Are our roads safe enough for bikes?

I just wanted to get some opinions on the level of safety on the roads these days. In the last couple of weeks I have seen 3 fatalities on the news involving cyclists on the road. The most recent one involved a 17 year old just around the corner from where I live. I ride this road every week and I know how dangerous it can be.

The number of times that a car has almost run me off the road is ridiculous. Some drivers seem to go past as close a possible to try and scare me. One of the guys I train with deliberatley rides his bike a foot away from the marked line to force drivers to slow down. I find this kind of riding causes motorists to get angry and do silly things.

Talking to some non cyclists at work today I overheard a group saying cyclists deserve to be run off the road.This mentality just makes me furious. On another occasion I was giving a client a lift home when we saw a cyclist up ahead. Her comment to me was "these guys need to be banned from the road".

How do you find motorists these days? Should I stick to the bike tracks only and leave the roads to the cars?

Its gotta start from the top
this is a bad message to send

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Now 64.1 kg to date. (and its 94.9kg but who's counting)

That's right. The driver who could have killed several cyclists by his reckless and dangerous behaviour was given a slap on the wrists ($1200 fine) by the magistrate. It's clear that attitudes have not changed at the top. The message this delivers to motorists is that cyclists are expendable.

NZ roads are not the best for cyclists either, but any road would be safe if it weren't for the car/bus/truck drivers who think no-one else has the right to use them!
Sometimes we as cyclists, don't help our cause by riding "selfishly", but there are way too many drvers out there who seem to have no idea how close they are getting to seriously injuring or even killing cyclists by driving inconsiderately.
Some do so intentionally, but I am convinced the majority are just incompetent drivers....they see no one else on the road, and treat driving as a right, assuming it needs very little of their concentration, giving them time to smoke/eat/talk/use their phone/put on makeup/read and whatever else. They don't realise how dangerous they are as they never know what they have done wrong....."I'm so sorry I ran you over, I never saw you" or "I don't use my indicators when there is no one else around" meaning when they DON'T SEE anyone else around

I have cycled for many years in several different countries and I am firmly set in my attitude when cycling oin the road.

First, the cyclist is a road user and has every right and obligation as anyone else on the road. This means following the road rules. If we do not do this then we cannot expect others (ie motorists) to do the same. If I see a fellow cyclist going the wrong way down a one way street or through a red light I will say something to him/her.

I will always always practise safe defensive cycling technigues such as waiting in line in the middle of the road behind the front car to make myself seen (where appropriate of course.

Local councils have a starnge and totally wrong idea of helping cyclists be safe. Instead of encouraging safe road use\ing skills they come up with all sorts of wierd cycle lanes that invariably do nothing but confuse everyone. Confusion is dangerous. In my city there are loys of hybrid road/pavement, on/off/zig-zag cycle paths where the cyclist has to juggle around between pedestrians, cars and numerous road signs. I ignore these 'helpful' cycle paths and use the road which is much safer. The poor kids learning to use these confusing cycle paths are being done a grave diservice by taught that they are 'safer' on these cycle paths.

And if a motorists cuts me up as sometimes happen? I let fly a torrent of abuse and move on which is probably the best way to deal with it and teach him/her a lesson.

I think they're safe, Australian drives are safe, alert and very considerate. Roads are well designed, people generally don't drink or take drugs (illegal or otherwise). Obviously there is no problem..... right?

I've been cycling reasonably consistently for about five years now. I've noticed that over that time the amount I get abused and carved up by cars has slowly but steadily declined over that time and these days I basically don't have problems on the road. My work commute is St Georges Rd, then up Brunswick St and then along Latrobe in the city so I'm hardly avoiding traffic. So essentially, while there are idiots out there both in cars and on bikes, if you pay attention to what's going on, actually ride by the rules of the road and learn a few basic tricks like not hugging the gutter, stay out of the door zone, take the lane firmly when cars can turn left from that lane and so on then you're not going to have grief.

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I reckon thats good advice, it'll keep most people safe most of the time

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Steve
CyclingForums.com

A lot of the time but I still think that road positioning is a really impotant thing and that's just something you have to learn over time, often through having a few moments as someone turns across in front of you.

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This is a test reality. Please do not adjust your paradigm.