Advocacy & Safety - Australians drive cyclist star Cadel Evans to despair - article

Article describing how Cadel Evans feels about Australian motorists.

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* Cadel reckons Aussie drivers are hopeless
* "Worst in the world"
* "Complete road hogs, no respect for cyclists"

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Includes the obligatory ignorant readers comments.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24788969-421,00.html

This was a good comment:


Comment 616 - "the roads is for cars! bike paths are for bikes, why mix the two?" - OK, so, show me the bike paths through all the mountain passages - I once heard a figure by a geologist of 20 tonne per head per year was the amount of material that goes into making roads for Australian motorists. That's a lot of road material. Perhaps we should slice that in half and dedicate it to bike paths - perhaps, because motorists in this country cannot share, we divvy up the roads with barricades - reduce all 2-lane roads to 1 lane for cars and 1 lane for bikes. There. Now we can equitably apply your principle. Should work a treat, huh?

Work a treat-Those Aussies talk funny.

Gee, is Cadel just discovering what most cyclists already know?

So how about if a few of these high profile cyclists confront government with this issue?

How about if a few of these high profile cyclists make some PSAs on sharing the road?

I spent a few weeks in Australia, and only rented a car in the Sydney area. Coming from the United States I was pretty nervous about having to negotiate urban traffic, while learning how to drive on the left side of the road. What blew me away was how courteous Australian drivers were. If I were changing lanes, and signaled, drivers in the lane I was headed into would slow to leave a gap and let me in. That would never happen in eastern Massachusetts.

Maybe they're just hard on cyclists.

Speedo

I spent a few weeks in Australia, and only rented a car in the Sydney area. Coming from the United States I was pretty nervous about having to negotiate urban traffic, while learning how to drive on the left side of the road. What blew me away was how courteous Australian drivers were. If I were changing lanes, and signaled, drivers in the lane I was headed into would slow to leave a gap and let me in. That would never happen in eastern Massachusetts.

Maybe they're just hard on cyclists.

Speedo

You're still here to tell us about it probably because you were in a car and not on a bike.

Aussie drivers are reasonably courteous (depending on city/suburb/time) but they do not have the road craft skills that many other nations have because driver training is so bad.

There is no 'Drivers Ed' in highschool and the minimum requirements to get a 'learners permit' and then pass the driving test to get a 'probationary licence' are pretty slim.

The only thing that really improved my driving (I'm an Aussie) is my cycling and also my Heavy Vehicle (ie truck/bus) licence. Heavy vehicles force you to think so much further ahead because of poor braking, handling and accelerating.

i think if anyone needs an attitude adjustment it is the cyclist. remember - you pay no tax, greenslip, insurance and the multitude of state government tax rip offs whilst car owns pay for the roads you like to ride upon. show some respect and courtesy.

This comment amuses me, but not in a good way. I guess some Australians are just as confused about cyclists paying road tax as some in the US are. We most certainly pay taxes that support roads and most all other public conveniences for motor vehicles. A large portion of the property, sales, and state and federal incomes taxes I pay are spent on roads and motor vehicle-related projects - most of them not benefitting anything to do with bikes (like freeways, road striping, signs, cleaning, maintenance, etc.). I am sure its this way in Australia too. The only way a cyclist can be considered to be a "non-paying guest" on public roads is if that cyclists doesn't own property, a car, doesn't buy food, material things or services, and doesn't smoke or drink, and doesn't use electricity, gas or water. All of these things are taxed and all of us pay those taxes. This reader is shoveling a bunch of horses*** and needs to wake up to reality. Bah!

i think if anyone needs an attitude adjustment it is the cyclist. remember - you pay no tax, greenslip, insurance and the multitude of state government tax rip offs whilst car owns pay for the roads you like to ride upon. show some respect and courtesy.

This comment amuses me, but not in a good way. I guess some Australians are just as confused about cyclists paying road tax as some in the US are. We most certainly pay taxes that support roads and most all other public conveniences for motor vehicles. A large portion of the property, sales, and state and federal incomes taxes I pay are spent on roads and motor vehicle-related projects - most of them not benefitting anything to do with bikes (like freeways, road striping, signs, cleaning, maintenance, etc.). I am sure its this way in Australia too. The only way a cyclist can be considered to be a "non-paying guest" on public roads is if that cyclists doesn't own property, a car, doesn't buy food, material things or services, and doesn't smoke or drink, and doesn't use electricity, gas or water. All of these things are taxed and all of us pay those taxes. This reader is shoveling a bunch of horses*** and needs to wake up to reality. Bah!

There's no use trying to rationalize it, the fact is that the average Aussie motorist is a friggin moron with zero regard for anyone but themselves. It's ingrained in out culture.

If you were to take every single cyclist and make them pay the same amount of registration and insurance as the average car, make them go through the exact same licensing process as a driver, then guess what - the cagers around here will still treat cyclists in exactly the same way, nothing will change. They will always justify their selfish dangerous antisocial attitudes, and nothing will change.

There's no use trying to rationalize it, the fact is that the average Aussie motorist is a friggin moron with zero regard for anyone but themselves. It's ingrained in out culture.

If you were to take every single cyclist and make them pay the same amount of registration and insurance as the average car, make them go through the exact same licensing process as a driver, then guess what - the cagers around here will still treat cyclists in exactly the same way, nothing will change. They will always justify their selfish dangerous antisocial attitudes, and nothing will change.

Yeah, here too, but we have a slightly different twist on it. My experience here is that the average Utah driver is usually in a self-absorbed fog, completely oblivious to anything outside of their sealed up econobox or SUV. We get a more passive-aggressive approach, with pseudo-stupidity thrown in; "I didn't see him," or, "They weren't being careful." When something horrible happens to a cyclist you usually hear the driver talking about how bad they feel - and not one shred of empathy for the injured (or dead) cyclist. Its bad.

In any country, the automobile reduces the intelligence and humanity of it's user. The only fix will be in coercive legislation made necessary by environmental or geopolitical disaster--we'll only wise up when prodded sufficiently by Al Quaeda or undeniable proof of catastrophic climate change.

The amount of hate in those comments is astonishing...really, it seems they all think cyclists exist solely to torment car drivers.

I like the comments stating that cyclists are holding them up....really? I ride in the DC area (and I am pretty sure this holds true for most urban areas) and during rush hour it is usually me being held up (that is, if I decide to ride safely and not zip looooong lines of cars). It seems car drivers severly underestimate the speed any decent cyclist can crank out :p

The amount of hate in those comments is astonishing...really, it seems they all think cyclists exist solely to torment car drivers.

I like the comments stating that cyclists are holding them up....really? I ride in the DC area (and I am pretty sure this holds true for most urban areas) and during rush hour it is usually me being held up (that is, if I decide to ride safely and not zip looooong lines of cars). It seems car drivers severly underestimate the speed any decent cyclist can crank out :p

Race after race in cities like London and New York have shown that the bicycle is the fast vehicle of choice...

Here is one of my favorite races.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkOzNK4l8KY