The Real Problem With Cyclists

I’ll start by saying not all cyclists are bad, but if you talk to any road user, cyclist, car or truck driver or even pedestrians, it is clear there is a problem with how everyone uses the road, and that any discussion involving cycling rapidly becomes heated.

I believe I know what the problem is, and to make things simple, here are some images that illustrate exactly why cyclists generate so much hate, I’ll start with good cyclists.

 

These first two images show some good road users. Our roads were designed to be used as a means of transport. In the above images we have people on bikes and people in cars doing just that. They are using the road as transport, they are obeying the road rules. They are using safe vehicles whose primary purpose is transport. These are good cyclists, wearing helmets, looking out for cars and trucks and making room for them to pass. They are also good car drivers, looking out for cyclists and giving them lots of room.

 

The above two images are the same, they show the correct and intended use of the road.
The next two images appear to show something that is also the same, but there is a fundamental difference.

Both show the road being used for sport. Both show vehicles that are not designed for transport, they are purpose built race machines. When these sorts of vehicles are used on the road it poses a danger to other road users, they have limited visibility, they can be hard to control at low speeds, and using them as they are intended is a massive interference to other road users and often prevents them from using the road as transport.

So where is the fundamental difference?

It is simple, to race a car on the road you have to go through a process in order to close the road and provide suitable safety process and services. To race bicycles on the road you do not.
Get a couple of mates together and take some race cars for a practice run down a Targa stage at race speed with out formally closing the road and you will get arrested, if you don’t kill someone first. Get a couple of mates together and take some racing bikes down the same bit of road at race speed and you will piss off other road users, you will put yourself and others at risk, but you won’t get arrested.

So the problem with cyclists is simple, and to fix it all we need to do is draw a distinction between cyclists using the road as transport, and cyclists using the road for sport. Then we can apply the same rules for racing cars on the road to racing bikes on the road.
It is simple, it is consistent, and most importantly, it would stop the good cyclists, those using the roads safely and as intended, from being put in the same group as the arrogant assholes who like to treat the road as a race track.

-Moppie

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