Australian drivers the worst: Evans
The other issue is, how do Australian cyclists rate to their international counterpart?
I've seen some very poorly behaving cyclists on Sydney roads, giving a bad name to all cyclists. Question is, do you shout down your fellow cyclists who behave poorly?
I've seen some very poorly behaving cyclists on Sydney roads, giving a bad name to all cyclists. Question is, do you shout down your fellow cyclists who behave poorly?
The answer is yes!The other issue is, how do Australian cyclists rate to their international counterpart?
I've seen some very poorly behaving cyclists on Sydney roads, giving a bad name to all cyclists. Question is, do you shout down your fellow cyclists who behave poorly?
This is the only way to create behaviour change. If law breaking cyclists are called on their behaviour by fellow riders, it should make them think.
Last year I started to yell at cyclists who went thru red lights, when commuting to work. Nine times out of ten I would catch up with them, then I would give them a lecture, before leavign them behind.
Whenever you read the online forums on the newspapers on cyclists there are many anti cyclist comments. Some of these are hardliners who will never change (until they die out) but many always state how they are pissed off by cyclists who run red lights, but expect the cars to follow the rules including sharing the road with cyclists.
These are the car drivers we can influence to our side. But we have to do a Ghandi first(ie. lead by example)
Of course there are some circumstances we might go thru red lights. I can only thing of two ocassions. One is when a large bunch may decide it is safer to continue through changing lights rather than stopping mid flight and creating an accident. The other is for the very few lights where the sensors do not pick up the bike and no other car has triggered them to change (usually late at night or ealry in the morning on the odd light here and there). The Australia Road rules allows you to treat these lights as Stop Signs.
As for 99% of other circumstances, the law applies.
Interestingly enough, when riding on Beach Road in Melbourne, across 260kms, and probably passing 10,000 cyclists, I only saw one guy going through a red light. Even at 6.00am in the morning, with no cars around, I always noted that the roadies patiently waited for lights to change. Down there all roadies respect the law, and awareness was heighted after a pedestrian was run over a killed by a roadie who ran a red light about 2 years ago.
I agree with you.
As for those Melbourne riders, well, they've been taught a lesson over a traffic fatality not too long ago.
As for those Melbourne riders, well, they've been taught a lesson over a traffic fatality not too long ago.
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fenn_paddler
- Posts: 154
- Joined: 28 Mar 2007, 08:30
- Location: Petersham
Do you yell at cyclists that roll slowly through intersections with stop signs? I roll through these on my commute & generally don't feel too guilty about doing it.The answer is yes!
This is the only way to create behaviour change. If law breaking cyclists are called on their behaviour by fellow riders, it should make them think.
Last year I started to yell at cyclists who went thru red lights, when commuting to work. Nine times out of ten I would catch up with them, then I would give them a lecture, before leavign them behind.
Whenever you read the online forums on the newspapers on cyclists there are many anti cyclist comments. Some of these are hardliners who will never change (until they die out) but many always state how they are pissed off by cyclists who run red lights, but expect the cars to follow the rules including sharing the road with cyclists.
<snip>
Momentum is your friend when riding solo as it keeps you closer to the speed of vehicular traffic - I think it's safer to roll (slowly) than come to a complete stop, have to clip in again, change gears, and get elbowed to the edge of the road by passing cars with much more powerful acceleration.
Cheers,
Alan W
I think that Stop Signs are a grey area for cyclists.
I must admit, that I tend not to stop at them, but I do slow down a lot more compared to Give Way signs.
In my experience (which isn't much as I rarely drive, and I am not that old anyway), Stop Signs are at intersections which can be considered dangerous, either because of traffic, or lack of visibility. The idea is that they want the motorists to come to a complete stop and then ensure that it is safe to continue.
Off the top of my head, I think that the rules for Stop Signs are something along the lines of you must come to a complete stop on the white line, or no more than 1 meter before it. Then creep forward safely until you can determine when it is safe to continue.
On a bike, you are much closer to the front of the vehicle, so you can often see a lot clearer and further when on the white line, compared to a car.
I tend to approach them with the idea of not actually stopping, but at a pace slower enough that I can stop and unclip quickly if I have to.
In a situation like that (not that I am inclined to yell at cyclists otherwise), I would be more likely to abuse a cyclists if they behaved dangerously rather than they "failed to stop".
As an interesting exercise, find a Stop Sign somewhere, and watch how many motorists actually come to a complete stop before proceeding.
James
I must admit, that I tend not to stop at them, but I do slow down a lot more compared to Give Way signs.
In my experience (which isn't much as I rarely drive, and I am not that old anyway), Stop Signs are at intersections which can be considered dangerous, either because of traffic, or lack of visibility. The idea is that they want the motorists to come to a complete stop and then ensure that it is safe to continue.
Off the top of my head, I think that the rules for Stop Signs are something along the lines of you must come to a complete stop on the white line, or no more than 1 meter before it. Then creep forward safely until you can determine when it is safe to continue.
On a bike, you are much closer to the front of the vehicle, so you can often see a lot clearer and further when on the white line, compared to a car.
I tend to approach them with the idea of not actually stopping, but at a pace slower enough that I can stop and unclip quickly if I have to.
In a situation like that (not that I am inclined to yell at cyclists otherwise), I would be more likely to abuse a cyclists if they behaved dangerously rather than they "failed to stop".
As an interesting exercise, find a Stop Sign somewhere, and watch how many motorists actually come to a complete stop before proceeding.
James
I think there's a major difference b/n stop sign and red lights.
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