I don’t drive and I don’t cycle so I don’t have a dog in the eternal fight between cyclists and drivers. If I’m ever bored at a social function, finding out who drives and who cycles and then asking their opinion of the other side is always amusing.
Personally I believe we need vast investment into public transport and making the city far easier and safer to cycle in while punishing private drivers. Removing private drivers from roads will make for more efficient roads for couriers and taxis and trucks while speeding up public transport. Most importantly it starts to reduce the pollution that is slowly killing off the planet.
That aside, drivers hate cyclists and I think there is good reason. In my experience there are two types of cyclists. The first are your David Slack and Julie Anne Genter types, nice folk who cycle for health and environmental reasons. These are ‘ethical’ cyclists if you will, and I have nothing but love for them all. They are very respectful while cycling and I’ve never seen them cause any problems.
Then there are the second type of cyclist, and you’ve all seen them. Alpha male/female rich volk on their expensive racing bikes in fluro spandex who ride in packs like pirañas and who are wealthy enough to buy into the wankery of this type of cycling. In life they are lawyer types who ride like they live their lives, with a sense of entitlement and privilege and will kick out at cars and start fights with drivers in the way they would if they were in their BMWs.
Mix that sense of snobbery with the careless and awful driving culture of most NZers and you get a hatred that exposes the wide class divide between the cycle lane and the road.
Down in Chch the drivers have become more accepting of cyclists and its more fun to ride. Cars now let me cross lanes and usually give me a friendly wave. That could be because of the influx of UK and Irish drivers? Thank god for the immigrants.
But I’m pretty sure even Kiwi drivers are finally realising that if there are hundreds more cyclists on the roads, then there are hundreds less cars, and they can drive quicker. I’m not sure why this simple equation is so hard to grasp.
To get from Birkenhead to Albany takes 45 mins by bus. By car it takes 15. And removing cars from the road won’t make the bus trip any faster because the reason the bus takes so much longer is because it has to stop all the time and take roundabout routes. This is why people pick cars over buses.
And don’t get me started on the times I’ve sat on a bus, just about at my destination, only to have the bus take 10 minute detour down a side road.
As for cyclists my pet peeve with the “pro” ones is that they think they are too good to use the cycle lanes they we have paid for for them to use. If it was up to me I’d make it so cyclists had to use cycle lanes where they were available.
Absolutely agree with the last bit. What is the point of having cycle lanes if cyclists refuse to use them?
Cycle infrastructure has been underfunded for decades. Many cycle lanes are poorly, even unsafely, engineered. Cyclists avoid lanes with parked cars, gravel, broken glass, etc.
Add in that cycle lanes come and go, and one learns to use the existing road lanes. We can all share, it is not that hard.
Besides, cyclists subsidise the roading network.
http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2013/02/18/mythbusting-cyclists-dont-pay/ and http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/05/debunking-the-myth-that-only-drivers-pay-for-roads/393134/
and cycle infrastructure is not only cheaper it actually returns more on the investment
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2014/02/cycling-infrastructure-more-economic-than-for-other-transport.html and
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/research/reports/359/
Being a driver and a cyclist I think it is some twits on both side issue, with the media fueling the issue.
A point often overlooked in articles and comments on this issue is that the vast majority of cyclists on the road hold drivers licences and drive cars. Categorising people as one or the other, or making generalisations as to types of driver / cyclist does little more than provide topic for meaningless discussion.
I do both. In Wellington at least, the roads are simply too narrow. Take out the car parks and make them cycle lanes.
Also the light phases are so short, you need massive busts of acceleration, which cyclists can’t do thus get in the way.
If I could catch a bus on time and with ease, I’d ditch the car altogether.
As with all generalisations the majority will be somewhere in the middle of your two extremes. Some people in life are dicks- those same dicks ride bikes and/or drive cars- the difference being that the dicks on bikes ability to kill people with their vehicle is singnificantly less than the dicks driving.
There needs to be some protection given to cyclists- but arbitrary measurements is not the right approach. The strict liability approach in the Netherlands would be a better place to start.
PS-Lycra is better than getting chaffed balls.
You’re definitely right about the Netherlands. Introduce it here and the conflict would stop overnight!
Everything is a class war Martyn, Marxism-Leninism 101.
I fall into neither of your categories. I am etta, a beneficiary whose only means of transport is my bicycle. I’m not specifically trying to save the planet (flatulence surely outweighs the fossil fuels I save) though I do allow myself some smug one-upmanship to the one-car-one-driver brigade; I’m specifically trying to save money because that way I can keep (relatively) warm and even manage the occasional meal.
All vehicle drivers are shit with the sole exception of the truck driving fraternity.
Here in ChCh there have been rather a lot of trucks over the last four years and I treat them with respect and they most certainly do the same for me.
They do not overtake me and promptly turn left without signalling.
They do not overtake me by distances that can only be measured in centimetres.
They have flashing lights for Africa (as well as beepers every time the gear lever is placed in reverse) and they always use them down here.
They always follow me at a safe distance when negotiating “Caution! Cyclists merging!” chicanes (and there are a surfeit of those in ChCh) and they do not rev their engines, toot their horns or invite me to “get off the fucking road ya wanker” when I don’t zip through these areas at 70 kph (the usual speed for ChCh drivers) thus causing them 30 seconds of delay in their voyage.
They are mostly totally professional and I wish the rest of ChCh’s drivers drove as well.
As for those other drivers, I smile sweetly at them and remind them I pay no road taxes, no fuel taxes, no WoF costs, no registration fees and no bloody license fees either. One can clearly see the veins pulsing on their foreheads as they process this information.
What I don’t tell them is how much it costs to get parts for my bike now that the local neighbourhood bike shop (usually run by a retired racing cyclist) has been replaced by the boutique bistros so beloved of Martyn’s second group, the trendy neo-liberal excessivaria, that pass as bike shops nowadays.
And even if I won Lotto (or whatever) I don’t think I’d bother with a car. My life is much slower and more enjoyable this way, even with the truculent ChCh nor’ easter, the antarctic sou’ wester or the blistering Khamsin known as the nor’ wester in Canterbury.
But to ban private cars from the city…
Now that would be Heaven…
Yeah, you might not save the environment yourself, but if we all thought about it and changed things we would.
I have a suggestion. Four words…
Electric overhead rail carriages.
They could be suspended above the road, high enough to be above rubbish trucks and possible other heavy vehicles on the road, and have rails at intervals to bring them down to parking/getting out of level. They would be limited by speed so accidents would be slim to none. And it could leave the roads clear for cyclists, skateboarders and larger vehicles like trucks that transport things too large and/or heavy to go in one of the rail cars. Rail cars could both be publicly and privately owned. The publicly owned would be kind of like bicycles in the Netherlands, there for anyone’s use, and could have “Service buttons” which the public can press when they enter a car that has been vomited in by a child or drunk, and someone from a service team comes to pick it up and take it back to a service center where it’s cleaned and checked for maintenance issues, for safety purposes and all that. Private cars could be locked by the owner and personalized so random people can’t use it. It might also make be good because, aside from larger vehicles, bicycles and skateboards, the roads would be clear of all other car, bus, van type vehicles, leaving more room for people who treat older combustion engines as a hobby. Which I would condone, because it would likely be just a few good looking vehicles every now and then.
Don’t worry guys, I’ve thought of everything. It’s all gonna be fine.
I like what Ellen Degeneres said: “”Do people really have to judge people on whether they’re gay or straight? Can’t we just judge them on the type of car they drive?”
I’m like that. I don’t judge people by if they are black, white, yellow, gay, straight etc. I judge them by the vehicle they drive. Bottom of the pile are drivers of big utes, followed by SUV owners.
The cyclist v driver (or other way round, not to be “prejudiced”) debate makes me laugh.
For maybe 1-2 thousand years we were walking, running riding horses etc (I say etc cos who knows what else we’ve mounted in the quest for travel) and suddenly we’ve got maybe 2-4 generations of motorised transport. How fast can a human evolve to this new mode of travel, taking into consideration laws governing speed, distance, MOMENTUM etc? We’re a reactive species, not that great at reading situations or conditions or surroundings but making an INSTINCTUAL reactive decision in the blink of an eye that hopefully will save our life.
My car was written off in the weekend after a driver turned across me from the opposite direction to enter a side road. Yes my headlights don’t work but my parking lights do. You couldn’t see me? What are all the lights doing on in the streetlamps and all the surrounding shops if not to illuminate the area? How do you not see parked cars without their lights on? And why can I see that car 150-200 meters away approaching when it has no lights at all?? And I’m being charged with careless driving!?!?! This country is a joke. Run by an ass and full of sheep
No there are far more than ‘two types’ of cyclists, as that is just another lazy generalisation.
I find myself most weekends clocking up the kms (in lycra), but I hate cycling in groups – because there’s always one or two that spoil for all of us.
I do it because I like being fit and I see plenty of Soloist out there like myself, who stick to quiet roads and continue our merry way.
What we have is people who see a bunch cycle along Tamaki Drive and think all cyclists are the same. We’re not. It’s like saying everyone who drives a 4×4 is a meathead (most are) because of their poor driving.
I know I take my life in my hands and my wife dreads me going out. I see it like surfing and a shark taking me out, I’m in their environment where some people hate me (I still don’t know why) but I just wish people would be more tolerant.
I used to cycle in London, but don’t do it here for the following reasons:
1. Shockingly poor driving standards in Auckland
2. Badly designed cycle lanes that make it MORE dangerous to cycle, e.g. lanes directing the cyclist into parked cars or around pedestrian ‘safety’ features which force the cyclist into traffic at short notice
3. Don’t like wearing a helmet (not compulsory in the UK or most of Europe)
4. Because of falling cycling rates (down by between 30 and 50% depending on who you talk to), the roads here are more dangerous. Safety for cycling increases the more cyclists you have on the road (many of whom are also car drivers).
Yep, spot on there. Except the bad driving is everywhere not just Auckland; no villages, towns or cities exempted. Take my word for it…
Those “pedestrian safety features” were installed in our community – at phenomenal cost, a few years ago.
Finally removed at the request of community members, after several attempts by Opus to change. During our research we found that these safety-features have been all removed in Europe – because of the increased number of injuries and fatalities that occur when cyclists are forced to enter the stream of traffic.
The fact that this was initially installed as a blanket roll-out near all rural schools in our areas beggars belief.
I’m interested to hear that. In the UK they have designed them so that there is a gap the cyclist can go through without moving out into traffic. It works really well.
What a nasty little bigot you are….
I walk, run, drive and cycle, I have had people try to harm or kill me on my bike many times… the problem is rage and anger….primarily male rage and anger…..
You are angry but to fail to see that you are an example of many problems in society.
Sometimes I wear cycle gear, Lycra, why….because it’s designed for cycling of course you idiot…please don’t defend male anger wanting to kill me because of ignorant bigotry.
I run as well, guess what I wear running gear ….why… because it’s designed for this running.
In the day I wear work gear, yep you guessed it…because it’s designed for my work.
Why do I run and cycle, one obvious reason is work, yep real work, at 62 and still doing hard physical work I have to keep fit or I can’t work, if I can’t work I don’t eat.
There are other benefits of course… try it you might find it helps your anger problems ….
Sadly anger wins every time, I have had to curb my cycling because avoiding getting killed was too stressful.
Tell me why do people throw things at runners, is it their fault the sight of people running angers you.
Calm down everyone, try leaving the rage and anger to one side for a while.
Stop justifying your abuse, rage and anger.
People should be free to run or cycle (wearing whatever they like) without having to justify themselves or be the target of mindless rage and anger.
‘….. good reason to HATE cyclists…..’ I invite you to retract that comment.
What other groups do you believe people have good reason to hate.
Chuggers.
Cheerleaders.
And people who wear Hush Puppies.
I have a suggestion. Four words…
Electric overhead rail carriages.
They could be suspended above the road, high enough to be above rubbish trucks and possible other heavy vehicles on the road, and have rails at intervals to bring them down to parking/getting out of level. They would be limited by speed so accidents would be slim to none. And it could leave the roads clear for cyclists, skateboarders and larger vehicles like trucks that transport things too large and/or heavy to go in one of the rail cars. Rail cars could both be publicly and privately owned. The publicly owned would be kind of like bicycles in the Netherlands, there for anyone’s use, and could have “Service buttons” which the public can press when they enter a car that has been vomited in by a child or drunk, and someone from a service team comes to pick it up and take it back to a service center where it’s cleaned and checked for maintenance issues, for safety purposes and all that. Private cars could be locked by the owner and personalized so random people can’t use it. It might also make be good because, aside from larger vehicles, bicycles and skateboards, the roads would be clear of all other car, bus, van type vehicles, leaving more room for people who treat older combustion engines as a hobby. Which I would condone, because it would likely be just a few good looking vehicles every now and then.
Don’t worry guys, I’ve thought of everything. It’s all gonna be fine.
I’m a car driver and was a cyclist until I quite for safety reasons a few years back.
I was training for Taupo again and noticed that I was averaging one near miss per 70km training ride. I thought I’d rolled the dice enough and quit.
Riding on my own and keeping well to the left, I’d been run off the road on Albany hill by a trucky, had a pensioner overtake me and immediately turn left in front of me, had a wing mirror clip me in traffic and twice had people throw things at me as they passed me on Tamaki drive. I’ve had lots of verbal abuse out of car windows and even been spat at from a moving car.
I have cycled in other nations and never experienced the same lack of care and competence as I have in Auckland. I’ve done some riding in Christchurch and found them far more accommodating. (Dyers Pass is my favourite!)
I won’t get on my bike again until there is complete lane separation from the idiots.
Comments are closed.