7 July 2005

80 percent of cyclists dangerous lawbreakers

| bonfire
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Last night at approx 5.30PM I was motoring the stanley steamer home from a hard day at the coal mine, when i was stopped at a set of lights. My eyes were drawn to a recumbent cyclist who despite the ACT governments enormous spend on on-road cycle lanes, was crossing against the lights using the pedestrian crossing.

Moments later, another cyclist repeated the illegal act. At least the recumbent had a light on his bike.

I continued my journey and turned into another major road. As I did a cyclist crossed diagonally from one side to the other in front of me, then rode the wrong way. he had no lights. Fortunately I did.

On that same road I saw two other cyclists. One had lights, the other didnt.

Number of cyclists seen – 5
Number committing illegal acts – 4

Percentage of cyclists breaking law – 80%

Number of recumbent cyclist seen – 1
Number of recumbent cyclists committing illegal acts – 1

Percentage of recumbent cyclists breaking law – 100%

Clearly there needs to be some sort of draconian law enforcement campaign against these flagrant lawbreakers. Especially the recumbent cyclists who in my study are shown to break the law 100% of the time.

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2004 Australian road fatalities – Drivers – 772, Passengers – 361, Pedestrians – 223, Motorcyclists – 196, Bicyclists – 43
2004 ACT road fatalities – Drivers – 5, Passengers – 0, Pedestrians – 3, Motorcyclists – 2, Bicyclists – 0
Give me a bicycle anyday!

OpenYourMind8:30 am 13 Jul 05

Ok, this is old news, but I’ll still bite and leave a final comment.

Firstly, this concept of ‘dangerous lawbreakers’ is quite odd. I’m not denying that plenty of cyclists do break laws – just as almost all motorists break at least one law on any one trip. Don’t believe me, well just sit as a passenger with just about anyone. But, I can’t remember the last time a bicycle plowed through a childcare centre, ran up the back of another car killing all occupants etc. That’s the difference, cars are very good at killing lots of other people. I’m not saying that what some cyclists do isn’t lawbreaking, just that the end result is usually very different and that’s why attention needs to be paid to cars and even more so to trucks.

Your comments about cyclists sometimes being pedestrians and sometimes vehicles is equally uninformed. Firstly, when cyclists do this, they are breaking no laws. Secondly, the nature of cycling and of our cycling system is such that on any one trip, you can be on a footpath, cycleway and cycle lane. This is the case with my daily commute from Duffy to Belconnen. Sometimes, cyclists will switch to the footpath to cross at a set of lights – for a motorist this is a little annoying, but hardly a ‘dangerous’ crime on the same scale as a trucky popping no-doze all night.

These comments are all from the site that promotes a bicycle bar crawl -hmmmm.

As I’ve said before, check out the price of crude ($61), then do a web search on peak oil. You will soon see why you might be the next person cycling to work and putting up with crap comments like some of the ones posted here.

saw another lawbreaker this morning.

id love to know what the cops actually do about this high priority crimewave.

JB; Note the stonking costs of living…

we are stitched up by one of the Governments (Federal or Local) so many times a day that we’re just used to the pain.

Given the stonking public subsidy of public transport I’m bloody curious who is actually paying all these costs then.

Drivers, you discredit yourselves by buying into this ridiculous rant about road taxes, which is repeated ad nauseum despite being plain wrong.

It’s been shown in many studies that drivers, who are admittedly a majority of taxpayers (just as a majority of cyclists are drivers), are in fact SUBSIDISED by the minority of taxpayers who don’t drive.

Registration fees and insurance taxes cover neither the cost of building and maintaining roads, nor the massive economic externalities caused by private vehicle use – for example, pollution, accidents, the reduction of incidental exercise, and the health consequences of each of these problems.

Driving and cycling on roads are both privileges, and rule-breakers should be punished. But don’t kid yourselves about which causes more harm.

Vic Bitterman8:15 pm 07 Jul 05

Cyclists need to pay taxes (especially taxes that pay for our roads that those bludgers [ab]use) – the ATO should track them down and audit all of them.

I haven’t really bought into the cyclist debate before, but after what I witnessed the other day, I’m starting to think rather poorly of cyclists.

I was picking up my son at his childcare centre one evening. As I was about to enter the building I saw a father that had just picked up his kid. The kid was a toddler, probably under three. Dad had a bike. He proceeded to put the kid on the back of the bike in one of those kiddie seats that sits over the rear wheel and bolts on. The child did not appear to be restrained and did not have a helmet on. Dad then got on the bike and rode down the driveway and out into the street. It was getting dark and I don’t think he had lights either.

Hands up who thinks this is irresponsible behaviour?

People that ride their bikes through red lights choose to do it, and if they get hit then it’s their fault. That poor kiddie had no choice about being put in danger. All the guy had to do was have a minor stack and the kid is out on his head.

X

Typical ACT scenario – loudmouth minority group with the ‘what about us’ attitude, spineless politician’s who won’t speak up.

Lets face it we all ride bikes and I am sure all who ride bikes also drive, if bike riders want the same respect, they should be exposed to the same rules and costs, and there should be an emphasis to enforce them – no helmet should be a fine like no seatbelt $260, unroadworthy bike, don’t cross unbroken lines, yada yada yada

Bonfire, your results are obviously skewed and I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

You have manipulated the information gathered in the first survey on “percentage of cyclists breaking the law”. I put it to you that a more rigorously scientific mind would have led you to break up that survey into five separate surveys. If you had done this, you would have found that you have four surveys in which 100% of cyclists broke the law, and one survey where 100% of cyclists did not break the law. The fact that the results of the previous four support each other and that the last one somehow shows a major deviation proves that this last one is clearly an aberrant phenomenon (an ‘outrider’, in statistical terms) and should, in the interests of the scientific method, be discarded.

This leaves you with four separate studies, each as damning as the next. Add on the survey regarding recumbent cyclists and you have five. Five separate clinical studies, all with a 100% rate of lawbreaking. Not one of these studies, not one, offers any argument showing cyclists doing the right thing. Surely any responsible government would take these results as a sign of the times and do what clearly needs to be done. All cyclists are incapable of obeying the law. There is now a very strong case in favour of the total banning of cycles from Australian roads and footpaths.

Yawn.

It’s been a while since this “Cyclists suck” vent has been heard here, but it’s still all old news.

I’m going to be one of those ‘popel’ who say “get over it”.

I’ll jump on this band-wagon! I think the whole concept of ‘sharing the road’ sucks ass when we have to put up with this sort of shit!

Why should motorists have to ‘share the road’ when we are the ones paying for it? When was the last time a cyclist was slugged with registration to pay for the upkeep of the roads they ride on? And we as motorists have to share what we have payed for with a group of people who clearly have a deathwish?

Now there is going to be popel who will weigh in and say “it’s not all bike riders” or “it’s a few that give the rest a bad name”

My advise to these people is to get off the fence and be un-PC. Trust me, it feels good.

i forgot to add that none of these lawbreakers were kids riding a treadly, they appeared to be commuters on their way home. the idiot who crossed in front of me diagonally was pumping his legs for all they were worth, alas i think my 5.2 litre v8 is a little more energetic than his legs.

i had just put the boot in and saw him dart in front, braked and thanked the stars that noone was behind me or it would have been a rear ender.

I enjoy it when they ride slowly side by side in peak hour.
I also really like it when they are on the road and i can see a bike path next to us.

Police should breath-test ALL recumbent cyclists on sight.

Only a drunk would think riding one was a good idea.

Hunt them down and insert bamboo under their fingernails… bastards.

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