Harold Scruby basically hates anything with wheels. He is head of what appears to be a one-man-band organisation called the Pedestrian Council.
Cyclists ride on wild side
JORDAN BAKER
The Sunday Telegraph
December 16, 2012 12:00AM
CYCLISTS are clocking speeds of up to 47km/h on paths shared with pedestrians, and walkers are terrified.
Licensed speed gun operator Ray Rooke measured cyclists' speed leaving the city on the Anzac Bridge shared path at peak hour for The Sunday Telegraph.
Most were travelling between 30km/h and 40km/h, but more than a dozen clocked more than 40km/h and the fastest flew past at 47km/h.
Pedestrians said they were intimidated by the cyclists' speed.
"They are travelling far too fast. They come too close. It can be frightening. If you wander off-course," Theresa, who did not want to give her surname, said. "They need to be more considerate."
Shared paths are springing up across the city and cyclists are supposed to ride carefully and give way to pedestrians, but often they do not.
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There are similar problems on Pyrmont Bridge, the Gladesville Bridge and the Westlink M7. In Centennial Park, plans to introduce speed bumps were protested by hundreds of cyclists.
Harold Scruby from the Pedestrian Council said there are no speed limits for cyclists, no registration plate to identify them and no third party insurance to protect victims.
Mr Scruby, who organised the speed detector test, said shared paths should have a limit of 10km/h, and there should be an insurance system to look after anyone who's injured.
"If someone had been hit by a cyclist doing 47km/h, they could be dead or seriously injured," he said. "Politicians are too nervous about upsetting the cycling lobby to do anything about it.
"In Europe, cyclists sit upright, dress in normal clothing and ride slowly. In Australia, it's Tour de France speed and it's in lycra. It's a high-speed transport mode that has no place on the footpath."
A NSW Transport spokesman said the government was investigating the safety of shared bike paths and the draft NSW Road Safety Strategy, pledged to improve it.