Cycling in Brisbane - Bicycle Dutch's Perspective

[Aushiker]

Many people use this perfect cycle route to get from some of the inner suburbs to the CBD for their work for instance. But if you are not so lucky and you live elsewhere without access to that route, cycling on the bigger streets of Brisbane is a very different experience. Cycle lanes can feel very unsafe with the higher speeds. Some of the separated cycle paths I saw were also not up to the world’s best practice. They were constantly interrupted by driveways and side streets and it was completely unclear who had the right of way at these points. This makes riding there very unpleasant and even dangerous. Wearing protective gear won’t do anything to improve your safety. It is the infrastructure that makes you safe. It is also infrastructure that makes cycling pleasant. I saw very good cycle paths, but especially the junctions leave a lot to be desired which makes the good infrastructure disconnected. With an increase of cycling of 7.5% per year in the last decade, the city really needs to improve some of the cycle routes. As my video also shows: the demand is there!

Full blog post at Bicycle Dutch

Andrew

[foo on patrol]

An interesting point of view Andrew!

Foo

[elantra]

Thanks for posting this Andrew, certainly is a thoughtful perspective from someone who knows a bit about the subject.

Part of the problem with advancing bicycle infrastructure here is that it develops in a haphazard fashion, and some of it is very poorly designed.
To ride a bike here, there is a very big learning curve on how to do it with an acceptable level of ease and safety.
Not like some other parts of the world, where you don't need to be vastly experienced to get from A to B safely.

Dodgy as the "bicycle infrastructure" sometimes is, the bigger problem for cyclists here can be the motorist, who sometimes have the delusion that they own the road, and that the normal laws of physics and responsible behaviour do not to them apply.

Personally i have been riding bikes in brisbane since before bikepaths existed, so i do not regard them to be a core importance to the activity of cycling.
Of course they can be useful, but i have been disappointed in their standard here too many times to have much faith in them generally.

I was hoping that the City-Cycle scheme would do something for brisbane but it was introduced without enough preparation of infrastructure and without the necessary mitigation of the mandatory helmet laws.

[beanspropulsion]

What is this "exemption letter"???

Is the dude a Dutch Seik?

Medical exemption? Cool doc I can't wear that sweaty thing in summer it boils my brain......