More cycling hate

[casual_cyclist]

If this is cyclist hate then geez I must hate cyclists a lot. Sure, it's a cliche/generalisation but such things tend to exist for a reason i.e. there is a certain level of accuracy to it when applied to the group (but not necessarily the individual).

If he had just started car commuting in Perth and pointed out that a group from a certain ethnic background, gender or socio-economic status were lousy drivers then the article would still be "a cliche/generalisation" and there would still be "certain level of accuracy to it when applied to the group (but not necessarily the individual)". However, in that case it would be considered racist, sexist or prejudiced. How come when he calls "Lycra bandits" "cycle path psychopaths" it is ok?

A badly behaved group of riders on a shared path are not a group of "psychopaths", they are just rude. Yes, I have had near hits with rude cyclists riding towards me in my lane. I have also had near hits with pedestrians not watching where they are going and with non-lycra clad path warriors on mountain bikes overtaking when it is not safe. Are they psychopaths too?

[casual_cyclist]

+1 to im_no_pro

Well put.

Cyclists seem to be generally misliked but what are we doing to improve the situation?

Riding to the conditions, watching out for pedestrians and other cyclists, being polite (good morning or good afternoon to peds), riding at a sensible speed, letting know other path users we are passing? I do all of this and so do the people I ride with.

So what are other shared path users doing? Stopping with their prams three abreast, taking up the whole path so that no one can pass, scowling at us when we overtake, crossing the path without looking, running at night in dark clothing with no lights, wandering all over the path like cattle - with music blasting so loud they can't hear the warnings of approaching cyclists and walking in groups blocking the entire path so that no one else can use the path. Yes, I have ridden off the path to get around these people. If I wrote an article about shared path users with prams, would that be funny too?

[VRE]

What really gets to me is that articles like these are considered newsworthy and fodder for discussions, but motorists routinely behave badly and break various laws all day every day, and it hardly gets a mention . Pretty silly, given they're driving 1-tonne vehicles with far more potential for damaging life and property.

[im_no_pro]

If this is cyclist hate then geez I must hate cyclists a lot. Sure, it's a cliche/generalisation but such things tend to exist for a reason i.e. there is a certain level of accuracy to it when applied to the group (but not necessarily the individual).

If he had just started car commuting in Perth and pointed out that a group from a certain ethnic background, gender or socio-economic status were lousy drivers then the article would still be "a cliche/generalisation" and there would still be "certain level of accuracy to it when applied to the group (but not necessarily the individual)". However, in that case it would be considered racist, sexist or prejudiced. How come when he calls "Lycra bandits" "cycle path psychopaths" it is ok?

I'm not a big fan of political correctness (or whatever term you wish to use for it) simply for the sake of appeasing others. The example you give reinforces my point, just because others don't like what he says doesn't make it any less accurate and/or valid as his opinion. There is a Stephen Fry quote I would love to past in here but unfortunately it has naughty words in so I cant (it's an image file). I might hunt it down later and post an edited text version.

edit: found it:

'It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that", as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. It has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I'm offended by that." Well, so <edited> what?'

[Xplora]

^^^ It does bear mentioning that we aren't allowed to denounce a religion, skin colour or ethnicity or sexual preference or gender, or discriminate against them, in public life, but it seems OK to single other vulnerable minorities for this treatment?

We are all equal, or we are not. Australia decided a while ago that we are equal, so it is reasonable that the major newspapers reflect that. If there is nothing to write about anymore, that is the price of egalitarianism

[Mike Ayling]

I beg to differ. I am regularly frightened out of my wits by speedsters screaming past; sometimes in the face of oncoming peds or bike traffic.

Please ring your bells guys. At least there's some warning.

Those blokes (we have blokes in Australia not "guys") don't usually have bells on their bikes!

Mike

it is not compulsory to adopt all Americanisms!

[g-boaf]

I beg to differ. I am regularly frightened out of my wits by speedsters screaming past; sometimes in the face of oncoming peds or bike traffic.

Please ring your bells guys. At least there's some warning.

Those blokes (we have blokes in Australia not "guys") don't usually have bells on their bikes!

Mike

it is not compulsory to adopt all Americanisms!

Forget about bells - we need to use train horns so that people can actually hear them. Bells are mostly useless in the iPod age.

Now, I'll leave you all to continue with your fun discussion..

[ILMB]

I beg to differ. I am regularly frightened out of my wits by speedsters screaming past; sometimes in the face of oncoming peds or bike traffic.

Please ring your bells guys. At least there's some warning.

Those blokes (we have blokes in Australia not "guys") don't usually have bells on their bikes!

Mike

it is not compulsory to adopt all Americanisms!

It's Seth Efrican

[jcjordan]

POBSOs?

Pedestrians on bicycle shaped objects

[ColinOldnCranky]

Frankly I don't know for certain what side of the fence the author sits - I am sure that he means some of it but I suspect that a lot is just having fun with popular sterotypes. Like many others here I see it as an attempt at humour (quite successfully) and a good deal of old fashioned Australian irreverence. Interspersed with a good deal of meat to digest.

If you did read this and got overly hot under the collar perhaps it is best go for a ride and get it out of the system. Make sure that you unzip the togs down to that well maintained gut though - gotta let all that heat and bile disipate.

[ColinOldnCranky]

The author isnt a psychopath. He is a freak who doesn't have the stones to grow up and learn to adApt to the culture on the path. You might have to accept that two abreast isn't unsafe and that it is normal. Pedestrians get out of the way? Yep. Because it is not just their path anymore than mine. A high traffic PSP is not the place for mindless amble, either by foot or bike. But the author thinks that his ignorance of cycle commuting is not the problem? We spent Years learning to drive... He thinks the same does not apply to the bike? He is part of the problem, not the solution. Intelligence, awareness and conside ration will solve the congestion crisis, childish ignorance of decades old jnfrastruxture does nothing except increase risk for those know how it works.

You suggest that the author needs to accept that realities of the path, "adapt tot he culture". Reasonable POV IMO.

But you also expect peds to not act like peds act. Walking SHOULD be a carefree thing and woe betide the day when it is not. Do you also feel that the "years learning to drive" should also apply to peds?

I would suggest that the idea of accepting the realities as you suggest is, in the case of peds being peds, absolute. Cycling on the other hand should always be about responsiblilty, alertness and a pre-ocupation about safety. And the faster you travel the greater the onus. At least on shared paths anyway.

Notwithstanding, I don't think the author expects to be taken too seriously. We shouldn't do so.

[Mike Ayling]

I beg to differ. I am regularly frightened out of my wits by speedsters screaming past; sometimes in the face of oncoming peds or bike traffic.

Please ring your bells guys. At least there's some warning.

Those blokes (we have blokes in Australia not "guys") don't usually have bells on their bikes!

Mike

it is not compulsory to adopt all Americanisms!

It's Seth Efrican

Not when I was growing up there.

Mike

[outnabike]

Please ring your bells guys. At least there's some warning.

Those blokes (we have blokes in Australia not "guys") don't usually have bells on their bikes!

Mike

it is not compulsory to adopt all Americanisms![/quote]