human909 wrote:im_no_pro wrote:It's the same old argument, the method of transport isnt the problem. The twit in control of it is. Twits own everything from cars, to motorbikes, to scooter, to, shock horror, bicycles.
And that message alone isn't good enough. The twits don't recognise themselves as twits and keep behaving the same dangerous way. It is as bad as the share the road message when gets interpreted to mean cyclists should hide in the gutter.
There is a problem here and it is about motorists not taking enough care around cyclists.
+1
My experiences cycling in Italy this year revealed to me a different approach to "share the road". In towns and cities there the number one expectation is that motor vehicle drivers, in any situation of doubt, will stop and give way to pedestrians and cyclists, regardless of whether the pedestrian or cyclist is doing "something stupid" or not. The reasons for this are pretty obvious. A good example of this was one-way streets - there are lots of these in Italian towns. We routinely rode (keeping right) the wrong way down any one-way street. They are one-way for cars, because they are too narrow for two-way car traffic, but a bicycle is a different proposition. Any Italians we spoke to about this said "But of course, on a bike this rule does not apply".
Australian drivers can't get beyond the 'just another vehicle' status, and in fact mostly don't even give
equivalent vehicle status to someone on a bicycle. They interpret "share the road" as
"get over, right next to that gutter so I can get past".
The "sharing" bit is mainly aimed at driver behaviour, and we need to advocate for cyclists and stress the change of behaviour needed. For sure cyclists need to obey the road rules as well, but "sharing" in the context of keeping far left and gutter-hugging is not part of this. Mostly cyclists share the road very well, too well in fact. The publicly derided 'peleton of lycra louts' is a fairly rare thing, and usually cyclists riding two-abreast in a group will be a much safer thing for the riders, and no harder to pass than any other car travelling slow. Drivers need a great deal of education about just what is safe road behaviour for cyclists, and what they require in motorist behaviour (in fact, what is legally reqired).
Some varying
viewpoints on this from the land of the red, white & blue - there are safety and practical issues where the road rules are more for motorists than for a person on a bike; but like I said, I advocate following the road rules on a bike.
Then there is
this analysis of road collisions (similar details have been given by Victoria Police I believe).
In six out of 10 crashes, the vehicle driver was crossing two or more traffic lanes while turning right.
Should we be criticising 'lycra louts' or demanding more from our motorists ??