SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

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g-boaf
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SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby g-boaf » Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:49 pm

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/chi ... 4z981.html

Finally, a newspaper has the guts to say what needs to be said.

Especially:
And there are clearly issues with enforcement. Police are either unable or unwilling to prosecute reckless drivers who need to know they will be held accountable for their lack of action.
and
The terrible thing about this event is not just its stupidity and aggression. It's how common it has become on Sydney's streets. As a spokeswoman from the lobby group Bicycle NSW says, they are contacted every day by a cyclist wanting to report a near miss with a motorist.

While most road users will condemn this type of behaviour there is a significant and vocal minority who think cyclists have no right to be on the road and it's OK to harass, abuse and even injure them. Led on by shock jocks and some rabid sections of the media, they have incited a war between cyclists and motorists.
It'll take a miracle to make our politicians change their ways. There are some riders among our political establishment who really don't do anything about countering the shock jocks and rabid sections of the media, nor their anti-bike rider colleagues in parliament.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby bychosis » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:02 pm

It really says something when you can report a driver for littering in an online form and they’ll get a fine. if you want to report a bad driver you need to go to a police station and fill out reports and hope that they do something.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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uart
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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby uart » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:49 pm

bychosis wrote:It really says something when you can report a driver for littering in an online form and they’ll get a fine. if you want to report a bad driver you need to go to a police station and fill out reports and hope that they do something.
The other thing that I find striking is that even high range drink driving does not actually equate to anywhere near the risk of death compared with the driving shown in that video, yet there is just no comparison between how they are treated under the law.

Now I don't want to sound like I'm supporting high range drink driving, because I certainly don't. However if you do the statistics then even at a 25x increase of having a fatal accident at 0.15% BAC, it still only equates to about a 1 in ten million chance of that actually happening per km driven. On the other hand what do you think the chances of a moron like that 4WD driver killing a cyclist in a maneuver like that. Certainly a lot higher I would think! Based on that fact alone (ignoring the wanton aspect of it) it should get a harsher penalty than even high range drive driving, yet much the time the police consider it so unimportant to not even warrant a fine! :?

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby Mububban » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:06 pm

Comments are not open on this article
Wise decision
When you are driving your car, you are not stuck IN traffic - you ARE the traffic!!!

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby g-boaf » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:15 pm

Mububban wrote:
Comments are not open on this article
Wise decision
Yes indeed. But I'm sure somewhere out on social media it is being debated hotly and some rabid anti-cycling motorist is planning his trip to martyrdom.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby march83 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:14 am

It's on the SMH facebook page and as expected the comments are cancerous. The loud minority of jerks who are OK with doing socially unacceptable stuff like abusing cyclists, punishment passes and arguing on the internet are showing their true colours.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby bychosis » Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:51 am

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/cy ... 4z8se.html
a follow up article. This time with comments.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby find_bruce » Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:24 pm

march83 wrote:It's on the SMH facebook page and as expected the comments are cancerous. The loud minority of jerks who are OK with doing socially unacceptable stuff like abusing cyclists, punishment passes and arguing on the internet are showing their true colours.
The great thing about faceplant is that your identity is known & their comments can come back to haunt them - a social media search is fairly common in the lead up to any court case

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby Cossie Phil » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:14 pm

There is an example with a group I ride with that on this day, included a local Constable. A driver deliberately close passed the bunch, it was captured on several front and rear cameras. He was providdd the footage, and has made every excuse since why he hasn’t taken action. Including lying about taking action at one point. What chance do we have if those with ability amongst us refuse to step up.
Image

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby warthog1 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:30 pm

Mububban wrote:
Comments are not open on this article
Wise decision
My first thoughts too. :(
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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby warthog1 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:35 pm

find_bruce wrote:
march83 wrote:It's on the SMH facebook page and as expected the comments are cancerous. The loud minority of jerks who are OK with doing socially unacceptable stuff like abusing cyclists, punishment passes and arguing on the internet are showing their true colours.
The great thing about faceplant is that your identity is known & their comments can come back to haunt them - a social media search is fairly common in the lead up to any court case

Thanks mate :)
Dogs are the best people :wink:

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby bychosis » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:58 pm

find_bruce wrote:The great thing about faceplant is that your identity is known & their comments can come back to haunt them - a social media search is fairly common in the lead up to any court case
It's like they have no idea that their 'pub' comments are seen by many and recorded as well. They (try to) hide behind keyboard anonymity. Sadly, there are plenty on social media that have no ability to filter what they say in anyway.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby g-boaf » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:00 pm

Cossie Phil wrote:There is an example with a group I ride with that on this day, included a local Constable. A driver deliberately close passed the bunch, it was captured on several front and rear cameras. He was providdd the footage, and has made every excuse since why he hasn’t taken action. Including lying about taking action at one point. What chance do we have if those with ability amongst us refuse to step up.
Disappointing, but I suspect it is probably directions from higher up, Minister's office perhaps? The MOs do wield a lot of influence and the Departments that come under their area do tend to jump into action in an awful hurry when a call or email from the MO is received.

I'm just guessing as I've no particular knowledge of that place, but I know the processes pretty well.

If a rider who was also Police was seriously injured as a result of road-rage from a car driver, I can bet their would be pretty swift action against the offender.

The driving culture here is sh#t, to put it bluntly. Few weeks back I was down around Douglas Park and Picton and I had more bad drivers on that day than I've had in half a year. Even people driving the opposite direction. Absolutely awful.

In comparison, I could ride on any road in Italy or Austria I wanted to use with no problems. Every car driver behaved with the utmost courtesy and care. I miss it. Even big trucks and buses were no problem at all, well excepting buses on hairpin turns. :lol:

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby Cyclophiliac » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:46 pm

g-boaf wrote:
Cossie Phil wrote:There is an example with a group I ride with that on this day, included a local Constable. A driver deliberately close passed the bunch, it was captured on several front and rear cameras. He was providdd the footage, and has made every excuse since why he hasn’t taken action. Including lying about taking action at one point. What chance do we have if those with ability amongst us refuse to step up.
Disappointing, but I suspect it is probably directions from higher up, Minister's office perhaps? The MOs do wield a lot of influence and the Departments that come under their area do tend to jump into action in an awful hurry when a call or email from the MO is received.

I'm just guessing as I've no particular knowledge of that place, but I know the processes pretty well.

If a rider who was also Police was seriously injured as a result of road-rage from a car driver, I can bet their would be pretty swift action against the offender.

The driving culture here is sh#t, to put it bluntly. Few weeks back I was down around Douglas Park and Picton and I had more bad drivers on that day than I've had in half a year. Even people driving the opposite direction. Absolutely awful.

In comparison, I could ride on any road in Italy or Austria I wanted to use with no problems. Every car driver behaved with the utmost courtesy and care. I miss it. Even big trucks and buses were no problem at all, well excepting buses on hairpin turns. :lol:
Yes, cycling in Western Europe is really nice, relaxing and enjoyable, because over there we're generally just treated like normal road users. I'm so looking forward to my 4-week Pyrénées trip in September! :D I'm half tempted to do what some foreign athletes did at our recent Commonweath Games: forget to go back home. :lol:

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby hunch » Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:30 pm

g-boat wrote:It'll take a miracle to make our politicians change their ways. There are some riders among our political establishment who really don't do anything about countering the shock jocks and rabid sections of the media, nor their anti-bike rider colleagues in parliament.
When the punch drunk local Federal member rides with a Police escort, they're a bit removed from reality!

At the State level, RMS refused for several months to meet with emergency services, to bring us into line with the other States' 40kph limit around crashes, etc. They were finally introduced last week, so maybe a bit of bureaucratic resistance too. You can bet the coppers will be more proactive on this than safe passing less valuable souls on 2 wheels. :lol:

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby diggler » Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:09 pm

I have a horizontal flag which extends 50 cm beyond the end of my handlebar. I find motorists do not pass too close because of this. I really think cylists should take matters into their own hands and use something like this instead of complaining all the time about the motorist being too close. Be proactive. Do something. Having a camera is next to useless. It doesn't accurately show distance and it is for after the event. My flag stops motorists before the event. It is like Dorothy's slippers in the wizard of oz. The solution is already there. Use it.
Motorists hate cyclists and cyclists hate the motorists and the pedestrians hate the bikers and everybody hates the trucks.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby Scintilla » Tue Apr 17, 2018 1:02 am

g-boaf wrote:If a rider who was also Police was seriously injured as a result of road-rage from a car driver, I can bet their would be pretty swift action against the offender.
Have heard of NO outcome or action in the case of the driver who hit and killed a police officer out riding with his daughter in the wide sealed shoulder of the Princes Hwy at Pakenham about 12 months ago. I have heard informally that the driver had those super-wide caravan rear-view mirrors fitted (no caravan being towed).

Road-abuser apologists occur at all levels :x

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby Cyclophiliac » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:03 am

diggler wrote:I have a horizontal flag which extends 50 cm beyond the end of my handlebar. I find motorists do not pass too close because of this. I really think cylists should take matters into their own hands and use something like this instead of complaining all the time about the motorist being too close. Be proactive. Do something. Having a camera is next to useless. It doesn't accurately show distance and it is for after the event. My flag stops motorists before the event. It is like Dorothy's slippers in the wizard of oz. The solution is already there. Use it.
No, the solution is motorist education. We should never have to use protective equipment of any kind, just to offset the risk caused by incompetent motorists.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby g-boaf » Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:01 pm

Another article from SMH:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/whe ... 4zb3x.html

The comments aren't quite as depressing as normal, but still not great.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby bychosis » Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:48 pm

bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby Tequestra » Fri Apr 27, 2018 1:50 pm

There were seven deaths last year, and riders represent 15 per cent of road injuries, despite only comprising 3 per cent of road users.
Quick! Call the ABC. That's statistical discrimination if ever they saw it. I am still quoting the original link from last week. They could make a five minute segment on The Drum about it. Now I'll read the newest SMH article.
Since 1998, 742 cyclists have been killed on the roads. About 83 per cent these involved another driver, it found.
Says it all. It happened to me today, with a landcruiser just like what little I could see of the SMH political statement. I am going to go out now and buy myself a big truck and give those little landcruiser cretins a taste of their own medicine. See you when I get back from the Big Truck web-forum.
Viva le Tour Electrique' !!!

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby march83 » Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:00 pm

Typical victim-blaming, cancerous comments. Don't waste your time. Apparently we all should hang our heads in shame - our desire to pedal instead of pollute to get where we're going puts use 1 rung below pedophiles and real estate agents on the social ladder :roll: Why people spew such vitriol on this topic leaves me confused...

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Re: SMH editorial on NSW/Sydney motorist attitudes towards cyclists

Postby g-boaf » Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:30 pm

march83 wrote:
Typical victim-blaming, cancerous comments. Don't waste your time. Apparently we all should hang our heads in shame - our desire to pedal instead of pollute to get where we're going puts use 1 rung below pedophiles and real estate agents on the social ladder :roll: Why people spew such vitriol on this topic leaves me confused...
I'm not even going to read the comments - but I noticed a topic on Operation Pedro in the main forum that vanished quite fast.

I also want answers from Police on why they cannot prosecute bad driver behaviour. They must be called to account - they have to crack down on bad driver behaviour towards riders. It's the only way aything will change. When drivers are scared, they'll do the right thing.

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