Judging from comments in respect of various mainstream media stories concerning incidents where cyclists come off second best after altercations with powered vehicles, it appears impossible to have any semblance of intelligent debate between cyclists and motorists. Both sides clearly have an unbridled hatred for the other & as such they are not prepared to even listen to the other side, let alone take on board any viewpoint other than those of their own mob. For example, personally I have an opinion on how safety could be markedly improved in certain situations, however the very millisecond I identify what 'side' I'm on, there is a frantic screaming from the other 'side' that suggests I'm intent on mincing their first-born and feeding the bits to the fish. How then can the opponents (for such they clearly are) be kept from each others throats long enough to allow relevant issues to be aired in a halfway civilized manner ?? For what its worth, I spent hours yesterday on the phone with a range of stakeholders & it was quite obvious none of them was aware of certain significant issues. Clearly the debate needs to include 'ordinary' folk and not just 'experts'

The simple solution is for cyclists to contribute to a fund, to build a cycling only track.

After all, don't motorists do exatly that?

rehctub

This is my second attempt to post such a thread. First time the moderators claimed it was insensitive, maybe they have the odd lycra warrior in their ranks ?? I wouldn't necessarily ban bicycles from the roads completely although registration should have been mandated years ago. If motorists must be identifiable, then why not all road users ??

For what its worth, the issue that prompted me to start this discussion was a proposal by a couple of elected muppets in Queensland to mandate a metre exclusion zone between bikes & other road conveyances. That in turn was initiated by an incident where a cyclist got into a big trucks blind spot & didn't exactly come off best. Truckie got charged with manslaughter, jury acquitted him. Cyclists are demanding truckie be convicted & jailed.

There is a bit more to the story, firstly the road, like many around Brisbane isn't suitable for deadly-treadlies, driver training protocols are woefully inadequate with no heavy vehicle awareness whatever. I'm not aware if the cyclist actually had a car licence although his age suggests he would probably have had.

Every single one of multiple media reports crapping on about altercations betwixt bicycle & car / truck / whatever invariably descends into hysterical screaming matches within five posts. Seems the extent of the hatred between lycra warriors and everyone else is such that halfway intelligent debate is impossible. Interestingly, while the vast majority of differences relate to roads as such, there is a current Brisbane Times story in which a contributor has an apparently well founded gripe about careless / aggressive 'Tour de France' types terrorizing pedestrians on a shared path. I'm waiting with bated breath to see what responses come from the lycra fraternity.

rehctub,

Are you claiming that cyclists don't pay taxes towards the construction and maintenance of roads?

Why shouldn't motorists contribute to cycle-ways?

I agree, Poirot, but must disclose that I'm a cyclist. I also have a car, as my cycling is a leisure activity more often than a means of commuting, and it's challenging to carry groceries or mountains of student work home on a bike.

Vehicle registration doesn't pay for roads - it pays for administration costs and insurance. All taxpayers, road users or not, pay for roads. Whether cyclists should be on those roads or not is another question. A further question is whether or not cyclists should be required to have insurance. As a member of Bicycle Queensland, I am insured, but that's not compulsory.

When all is said and done, however, I have very few problems with motorists. The only near-altercation I've had was with a drunk driver who disappeared as soon as he could after failing to give way and giving me a little bit of a bump. I work on the principle (and I think all cyclists would be wise to work on this principle) that I can't litigate if I'm dead. Cars can do more damage to me than I can to them, so I take steps to preserve my life. I give way to cars until I know they have seen me (whether they have right of way or not); I ride in the bike lane whenever there is one and I avoid high-speed roads without bike lanes. Those bike lanes, however, are another matter altogether. Townsville has a wonderful network of bike lanes when viewed on a map, but the reality is that they are rarely anything more than shoulders - some gravel - with little bikes painted in them at regular intervals, often obscured by the parked cars. A few circuits of this town, though, and it's easy to find a route that provides sufficient exercise and pleasure, is safe for the cyclist and of minimal (or no) disruption to traffic. Is it really that hard?

Sorry Otokonoko, & Poirot you are talking rubbish here.

Less than 20% of fuel tax goes to the road funding, for which it was introduced. A very large chunk of health care & education is paid for by the motorist in fuel tax & excise, & now even GST on top of that.

You may recall this was called road tax previously, & was introduced to fund the roads motorists wanted. Very soon of course governments had their stick fingers into it, throwing it all over the place.

It got so bad of course, not only did motorists have to fund everything, governments reneged on the deal, & started toll roads, so motorists had to pay twice.

My barber lives over her shop on the outskirts of a shopping center, in a mixed residential/business area, right near a 1600 student high school. They deleted 6 car parking spaces, in front of her shop & replaced them with 2 parking spaces & a bike lane over 12 months ago.

The bike lane is so little used that she has only ever seen 5 bikes pass her shop, this is reinforced by the fact that there are only 30 bike racks at the school, & never are all full. It is this ridiculous waste of money & road space that get the motorists against bikes.

Bikes & any other unregistered item should be banned from all roads. We are not, & don't want to be Copenhagen.

Now if motorists were issued with free bull bars, & given a discount off their registration for every bike they eliminate, we could all have a bit of fun.