Thursday, January 15, 2015
Australia: Must not criticize cyclists
FAMILY Feud has enraged cyclists by asking competitors this question. "On the popular game show, host Grant Denyer asked competitors to name “something annoying that a cyclist might do?”.
This of course has enraged the cycling community who took to Twitter to voice their thoughts including comedian and cycling enthusiast Charlie Pickering.
The aim of the game is to select the most common response to each question, as voted on by an audience of 100.
Among the winning answers on the board was ‘Taking driving lane’, ‘cut you off’, ‘everything’ and ‘wear lycra’.
Australian Cycle Alliance president Edward Hore says he is shocked by the question.
“Seriously, the hatred against cyclists has to stop. We are all someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter,” reported veooz.
SOURCE
Cyclists can be very annoying -- and while they are, they will be disliked. If they stuck to cycle paths, there would be less hostility
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10 comments:
Australian Cycle Alliance president Edward Hore says he is shocked by the question.
Clueless !
Annoying? How about come up behind you while you are stopped and pass you and all the other stopped cars by going through the small open spaces.
Then once the light changes you and everyone else they passed now have to wait for a clean opportunity to pass the slow moving cyclist.
Now just for fun add on a fully separated bike path running parallel to the road you are on that the cyclist decided not to use, prefering to risk colliding with cars instead.
Oh yes, cyclists can be hyper annoying at times. Just like every other person on the road who makes several incredibly stupid decisions in a row.
"Seriously, the hatred against cyclists has to stop."
Really THIS is a problem? Everyone in this country is looking for offense these days. Its time we grow a set and suck it up!
I do not know Australian traffic laws but in the USA a bicycle has the same rights and privileges as any other vehicle. So "taking a lane" to be able to make a left turn is legal and utilizing a bike path (which for the most part are very poorly maintained; narrow; unleveled; and often full of pedestrians). For those of us who commute regularly a level maintained road is worth facing the 5% of motorists who are jerks to bicyclists. I am sure that there are 5% of bicyclists who are jerks as well and no one remembers the 95 bicyclists who were doing the right thing only the five who were not. Many commuting cyclists wear lycra to keep out of the chain and because we will have to shower when we reach our destination in any case. What always amazes me is that the motorist who only has to press pedals with a minimum of force to get their vehicle to do what they want take umbrage at the person using muscle power to move them and their vehicle. The extra several minutes a month required to be courteous to bicyclists is a small price to pay for them not using up part of the finite fuel source.
MDH
Man up and grow a pair.
No registration, no insurance, no right to use the road. A pedestrian is not tolerated on the road and neither should cyclists be. Any other activity as dangerous as cycling on roads would be outlawed by the nanny state.
MDH - A bicycle has the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as any other vehicle. You left off one very important word without which the other two are null and void.
I failed to stress enough in my initial reply though that while cyclists can indeed be annoying (hence the example I gave) they are really no different than anyone else on the road who is not following the rules of the road. Unsafe driving is annoying no matter what kind of vehicle the person is using.
Anon 2:52 and those 5% need to learn some proper manners or just stay home
ANON 2:21 AM - Current US law does not delineate responsibilities , you cannot be cited for being irresponsible, only for a legal infraction. I too was taught that each right came with a responsibility but that is a cultural issue not a legal one. The 5-10% of drivers of any type of vehicle who are jerks do not believe they have any responsibility to others they share the road with and there is very little the rest of us will ever be able to do about them except the satisfaction of being more responsible than they. Your reply shows that you understand that there is good with the bad but the general acrimony of the comments posted in effect lumping all cyclist together does not show responsibility on the part of most of the commenters.
ANON 5:48AM - In the USA cyclists do have a right to use the road even though they do not have to be registered and will be liable for any accident they cause so insurance is an item cyclists should have. Cyclists have lower injury rates per miles driven than comparable automobile statistics (i.e.: only in town vehicle miles).
MDH
Before I was 18, I had to use bicycles to get around. Nobody could complain if I "took a lane" because I'd normally react to the green and accelerate and ride faster than the boob behind me.
On many roads where I lived there weren't any bike lanes so footpaths and walking tracks were the go, but some councils stupidly (for fine revenue) prohibit this.
Sure many cyclists are idiots. Taking up entire lanes and going slower than traffic, riding 3 abreast etc.
But some drivers are just as dumb - too scared to overtake a bike that's as far left as he can go without crashing into the kerb, causing a long line of frustrated drivers behind. Some drivers deliberately glance riders with their mirrors because they might have had one bad experience with a cyclist aeons ago and therefore every cyclist deserves to be knocked down in their overinflated opinion.
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