In most parts of the world, some more developed than others, cyclists are afforded the kind of protections and freedoms you would expect they are. Much like motorists have to abide by certain laws, so do cyclists.
This isn’t a hate on cyclists post, but I am calling out those of you who do frequently ride and are guilty of one of the following.
- Choosing to either ride on the road or footpath at your convenience
- Riding through red lights
- Not stopping at stop signs
- Riding on the road, reaching a red light and then riding across a pedestrian crossing
- Riding 4 or more abreast (4 or more riders riding side-by-side), blocking entire lanes and causing a traffic hazard
- Resting your hands on the front of a motorists vehicle so you don’t have to put your feet down
- Failing to adequately indicate when turning a corner, when stopping or merging
- Not having proper lighting, making it harder for motorists and pedestrians to see you when it gets dark
The sad reality is there are probably only a handful of cyclists out there not doing these things. Motorists are no better. in-fact I would agree with you if you said motorists are worse than cyclists. The explanation for this is of course, there are more motorists on the road than cyclists, so that means the statistics can’t really be compared.
Red lights
This is the one thing that makes motorists and pedestrians angrier than anything else. I couldn’t count the number of times walking to work in the morning I’ve seen a cyclist riding on the road encounter a red light, only for them to mount the footpath and riding across a crossing so they don’t have to wait. If you want the same rights as a vehicle, you can’t choose to just go onto the footpath because you can’t be bothered waiting 5 minutes for the lights to change.
A little while ago I had to quickly move out of the way because a cyclist did this. They blitzed across the pedestrian crossing almost knocking me over and forcing others to move as well. This is just plain arogant. If you want to cross, dismount from your bike like you’re supposed too and walk it across (unless your crossing has a bike lane).
Footpaths
This is a pet-peeve of most pedestrians and frustrating to watch as a motorist.
In Brisbane, Australia where I am from, the foothpaths aren’t wide in most places. However, I routinely encounter cyclists speeding down the footpath (especially around the Roma Street / Southbank Area) and they don’t even have bells on their bikes because they’re road bikes. Then you see most cyclists who do this going straight out onto the road without really any warning for motorists travelling on the road.
The law
There are laws that apply to cyclists and motorists. How one another is supposed to act and the courtesies that either party are supposed to extend exist in most countries (they do in Brisbane anyway). Stop being an arogant cyclist, you’re only making things worser for yourself and others in the end. Want to be treated fairly? Show respect.
