I’ve been a cyclist for 40-odd years. By and large, it is good, but if you want to move along at a reasonable speed, by crikey you’ve got to be careful.

Even in a flat town with wide roads and lots of off-road cycleways like Townsville, it is still dangerous. Much more so than driving. And trying to ride around Brisbane or Perth, other cities that I’m familiar with, is just fraught with risk.

We’ve had two deaths of middle-aged experienced cyclists here this year, and a number of injuries….and who knows how many near-misses.

Cycling should most definitely be promoted in this age of rising fuel prices and concerns about climate change. But there absolutely MUST be a major educational campaign as part of it, to impress on riders and drivers just what the risks are and how to minimise them.

And, something that Chris Rissel didn’t mention; there needs to be a vastly improved policing regime, to see that cyclists and drivers obey the law….instead of the absurd blind-eye policing that we have in Townsville, in regard to lightless cyclists at night and cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road….which can a be a real hazard for legitimate cyclists, especially at night when they’ve got no headlight…which is an amazingly common occurrence in this town!!

The greater problem lies with corporate greed.

It is known widely that several oil companies hold patents and manufacturing rights to engines of remarkable economy/kilowatt outputs i.e. consumption figures that astound. The larger electrical entitities likewise with electric motor technology. But when the last litre of crude oil is wrung from the bowels of the Earth, and sold at whatever $ figure - perhaps only then will the greedy and myopic see that it is all over for fossil fuel technology as we know it.

Then, and only then, will we see some real "progress" in the arena of alternate technolgies being applied for consumption by the masses.

Darwin is comparatively flat topographically speaking. It has though, one of the better bicycle path networks which were installed in the 1990's primarily along the old WWII rail alignments (Darwin to Palmerston).

Unfortunately DCC and DIPE here are reticent to maintain these pathways to such a point they are in parts more dangerous to navigate than the roadways alongside - placing cyclists at some peril.

The lemming like rush to outer suburban regions (Livingstone - Humpty Doo etc) and the population spreading wider has not been addressed by planners. The much vaunted upgrade to Tiger Brennan Drive does not even have a bicycle corridor included, just the same 20 - 30 yr old 1 metre wide ribbons of concrete and intermittent tar macadam chunks to bounce over at a startling 12 klms per hour average speed. So much for high speed bicycle path networks... Tree roots breaking the pavements, broken glass causing innumerable flat tyres, ruined rims and workers coming in late to their workplaces.

Yes...cycling is indupitably good for your physical health, but in Darwin the amount of abuse hurled by petrol heads has to be experienced to be believed.

The Traffic Act has to be amended to something like the road rules in Belgium and Denmark where cyclists have a greater 'Right of Way'. If not just for the good they contribute to the environment, but more the good they contribute to a healthier society in general.

Oh and before I log off and forget.....the bl@#dy palm fronds that infest each and every footpath and road shoulder - ad infinitum!

And for the fatties (you know who you are) and the not so fit there is also the option of power assisted (electric) bicycles which help with the grunt work. Unfortunately most state laws limit the motor output to around 200 watts to still be called a bicycle and avoid registration and licensing issues. This power limitation should be revised upwards to encourage the less able onto bicycle and tricycles as well. The electricity required to power these motors is a fraction of a car and running costs are even smaller.

Good comments from Ludwig. Cycling is not very healthy for cyclists.

As a grumpy old motorist, though, I find cyclists a pain in the neck. If they want to go through red lights, that’s their problem. What really annoys me are cyclists over 12 years of age (SA) other than those permitted to accompany their under-12 children, riding on footpaths when it is ILLEGAL. I am also irritated (and unnerved) by two-abreast riders with the outside rider wobbling over the line of a bike lane into traffic. I’m even more annoyed by clubs all over the road, thinking that it’s OK to impede motorists trying to pass if they are en masse.

I am very aware of cyclists, and do my level best to keep them safe. I wish they would do the same things for themselves – and me.
I am not against cycling or cyclists. I often have a yen to ride a bike myself, but being smeared across the bitumen is not the way I want to go; as things stand, cycling (on roads) is dangerous for both cyclists themselves and for motorists.

The measures suggested by the author will never be paid for by governments

I was impressed with the health benefits of cycling until I googled "cycling and impotence" and discovered a disturbing amount of info that regular cycling in extremely bad for you in the downtairs department. Maybe people should consider this before they rush to jump on a bike.