Cycling safety rants, campaigns and petitions have dominated my social media feeds of late… except for Tumblr, of course, which is still cat memes and super high-res photos of bafflingly lean pros.
As cyclists are usually friends with a massive number of other cyclists via social media, these posts always seem to gather an enormous number of ‘Likes’. Which, somehow, seems to make these posts true and right historical fact.
Yes, there are a lot of car drivers who don’t treat cyclists very well, but what Facebook ‘Likes’ don’t tell you is that there are a lot of cyclists doing really dumb stuff.
I’m talking running red lights, weaving through traffic, drafting trucks, going over the speed limit, taking up multiple lanes, crossing into oncoming traffic and all the other stuff. Where is the ‘Dislike’ button when you need it.
Cyclists cry out for motorists to “share the road”, but is that really what they want?
It seems that cyclists want the law to protect them by making cars give way to them by law and for any motorist that hits them to be given life without parole.
Yet the cry from cyclists for other cyclists (or themselves) to follow existing road rules isn’t garnering the same number of ‘Likes’.
A few weeks ago I saw a Facebook status from a guy whose friend was in hospital after being hit by a car on his bicycle. Essentially it said, “John is doing well in hospital, we talked to his friend, a local politician, about cyclist safety initiatives”.
Later that day I was commuting home and this individual rode up next to me. We were chatting away when we got to an intersection, we were on the path and the crossing signal was flashing red.
I stopped but the other rider jumped across, the crossing signal went red when he was about halfway across several lanes of traffic, the traffic lights went green and one car almost ran into him.
I pointed out his risky behaviour via a comment on his earlier Facebook status – actually I did it immediately, as it really made me mad.
This guys response was A) “What I did was fine”, and B) to de-friend me, preventing any further comments.
Should I have just given him an unconditional ‘Like’ because publicly dissenting with someone’s opinion ended in 2005?
This guy is essentially saying that he wants action to be taken to reduce risks when cycling, but he isn’t going to take any action personally to reduce those risks. In fact, he’s engaging in behaviour which increases the risk of incident.
To me this is fairly typical of many cyclists when it come to the road safety debate. They want laws to protect them, but if the current road rules are going to interfere with a Strava PB then too bad.
I agree that some government initiatives to educate motorists would be helpful, but the road cycling community has to understand that they are equally responsible for fostering a positive and respectful relationship with motorists.
In the modern age you can find any number of people to validate your opinions, views or attitudes.
But we need to have a real discussion about road safety – and we all, regardless of our chosen vehicle, need to be prepared to change.
Fancy a wager on your favourite sport? Head on over to PlayUp for great odds and friendly customer service and pick a winner. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Australia's Jai Hindley has said he is "lost for words" after a shock stage victory at the Tour de France earned him the leader's…
Australia's Jai Hindley has said he is "lost for words" after a shock stage victory at the Tour de France earned him the leader's…
Tadej Pogacar has won a drama-packed Tour of Flanders, winning in a breakaway with Matieu van der Poel second, Mads Pedersen third and Wout…
Women are not allowed to compete in the Tour de France. However you choose to re-read that sentence, the fact remains: the most famous…
The jam-packed month-by-month quiz full of 2022 sports trivia!
Australian Grace Brown has won silver in the women's time trial, the first event at the world road cycling championships.
