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The Cyclist, The Pedestrian and The Cars

All it took was a cyclist to travel down an illegal T-Way in NSW and assault a bus driver to get this long, drawn out issue into the limelight. It's existed for years and years, but the tensions are getting a bit high as of late. In my opinion, it's all a bit of a misunderstanding between everyone due to a lack of proper infrastructure.

The Scenario: At an intersection, the traffic lights turn red, the cars halt and pedestrians start to cross the road. A cyclist filters between cars on the way up to the lights, slows down and makes his way through the pedestrians, then checking there is no more traffic crossing the intersection, crosses the intersection and keeps on going.

The Cars: They see a cyclist squeezing past them, possibly almost scratching their cars. Are they in such a rush that they can't wait in line like everyone else? And they're slower too! Everyone is now going to have to wait behind them and then squeeze past them again.

The Pedestrians: Aren't you using the road? Then obey the road rules. Why are you riding dangerously across pedestrian traffic? If you had a licence and I were a cop, I would have booked you ages ago!

The Cyclist: If I stay amongst the cars, I'm going to be in their blind spot. The cars will all take off around me and at this distance, they're not going to see me. I've got to get out of the way of danger because if there's an accident it's not a dented fender, it's broken bones for me. I've got to be up ahead where people can see me early and think ahead. I'll carefully move around the pedestrians although they're not paying attention to me. I know running the red is illegal, but being legal is dangerous and it doesn't matter if I'm in the right or wrong if I end up dead.

A few facts:

• At intersections, cyclists are often in the blind spot of cars and trucks, leading to a large number of accidents
• Unless under the age of 12, cyclists are not permitted to use footpaths and must, by law, use the road
• Cyclists are permitted to travel in lanes marked as a "Bus Lane", but NOT in lanes marked as "Bus Only"
• In a cyclist-pedestrian collision, the cyclist is more likely to be injured due to a higher fall and the speed of travel. In a cyclist-vehicle collision, the cyclist is more likely to be injured due to little to no protection
• As a general rule, pedestrians have right of way regardless of where or how they ended up on the road
• Motorcycles are considered to have little to negligable impact on greenhouse emissions and road wear, yet this reduction in impact is not recognised during vehicle registration or tolls
• Cyclists have no greenhouse emissions and negligable impact on road wear

A few observations:

• Vehicles on the road often block cycleways
• Pedestrians are often not aware of approaching cyclists, but the cyclist may be aware of them.
• Where cycleways are not available, footpaths are not legal and roads are dangerous, there is no place for cyclists to ride
• Motorcyclists are discouraged from filtering through traffic (and may be booked on technicalities such as "Overtaking on the left of a vehicle"). Being a road user, this discouragement should also apply to cyclists, even though the practice is safer for both cyclists and motorcyclists.
• The practice of filtering to the front of traffic on a motorcycle is a fineable offence. On a bicycle it is generally not.
• Motorcyclists have sustained damage to their vehicles from having to stop from colliding with jay-walking pedestrians. To my knowledge, no legal mechanism exists for enforcing compensation from the pedestrian to the motorcyclist

Related posts:

1. Wiseman’s Ferry Run
2. First Bike Accident