Corridors Of Pedal Power Put Our Lives In Danger

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday November 25, 2008

While sympathy for cyclists who get "doored" is valid, it evaporates quickly when you see hundreds of cyclists every morning at the Pyrmont fish markets intersection running the red lights, lane-weaving, queue-jumping and demanding cars treat them like royalty, and becoming abusive and even violent when they do not ("Bike accidents open door to paths", November 24).

The fact that there is no speed limit for cyclists is academic - the police refuse to enforce the road rules for cyclists anyway. Legislate what you will; they consider themselves immune to prosecution, and in effect they are.

The hapless, law-abiding motorists who collide with these red-light runners are always presumed to be at fault. Many serious cyclists do obey the rules, but it's time that the ratbags were pulled into line.

Did I say the words "fined" or "revenue"? That should get the State Government's attention.

Grant Higgins Stanmore

In my experience there is almost no public awareness of how dangerous cyclists can be for pedestrians.

In May my wife was walking in the grounds of Sydney University when a cyclist ran into her. She smashed her head on the road, suffering multiple skull fractures and brain injuries, and breaking both collarbones.

I have lost count of the number of times people, on being told of her injuries, look at me disbelievingly, often literally uttering the words: "Just from a bike?" Clearly they do not think of how easy it is to be killed or seriously injured by striking one's head on concrete.

I have since become acutely aware of the number of cyclists sharing the footpath with pedestrians. Often they are speeding, weaving in and around pedestrians, and coming up behind them without using their bell (too weak in any case) or horn.

If councils are planning to build thoroughways in which cyclists and pedestrians are expected to share the space, this is grossly ignorant and irresponsible.

Drivers are legally required to take out third-party insurance, but cyclists are not. Why?

Lynden Barber Paddington

Cyclists will not be safe on the City of Sydney council's proposed cycleways wherever the divider between parked cars and the cycleway is less than a car door width.

In Bourke Street, Surry Hills, it is to be 40 centimetres, less than half an open door width, which means cyclists can be car-doored on the cycleway.

As the cycleway is to be bidirectional and very narrow, cyclists from either direction can be affected.

As the shoulder lanes will have to be removed from Bourke Street to squeeze in the cycleway, any cyclists riding on the street will not even have the buffer of shoulder lanes - nor will people getting out of their car on the driver's side.

Guy Ollivier Surry Hills

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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