"Canberra News, Views and Opinion"
…Sadly, the answer is an unsurprising ‘no’.
Walking down the celebrations along the lake on the NLA side, I came across this sign:
But I was perplexed by what I saw, surely that would mean that people would be dismounting due to an event where there are crowds of people and small children around? Surely cyclists would do the right thing and follow the direction instead of what I saw, a select group of people being selfish and ploughing through the crowd in a “me first” attitude.
Perhaps there’s a misunderstanding here, maybe the hapless fools who organised the event have only placed the sign on one end of the stretch and people have just not seen it?
No, that’s not it. They’re just self absorbed jerks.
So I took it upon myself to both observe and gently remind a few people that the sign there was not a suggestion like riding through red lights or riding full speed in family areas. What did I see? Most of the casual rider groups upon seeing the sign would dismount and do the right thing. The majority of those wearing the spandex getups would see the signs but that is about it, they’d just continue riding through the crowd. I even went to the effort of doing a “oi!” whilst pointing at the sign, all I got were fingers or just a look and peddling off into the crowds.
Strangely I didn’t see any cars driving through showing the same level disrespect.
I took a few photos before I got tired of seeing it over and over. This is exactly why people get pissed at cyclists (I also overheard a comment regarding it from a random passer by). Its a direction for the safety of everyone, not just a suggestion that you can power peddle through. There were young children and decent sized crowds. If anyone there was riding through the crowds, lets hear the justification for it, the signs were up and all around so that isn’t an excuse. A lot of people were dismounting, why weren’t you?
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Thank goodness, Dilandach, that you were there to enforce the rules and to keep a record of this.
So, from your own writeup with the question “Given a chance will cyclists do the right thing?”, and then “Most of the casual rider groups upon seeing the sign would dismount and do the right thing.” and then “The majority of those wearing the spandex getups… just continue(d) riding through the crowd.” which I assume means that at least a minority also dismounted, we can say that in fact …the answer is an unsurprising ‘yes’, but there are dickheads among them. Colour me surprised.
I’m one of the Spandex Brigade (Lycra is the correct term by the way) and after walking around all day yesterday with my wife, two kids and a stroller I had no issue with the many cyclists that were at the event. The pictures you posted show no unsafe conduct and as long as they were travelling at, or near, pedestrian speed then why the issue? I witnessed plenty of cycling cops ride through the exact same area – did you have a quiet word to them?
Far more disturbing than the deliberately heinous acts committed by these cyclists and the first thing that came to mind was:
Didn’t you have anything better to do?
ABC129 said :
Jerk detected.
The obvious reason for cars not showing disrespect is that the road was closed.
What I see in these pictures is a clear lane that is safe for cyclists to ride down, with the pedestrians keeping to the other side of the bollards.
The only thing more annoying that pointless requests to dismount is people who insist that the rules are to be obeyed as if they were the word of God. In this instance the sign is clearly reminding cyclists that there are many pedestrians around. When the path is full of people, it makes sense to dismount since riding at a slow strolling pace is a little awkward. When the path is not full of people, why dismount?
Cyclists share the usual paths quite happily when pedestrian are around (well, with the usual argy-bargy about whether pedestrians or cyclists are supposed to give way to the other, since the appropriate legislation seems self-contradictory), the example here is just the usual case of sharing with the usual case of nit-picker gone wild.
In the end, it comes down to what authority you place in a sign erected by event organisers. Is it the word of God, or simply a poorly presented request for civil behaviour and cooperation in sharing the path between wheel and foot powered pedestrians?
A clue on where I stand in that argument: the sign is missing the word “please”.
Was anyone hurt you f***ing idiot?!
ABC129 said :
So if the cops do it, everyone else can? Doesn’t work like that. The signs were up for a reason but there were those that clearly thought it didn’t apply to them.
Far more disturbing than the deliberately heinous acts committed by these cyclists and the first thing that came to mind was:
Didn’t you have anything better to do?
I had a spare bit of time during a lunch break, always amusing to see the justification for not doing the right thing. So why did they have “Event in Progress Cyclists Dismount” signs up? Were they just novel artworks? Did the words ‘except if you’re a cyclist’ fall off the signs? no? Didn’t think so.
Dilandach said :
I had a spare bit of time during a lunch break, always amusing to see the justification for not doing the right thing. So why did they have “Event in Progress Cyclists Dismount” signs up? Were they just novel artworks? Did the words ‘except if you’re a cyclist’ fall off the signs? no? Didn’t think so.
I dare say the cops not dismoutning would reach a similar arguement to that of which police may park their cars wherever the hell they want. Do you expect the bike mounted police to run after a crook whilst pushing their bike. And if a sign asks that cyclists dismount, then thats what it means, not ‘dismount only if you intend on speeding’…
Typical one eyed lycra wearing comment.
The horror! Im surprised hundreds were not killed!
fromthecapital said :
There were plenty of kids around and the crowds were reasonably large, its a simple request. Dismount. What honestly is so hard about it? Obviously there are people that are too selfish to think of others but only their own perceived inconvenience.
So far the answer from cyclist seem to be “The rules don’t apply to us so [insert insult of your choice here]. Your just oppressing our rights and being mean to us.” and other general lame whinges that they come up with.
And then they wonder why it is that cyclist get flak from the general public.
The sign is there for the saftey of the general public. It isn’t an attack on cyclist. There was a kids activity underway near these signs with little kids running around.
But from previous comments on other threads, it seems that the idea is kids should be tied upso they don’t get in the way of the holey cyclists of Canberra.
Maybe if you actually obeyed the rules once and a while others would understand the occasional slip up.
Once I saw someone crossing the road when THERE WAS A RED MAN ON THE SIGN SAYING DON’T CROSS!
I tried to make a citizens arrest, but the man ran away. I think he must have been on drugs to be taking crazy risks like that.
Society is going to the dogs … it’s like we’re all just barbarians now.
Kewl, tomorrow I am going to sit out on Norhtbourne Ave and photograph a community demographic doing the “wrong” thing.
But I will actually use a law, not an advisory.
I reckon watching the cars run the red light at London Cct will do, or will it be the Asian students who run across in front of the cars in Alinga Street?
No, no even better, I will get the people who drive through the bus interchange blindly following their GPS and ignoring the signs. Yep that will be the one………
But then again, maybe not, I have better things to do with my time.
Grow up Dilandach.
Jim Jones said :
Except that is only down to his actions only affecting him personally.
I ask again, the sign said ‘dismount’ it was there for a reason. What was so hard about it?
Or are there more attempted insults in the works?
Dilandach said :
I totally concur.
Wont people please think of the children!?
The chidren in your photos seem to be paralysed by terror!
Good to see the “I was ignoring the sign but it’s safe ‘cos I’m competent and attentive” line getting dusted off. Haven’t heard that one since the last speeding thread.
One of the big problems with these signs is that there is never another sign at the end of the area telling cyclists when they can remount – are they supposed to just walk their bicycle for the rest of the day, or can they just remount when they feel like it?
And surely the requirement to dismount wouldn’t apply to the road – see the 4th pic above (unless of course it was closed to traffic at the time) – otherwise everyone in driving a car there should have to dismount as well!
Going through that area yesterday the majority of cyclists either left their bikes outside the area or progressed on foot, a few did ride when they should have dismounted.
So to answer the question, YES, most cyclist will “do the right thing” and be courteous and safe with consideration to other path users.
They also said not to park illegally and not take dogs, but I didn’t think it worthy of taking photos…
fromthecapital said :
I would be if I was a small child hit by a Armstrong wannabe trying to get a new PB weaving through the crowd. Their fault still right? Sign should have said “Give way to all cyclists” must have had a dyslexic guy pick the signs that day.
…or they just put up the sign for fun. Oh Canberra, you’re so kooky like that.
Dilandach said :
I think you’re being far too mild on the filthy criminal jaywalkers and their animal ilk. The red man is there for a reason. Imagine the psychological terror for any poor motorist who may inadvertently hit him. Sometimes there are children watching, and they will learn this disgusting criminal behaviour.
I’ve watched them, and most blatantly ignore the rules. Pedestrians are all lawless bounders, with no consideration for anyone but themselves.
They should be registered so that we know who these people are and take action against them.
KB1971 said :
Like the parking photos? Or the many stories on drivers doing the “wrong” thing when it comes to cyclists?
…somehow bringing attention to cyclists doing the wrong thing when it comes to pedestrians is just awful! Those poor illiterate cyclists.
It was a direction, one that a lot simply ignored. Now why was that? It was clear why they were there.
‘kewl’? I thought that went out in the 90s zerocool.
Jim Jones said :
Such an epic strawman that was constructed there.
Let’s just stick with what was done here, the signs were there and said ‘dismount’. What was hard about it?
Walked the full circuit over the day & saw hundreds of cyclists, none of them were “being selfish and ploughing through the crowd in a “me first” attitude” – they were just making thier own lives difficult trying to weave through the crowds….
Dilandach said :
You know why its attracts this sort of attention?
Beacues they are not alone. When it comes to stuff like this there is always a part of the COMMUNITY that ignores a direction.
As Helium said, there were people illegally parking all over the place and had dogs (one came up to my 2 year old and scared him as he didnt expect it). Are you taking photos of them & posting them all ove the net on your sopbox? No.
There are no police reports of any incidents, my experience with all the riders were positive (I was on the north side of the lake), there was no issue.
Kewl.
This is a good discussion, because it opens the door to questioning our laws. Some other discussions here descend to “but that’s the law”.
Is a sign like that even legal in the ACT?
It is quite legal for a cyclist to ride on a footpath in the ACT (though not in NSW where such a sign would not contradict any existing legislation).
I just got here. What did I miss?
KB1971 said :
KB1971 said :
So I can expect the same vigor the next time a cyclist vs car, car vs cyclist, pedestrian vs cyclist, cyclist vs pedestrian, car parking wrong, car speeding, car cutting off cyclist, story comes up?
“Everyone else is doing stuff” doesn’t seem to wash for drivers, why are cyclists in this situation much different?
tuco said :
Nothing
Dilandach said :
Too true.. I see you despise this cult almost as much as me.
I hear the tactic to knock down small children is used to abduct them and then indoctrinate them. I havent completed my investigation yet however I have found they then gather in large numbers to watch a broadcast of their idols, the ‘cardinals in lycra’ the broadcast comes from France and they all give up sleep to watch said broadcast. Apparently their new leader isnt Lance Armstrong but someone named Cadel Evans. Who could trust someone with a name like that?
Would you like to join my taskforce to expose and eradicate this cult? We could use someone with your passion…