El_Anade wrote:
Agreed. I am constantly trying to educate members of my family about how cyclists have every right to use roads and the rego argument is a poor one. Rego essentially offsets wear and tear on the roads, a cyclist doesn't typically do any damage.
I grew up relatively close to where this probably happened and have ridden motorcycles and bikes all around south East Queensland. The road rage in this region is the worst I've seen anywhere - I have worked all around Australia and driven in Europe and South America.
Unfortunately some cyclists don't help in the manner in which they ride, e.g. When I was still living and working in Brisbane I regularly had to drive slowly passed a group of 15+ cyclists riding 2-3 abreast on a busy road in the north of the city(effectivley one lane each way as on the weekends people could park all day in the outside lane). It was frustrating and I got abused when I pointed out if they didn't hold traffic up they might find people more tolerant of them. Hostility exists on both sides; however, a cyclist is no match for a car or truck.
We get this in the UK a bit too... "pay your f**king road tax". Makes me laugh because road tax was abolished in the 1930s and replaced with an excise duty, which is now based on the emissions of the car. Hybrids and very low emissions cars pay zero tax. A driver who was shouting abuse at me from his Prius didn't get the irony, even when i tried to explain it.
I really don't enjoy group rides as i think you're inviting the abuse, i ride alone, and i try to be aware of cars that cant get past etc. and if they have been behind for a while i will pull over and let them past, and I always thank the courteous drivers.