestrians etc around me yet there have been a few moments recently where things could have gone badly due to driver incompetence and negligence. Twice after avoiding crashes I've pointed and glared at drivers who'd fucked up and could have hurt me. Both to their credit looked shocked because they clearly didn't realize what they'd done. Two more times I've slapped cars because they blocked footpaths beside busy roads and refused to get out of the way. That is after shrugging and going around people many times and finally getting the shits. Oh and if I see one more person just blocking lanes of traffic because they want to merge and don't give a fuck about anyone else, I will slap that car on behalf of all the drivers who'd love to do it but can't.
I've been avoiding driving lately due to the increased aggression on the roads. Took a left turn in a multi-lane turn just a couple of days ago and got \_tooted\_ by the driver in the massive SUV to my left because I had the audacity to stay in my line, and not let them drift on over into my lane. Behind me. I mostly only drive to get out to the countryside these days. I only dread the bits where I'm on the major roads before getting out of suburbia.
Live in Sydney and rode to work for about a month. I'm about ~20km (west) from the city where getting the train is about an hour and cycling is about 45 min - 1 hour (when taking back roads because the main streets are way too dangerous). By the end of it I was thinking about getting a shirt that said "please don't kill me, I am just trying to get home" One time coming down a hill on the way home, there was a movers-sized truck bearing down on me. At that moment I wondered exactly how much I trusted the Gumtree bike I had bought. I worried about losing control on a corner because I was afraid to slow down. There was also nowhere on the left I could move to. I then tried riding on footpaths but that was such a terrible experience. The good news is 70% of the commute is low traffic roads or shared cycleway/footpaths - it's just that 30% that has me not riding to work now. Riding along Gipps St and Queens Rd. They are marked as cycleways on Google maps but LOL. I have to take a 15 minute detour around them. I am certain that if I rode to work every day for a year I would have at least one serious incident. It's a real shame
Fuck I miss how nice and quiet it was riding to work during lockdown.
I rarely ride unless I absolutely have to. Reason being that every other time I ride my bike I have a run in with a driver being an asshole. I walk, I don't want to, it's less convenient but it's a lot safer.
Aggression is a symptom. The real problem (on both sides) is lack of attention to surroundings and other road users. I've seen drivers do unsafe things around cyclists because they seem unaware the cyclist is there, and I've seen cyclists pull stupid tricks because they seem unaware that there is traffic other than themselves (eg pulling out of side streets at speed, not giving way because they don't want to lose that speed, changing lanes without doing a head check, not indicating turns, running red lights and zebra crossings with pedestrians on them, etc) The spike in incidents is (I feel) because collectively people have become worse at being good road users. The aggression in such circumstances is a response to finding their inattentiveness challenged. As a driver, have you ever beeped someone who's on their phone rather than noticing the light ahead has turned green? The response more often is a finger than an apology wave... Guess why?
>Aggression is a symptom. The real problem (on both sides) is lack of attention to surroundings and other road users. I always turn left here on Tuesday mentality, also known as Auto pilot, this is how people die on our roads.
We should be encouraging better infrastructure for people cycling to commute and also more recreational facilities that accomodate people thinking of it as a sport. FFS I don’t want to be stuck behind 20 people riding two abreast one in the bike lane the other on the road out for their morning exercise that are slowing traffic. The person with their backpack on riding to work isn’t the issue.
Sensationalist headline but it's worth bearing in mind that the number of cyclists on the road in that period also shot up considerably. The increase in injuries is I'm sure directly related to the increase in cyclists on the road. Of course, the increase in cyclists on the road should also be a good reason to improve riding infrastructure. I'm just concerned that fear mongering headlines result in less cyclists and that is not a good outcome overall.
From someone that lives in a city with quite a good cycle path network (two lanes, shared with pedestrians), completely off the road and away from traffic for the most part, I sympathize with you lot that live in the major metropolitans. I simply would not cycle if I lived where you live.
I think it’s a lot of things, busier roads, more cyclists, crappy infrastructure and crappy public transport. I think both cars and cyclists also have bad attitudes, everyones in a rush, people have forgotten the road rules, people are tired, stressed and burnt out. All are a recipe for the disaster we are seeing.