Bike vs Car

Earlier last week I was reading some articles and comments [www.theage.com.au-human tumbleweed-Mon Jan 31] about cyclist versus motorist from my hometown Melbourne. It is quite a debatable topic and has been on a number of occassions and argued for a great length everytime, but it's one that I always find interesting to read about. The topic started from a known celebrity being thrown from his bike as a car cut him off while he was riding in a bike lane, it ended him up in hospital with a broken back. A number of motorist there believe [like many places] cyclists are a hinder on the road and for the more avid hater we have no place being on the road at all. While the cyclist can range from your full Pro rider to the weekly racer to a rider that rides 2 times a week on his K-mart special to get to work because his wife needs the car.

Major cities are built with cars in mind for obvious reasons, and Melbourne has never had a great infrastructure or funding to improve it for the use of bicycles. But I think it is much better now than say as little as 10 years ago, for the sport has grown hugely popular and more so on a recreational level. For many years there the bike outsold cars, and maybe still does. Four years ago was the last time I lived in Melbourne and I found then that many roads had a marked bike lane alongside the road, it may in some cases have come to an sudden end but the lane was there. And this is something that must change to make it a more cycle friendly city. Bike lanes should flow with the road rather than force the cyclist into the flow of traffic. I would even go as far as getting rid of the suburban nature strip in some areas to create a bike lane, the nature strip is just a waste of space anyway. Roads need to be designed with the cyclist in mind, and I think it is slowly going that way.
The other problem is the education of motorist, they're taught to just drive the car rather than road craft. The whole system of a family member [or whoever it may be] teaching you to drive needs to be scrapped, it should only be done with a qualified instructor and maybe that area too needs an overhaul. This is a change that should of happened years and years ago to make people better drivers, just look at the road toll for proof. The problem is, along with some poor road design, most motorist don't even think about a cyclist while driving their car, and sometimes even when there is a visable bike lane. I'd seen it many times where they might suddenly turn into a side street without thinking there may be a cyclist approaching. Lindsay was knocked from her bike like this when a motorist took the advantage of a gap in the traffic and turned in front of her. Luckily she was not seriuosly hurt, more frustrating thou, the driver didn't even ask if she was ok or bother to say sorry. You even have some people swerve into the gutter to stop you riding up the inside of traffic because they hate that you can go more freely past on a bike. I had once one guy do it when I was in a bike lane, his return argument was there shouldn't be a bike lane. Some motorist have insane ideas and think that we should all ride on the provided shared bike paths, or should not ride two abreast, but they obviously never ever ride a bike at any time of their arrogant life. A cyclist at some point will drive a car but a driver that never rides a bike is a different story. I would one day like to see that person ride a bike just to see what we deal with and maybe they will change their attitude. Maybe then they will learn to look out for cyclist much more.A typical inner city bike lane in the Netherlands, notice no nature strip.


I had even read one comment from a guy that claimed he is a keen rider himself but couldn't understand why [quote] "well-past-it wanna-bes in ludicrous lycra outfits with Tour de France-style advertising logos all over them" weren't using the provided bike lane [I think he may be refering to a bikepath] along a certain stretch of road, as all they were doing was holding up commuters trying to get to work and [I quote again] "TO EARN A LIVING". This guy is clearly not a proper cyclist and most likely a guy that just rides a bike for exercise while wearing a tracksuit, and for some insane reason thinks cyclists don't earn a living. Not too mention the road he was refering to I believe is a dual carriage way, so his real problem is getting held up 20 seconds while he waits to change lanes, BOO HOO!. He also believes roads are solely built for "MOTORISED TRAFFIC", which just shows that he is more your bike path rider than an actual cyclist, as there is a difference. We all know shared paths are not the best to ride on, as these are more family or casual riding enviroments. Secondly cycling is a social sport and as it is legal to ride two abreast then why not as it is safer. Bikes are also refered to as vehciles so it allows us to ride on the road, having no motor means we need no registration. It is people like this guy that really need educating.


It is the same situation where motorist think we cyclist should pay registration and display a number plate to ride on the road. The idea of this really winds me up, especially when some cyclists agree to it. I think thou it will never happen as it is too much of a political red tape nightmare and the line will never be drawn. But many anti-cyclist drivers believe this will make a difference and will give us cyclist the right to ride on the road because they think by paying their car rego gives them to rightfully use the roads, it doesn't, taxes pay for roads and we all pay that. As for the number plates, they believe that will solve the problem of riders running red lights. The law states it is legal to ride a bike on the road, so why would you want additional costs on a car that you already pay for to sit in the driveway all week because you choose to ride, and you want to pay more for that freedom. All us cyclist need to do is STOP RUNNING RED LIGHTS!.
Some motorist also think because we ride a bike we don't even own a car and therefore don't pay rego or taxes, we do but just choose to go by bike, whether it is to get to work, our sport or just doing our bit for the enviroment. If anything we should pay less registration and taxes because our car is used less. I'm not sure what the answer would be to this debate but at the moment it seems to be a very grey area. There needs to be a solution that suits everyone, I really dont know what the solution would be but more of a police presence catching red light runners is a start, maybe it will ease the mind of the motorist if they know this is being done.


Melbourne is a very populated city of 4 million people and can be a nightmare to navigate for the new cyclist, but in all my time living there I never had too much of a problem and think it is a great city to be cycling in. In 13 years of living there I had seen some strange actions by both drivers and other cyclist. I myself had a number of near misses and a couple of heated arguments, but nothing ever serious. In my first months of living in Melbourne I had three minor accidents. Coming from a country town, traffic is not something you have to worry too much about so I had to learn the way it behaved. As a cyclist you have to be aware of everything around you as you are the most at risk of injury, motorcycle riders are taught the same thing. Learning the roads is something you learn as you ride more often, and being able to read traffic situations while on the bike is something that comes in time, after all two similar situations will differ from a bike to a car. Reflexs help alot and this comes with all the racing experience, you learn to react quickly to an akward situation. There are many riders in Melbourne that you can tell don't race, and these are the ones that often are the problem on the roads in regards to common sense within traffic. I've seen some guys do some stupid moves on the bike, that either endanger themselves or just result in them being a pain in the ass to the flow traffic. Some of us cyclist just need to use a little more common sense and think about the bigger picture.

I would always try to pick roads that had a bike lane or roads that were two lanes in either direction, often in peak hour times. Then on some occasions I would ride on roads that were one lane but very wide. Around Melbourne there are many roads like this and you can get in a decent 50 or 60 kilometer [sometimes more] ride around the burbs on these roads and are also quite safe, even at night. Sometimes we cyclists thou put ourselves in situations that is just asking for trouble from motorist, it can be common sense things like riding two abreast on a single lane road in peak hour traffic or riding in a bunch that takes up the whole road. I was never a supporter of the infamous Saturday morning 'Hell Ride' as I believed it did not give the sport a good image, it was basiclly a non sanctioned road race. Riders would be across two lanes of traffic, swarm cars at intersections and running red lights, it made me ashamed to be a cyclist so I had no part in it. If we want the respect from motorist we must respect the laws of the road and think about the way we act on the bike and what image it has for the sport. We all just need to think a little too, and simple things like, maybe it's not such a good idea to get in front of 3 cars at the traffic lights that just past you 50m ago, maybe its better to wait behind. Otherwise maybe we will end up having massive number plates hanging off the back of our 10 grand 6.8kg pride and joy racing machine. I think education needs to improve on both parts.

I am fortunate enough thou to now live somewhere where none of this is of any concern. In a country with a population of 16 million and a bike ownership figure of almost 90%, it is a country with the bicycle in mind. The Netherlands is a great country for riding a bike, thou for me it is far too flat, but for your commuter it is perfect. I'm not one for stats but for the sake of comparing, whats known as a modal share where all journeys in the Netherlands made by bike is 27% to Australia's 1%, out of 16 popular biking countries Australia is the lowest and the Netherlands the highest. In a more simple term, around 40% of the nation commute on a daily basis by bike where as Australia is only just under 5%. Lindsay's work even paid her a sum to purchase a bike to commute to work if she rides [and not that they keep tabs] atleast 50% of the year, and also gets a maintance allowance for bike related items for her riding to work needs.
The bike lanes or paths here thou are well designed that give the rider right of way in nearly all circumstances, with the exception of a few round-a-bouts on major roads. Some roads in Melbourne are so wide yet no bike lane. Here in the Netherlands in the city area's it is common to have the house, then a small footpath [maybe 3ft wide], then sometimes space for car parking, then the bike lane and finally the road. if it can be done here in such dense cities I'm sure it can be done in Melbourne with all the big wide roads that are there, it just takes a bit of planning with a cyclist attitude and obviously the funding.A bicycle parking lot in Amsterdam. 40% of Amsterdams metro population travel by bike.

I came across an interesting blog from a UK guy living here in Assen, its called 'A view from the cycle path' by david Hembrow, if you google it, it gives you a great insight into the Dutch way of commuting, very much worth a read.

Til next time and safe riding
Mark