“If you want to ride on the road, get a car”: Sky News Australia presenters call for “all bikes to be banned from all roads” – and brand recumbent cycle a “kid’s toy” – after lorry driver almost hits motorist in “crazy near miss” + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“The post-Covid bike market remains very challenging, particularly for standalone bike stores”
In case you missed it last night:
> Long-running bike shop “no longer commercially viable”, closes after 35 years in business
A brief history of terrible televised cycling opinions in Australia
It probably should come as no surprise that Australia – the land of mandatory helmets, shockingly close passing lorry drivers, calls to fine cyclists for drinking from water bottles, and even cyclist-attacking magpies – has previous when it comes to weird cycling discussions on national television.
Earlier this year, we reported on the live blog that Sky News (yes, them again) featured a debate on bike safety that included a retired New South Wales police sergeant and Ironman competitor who, despite providing some welcome balance to proceedings, nevertheless called for cyclists to “stay off the roads in the peak hour and use your common sense and find your places to ride, don’t put yourself in harm’s way”.
Responding to Glenn Corick’s slight deviation into victim blaming, host Erin Molan blatantly ignored all of his previous comments about looking after the most vulnerable on our roads and instead jumped straight into some good ol’ anti-cycling bingo.
“And the thing that frustrates me most – and while the safety of everyone has to be paramount – I was in the city yesterday… and we sat in traffic for twenty minutes for one road, one line of cars, and there were two bike lanes empty, not one cyclist in them,” Molan said.
“And that annoys me, that turns me off cyclists, who are really doing a wonderful thing by getting out there.”
What made things worse, of course, is that Sky’s segment – helpfully titled ‘Are Australian Cyclists Annoying Us?’ – came just a month on from the country’s only Tour de France winner Cadel Evans making an impassioned plea about the dangers of cycling on Australian roads, after two 16-year-olds were arrested as part of an investigation into a series of horrendous hit-and-run incidents in Melbourne.
The incidents, which took place in January, saw two cyclists mowed down as one of the car’s passengers filmed the collisions while “laughing”, before uploading them to social media. The two cyclists were seriously injured in the collisions, with one 51-year-old suffering spinal injuries and expected to need “lifelong” rehabilitation, while a 72-year-old was left with a fractured spine.
Shortly after the hit-and-runs left the Melbourne cycling community shaken, 2011 Tour winner Evans told a local newspaper that Australian drivers “lack awareness and concentration” and have “bad attitudes” towards cyclists, and that building more cycling infrastructure is just one part of the puzzle with “more education about cyclists’ rights to use the roads and longer, more comprehensive driver training” needed.
Evans isn’t the only Australian pro who has spoken out about the dangers of cycling Down Under.
During his epic, record-breaking Around Australia ride last month, Lachlan Morton revealed he was forced to “bail off the side of the road” thanks to extremely close passing oncoming lorry drivers, while in 2022 former national champion Brodie Chapman admitted that cycling in her home nation was “overwhelmingly fear inducing” due to the dangers posed by dangerous, “abusive”, and “volatile” motorists.
Are Australian cyclists annoying us? No, but terrible Australian drivers and dodgy TV anti-cycling news segments definitely are.
“Be vigilant, there’s an idiot kicking about again”
Cyclists in Sheffield were warned to “be vigilant” after a dog walker reported finding “a length of wire-filled electric fencing mesh” strung tight and at head height near a popular beauty spot, which he described as “clearly intended to do harm”.
Read more: > Cyclists warned as latest wire trap “clearly intended to do harm” found on trail
The question Giro’s aero eggheads never ask: Can our stupidly massive time trial helmets beat a Minion?
Having watched Honor Elliott’s on-bike footage of this year’s Muddy Hell Halloween cyclocross race at Herne Hill (complete with her brilliant satirical take on Visma’s oversized and sartorially challenged TT lids), I’m now firmly of the belief that all ‘cross racers should be forced to wear fancy dress throughout the whole winter.
Go on, Eli Iserbyt, you know you want to…
Is Cav cycling’s newest super-agent? Alex Dowsett reportedly set to join Astana full time as performance engineer on Mark Cavendish’s recommendation, with Pete Kennaugh also lined up for DS role
He may have only just officially retired this week, but Mark Cavendish has wasted no time adapting to post-racing life, reportedly setting up a new role for former Hour Record holder Alex Dowsett as Astana Qazaqstan’s full-time performance engineer.
With Cavendish himself now set to step into an ambassadorial or managerial role at Astana, the 39-year-old has been seemingly busy on the recruitment trail, lining up fellow retired Manx pro Pete Kennaugh for a sports director role at the Kazakh squad, with the news that Kennaugh is swapping his punditry role at ITV for a stint in the team car expected to be confirmed soon.
And now, Daniel Benson has reported that six-time British time trial champion Alex Dowsett will now follow Cavendish and Kennaugh to Astana, joining the team in the newly created role of performance engineer, after helping them out on several occasions this year.
Dowsett, who retired from the pro peloton in 2022 after racking up 15 victories on the road during a 12-year career, including two stages at the Giro d’Italia, was viewed as one of the most thorough pros when it came to aerodynamics, tech, and clothing, which contributed to him briefly holding the Hour Record in 2015.
The 36-year-old helped Cavendish throughout this season, on the way to the former world champion’s record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win, while he also worked with Alexander Vinokourov’s son Nicolas in the wind tunnel ahead of the Zurich worlds.
According to Benson, Dowsett will focus on Astana’s equipment, and has already attended training camps which saw the squad fitted out with their new XDS Carbon bikes, after switching from Wilier Triestina.
(Zac Williams/SWPix.com)
After turning professional in 2011 for Team Sky, the 36-year-old from Essex picked up 15 victories on the road, including six British time trial championships. In 2013, riding for the Spanish Movistar team, the time trial specialist won a gruelling 54.8km rolling race against the clock at the Giro d’Italia, ten seconds ahead of then-reigning Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins.
Seven years later, Dowsett repeated the trick at the Italian grand tour, this time in the colours of Israel Start-Up Nation (which he joined in the aftermath of Katusha-Alpecin’s collapse), with a rare victory on a road stage, attacking his breakaway companions to solo to what the British rider described at the time as a “career-saving” victory in Vieste.
In May 2015, Dowsett set a new UCI Hour Record of 52.937km, a mark that was surpassed a month later by Wiggins. Dowsett gave the Hour another crack in November 2021 but fell short of Victor Campenaerts’ then-benchmark of 55.089km.
Since retiring, he has raced a number of time trials in the UK, while raising awareness of the blood clotting disorder haemophilia, with which he was diagnosed when he was 18 months old.
Just when you thought cycling couldn’t get any weirder
> Cycling clothing brand Assos takes legal action against UK fashion giant Asos
Calling all you indoor cycling enthusiasts who like to suffer in their shed… for fun, apparently
Fancy getting your head kicked in on Zwift every Tuesday? (No, that’s not a trick question.)
Well, just in case you’re up for a midweek suffer fest, we still have a few spaces in our two Zwift Racing League teams (B and C) for the upcoming season.
Racing starts tonight at 6.45pm GMT. So if you’re interested, plonk your details in at this link.
Trust me, we need all the help we can get…
Don’t try this at home (unless you’re Valtteri Bottas)… Formula One star and gravel cycling enthusiast casually ticks off Ironman at home
Speaking of suffering a lot indoors for no real reason…
Come on Valtteri, just read a book next time you’re bored.
Meanwhile, in other micromobility news…
> New parking bays and automatic “slow zones” mean Lime can continue operating e-bikes in Brent
She’s back! Pfeiffer Georgi gets back on the bike for first time outside since horror crash at Tour de France
Things we really love to see:
It’s been a long road to recovery for the British road race champion, who fractured her neck and hand in the horrendous crash which marred the final ten kilometres of stage five of this year’s Tour de France Femmes, and ultimately scuppered Demi Vollering’s hopes of a second consecutive yellow jersey triumph.
But with Georgi now back on the road, things are looking up for another successful spring classics campaign in 2025, where the 24-year-old will be hoping to build on her third place at this year’s Paris-Roubaix.
That Paddy McGuinness x Raleigh Chopper x Jeremy Vine content you’ve all been waiting for on the live blog
Paddy’s road to nowhere (alright, Glasgow) continues today, with the Chopper-riding charity cyclist tackling the longest day of the whole challenge, 67 miles from Preston to Kendal.
Before heading to the Lake District, and those Chopper-killing hills, he managed a quick stop at Blackpool Promenade, where it was just revealed that he’s already raised almost £325,000 for Children in Need.
Fair play all round.
‘Aye, but can you carry a sofa by bike?’
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Netherlands…
Stopping by the cycle lane on a foggy morning: Wirral’s ‘Quirky Poet’ pens bizarre poem criticising bike infrastructure
I’m sure Eliot, Wordsworth, Frost, or Dickinson would have given anything to come up with a line as profound as ‘For the lanes sit empty, mile after mile, But, oh, those council folk ride in style!’
Beautiful, moving stuff. And yes, the anti-cycle lane lot are getting odder by the day, I agree.
> “They’ll carry on with their cycle crusade, while we’re stuck in the mess they made”: Local paper publishes bizarre anti-bike lane poem protesting council’s “new crazy scheme”
Hold on a second, is that you Sylvia Bike Plath?
I’ll get my coat…
Bike subscription pioneer Buzzbike set to close at the end of the week due to “escalating costs and difficult economic conditions that have impacted the whole bike industry”, following collapse of parent company and former Wiggle owner
Pioneering bike subscription service Buzzbike will close its service on Friday, with the company set to wind down by the end of the month, another victim of the economic headwinds affecting the entire cycling industry at the moment.
Founded in 2016 by former Apple marketing executive Tom Hares and KPMG management consultant Andrew Nunn, Buzzbike offered members a Netflix-style, all-inclusive, flexible subscription service for both normal bikes and premium e-bikes, the first of its kind in the UK, with single speed city bikes available for £18.99 a month and urban e-bikes for £59.99.
Customers were also provided with a lock, along with on-demand maintenance and theft protection through the Buzzbike app.
The company partnered with the likes of PayPal, Spotify, and Disney, and also challenged the government’s Cycle to Work scheme by being the first to enable employers to offer the same tax incentives on a cancellable, anytime subscription basis.
However, despite achieving record revenues in 2024, and serving over 20,000 subscribers throughout its eight years in London and Manchester, the collapse of parent company Signa Sports United (the former owners of Wiggle) put Buzzbike in a perilous financial situation, eventually leading to its demise this month.
“We have taken the very tough decision to close the business due to escalating costs and difficult economic conditions that have impacted the whole bike industry,” Hares and Nunn said in a statement this month, which confirmed that customers will be able to buy their bike and lock outright when the subscription service closes on Friday.
“It is with a heavy heart that Andy and I share the news of our business winding down,” Hares added in a separate statement.
Buzzbike CEO Tom Hares
“We are immensely proud of the role we have played in transforming the UK micromobility landscape, the innovative technology we have developed, the bikes and e-bikes we have designed, and the incredible partnerships we have forged.
“Most importantly the 20,000 members who have rediscovered their love for cycling through our service. We still believe that cycling can address many of the challenges facing our cities, but unfortunately, the difficult macroeconomic conditions and the collapse of our largest shareholder have made it impossible to continue.
“We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our amazing team, suppliers, shareholders, and members for their contributions throughout this remarkable journey.”
“If you want to ride on the road, get a car”: Sky News Australia presenters call for “all bikes to be banned from all roads” – and brand recumbent cycle a “kid’s toy” – after lorry driver almost hits oncoming motorist in “crazy near miss”
Don’t we all love an ill-informed TV panel discussion about cycling?
Over the years, we’ve been treated to plenty of frothing bike-themed gibberish on morning shows and news debates, from Richard Madeley, Timmy Mallett, and Howard Cox going at it over cycling number plates to Judge Rinder chatting cycle insurance and Mr Loophole’s biweekly tour of any TV or radio studio that will have him.
But, like they do in most things, the Australians have upped the ante this week, airing their own panel discussion/diatribe about cycling that was so bizarre – and frankly, so unwarranted – that it would leave even Madeley, Piers Morgan, and Mike Graham blushing (alright, maybe not Mike Graham).
On Sky News Australia’s ‘Sunday Showdown’ segment, where a panel of five broadcasters and contributors get together to shout ‘real news and honest views’ at each other while laughing hysterically for no reason, they decided to show a dashcam clip of what host Caleb Bond described as a “crazy near miss” on Main South Road in Adelaide, involving two car drivers, a lorry driver, and a cyclist on a recumbent tricycle recently.
Describing the footage, Bond said: “So, you have the bloke on the recumbent cycle riding on the side of the road, the car behind him has slowed down to wait for an opportunity to overtake, and the truck – which is obviously running up his arse – has had to hit the brakes and nearly hits the oncoming vehicle.
“Well, the driver of that car, who was nearly hit by the truck, says that bikes should be banned from that stretch of road – which opens up another question: Are there other places where cyclists should be banned, especially if they wear Lycra and have large guts?”
Crikey. That escalated quickly. So, let me get this straight. A lorry driver is driving up another motorist’s arse, and ends up on the other side of the road, and almost into an oncoming vehicle, because the car in front slowed down slightly.
But, in the warped world of Sky News Australia, it’s the cyclist’s fault?
Don’t worry, though – it gets worse.
“What the hell was that person thinking riding… it looks like a kid’s toy, these trikes,” says co-host Caroline Marcus, who obviously came prepared with research about recumbent cycles and their uses.
“I’ve ridden one around Centennial Park in Sydney, you don’t ride one on a 100kph road frequented by huge trucks, and buses, and cars. It is an absolute danger to everyone on the road,” she continued.
“We see it in Syndey all the time, with these insane bike lanes everywhere. If the cyclists are going to have those bike lanes, there have to be roads that are just for the big vehicles too. And if you want to ride on them, get a car.”
Shout, shout, shout, laugh, laugh, laugh
But surely that’s as bad as it’s going to… No, wait, the old white man in the corner’s about to pipe up. It’ll get worse.
“Not some, ban all bikes from all roads, forever – simple solution. It’s the only intelligent solution,” says the obviously hyper intelligent Kel Richards.
“You can never have bicycles mixing with steel traffic, it can never be safe. But they think they’re so morally good, because they’re saving the planet remember, and they’re safe because they’re in Lycra.”
Ah brilliant, we’re back to Lycra. Not that it would take long for the ‘discussion’ to drift back to recumbents and how they’re so morally repugnant, of course.
“Can we at least just start by banning those bicycles in particular?” asked another overly confident, ill-informed, shouty male panel member. “They take up a lot of road, and what goes through a person’s head to think, I want to get fit but while lying down?”
Please, please, could someone, anyone, at Sky News Australia give Wheels for Wellbeing a ring before letting their presenters come out with this ableist nonsense?
“I’m actually quite a keen cyclist, or at least I used to be when I lived in Berlin, where it was very safe to get around on a bicycle, because there was a co-operative spirit on the roads,” adds the final panel member, to gasps from her co-hosts.
“But I don’t think that works in Sydney, where drivers have much wilder ideas about how to use the roads. And I do think that’s a case for bicycle lanes – I know that’s not always a popular argument around here – and I’m delighted to see lots of new bike lanes.”
Finally, some common sense. For a moment, at least.
“But there are clearly some areas where bikes should not be, and that video was one of them, obviously,” she continued, before bringing up “dangerous” e-bike riding delivery couriers, who she nevertheless admitted she feels sorry for, thanks to their navigation maps often directing them towards motorways.
“Maybe we need a bike app, which says this is somewhere you cannot go.”
Or maybe all Australians should just be given a remote, so they can turn off Sky News and not have to listen to this rubbish. Real news, honest views, my arse.
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
27 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
@mdavidford I think the surprise here is how much better it is for the health of young children which should lead to much improved health as they age.
Surprise! Clean air and active travel are good for your health! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1l1r1zne1ro
As chair of Walk Ride Bath(NES), I can also confirm that WRB strongly opposed this section stating it fell significantly short of LTN 1/20 compliance in November 2024 highlighting that a much stronger route along the northern edge of the park along an existing lit road was better. The council appears to have ignored our response. https://walkridebath.org.uk/2024/11/26/bath-walking-wheeling-cycling-links-response/ Also let's be clear, the map used here is disingenuous. Nothing other than the park route is being delivered. Not the critical Queen Square infrastructure or anything linking into Weston. They are delivering a bit in the middle that adds f'all to the network that was there already. Note West of England Combined Authority have already warned BaNES to stop descoping and increasing costs on City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement schemes they manage.
I am very familiar with this area, and being a major route into Bath, it will be an every day experience for Road CC staff. I am in S Gloucestershire, and it would appear you have the same issue in Bath, that given ANY proposal for spending on Active Travel Infrastructure, the Range Rover lobby suddenly become all environmently friendly and object on the grounds that ANY lighting will disturb the wildlife (a major issue with large parts of the Bristol to Bath Railway Path). I note that major changes to road junctions, including masses of extra tarmac and lighting, are never objected to on environmental grounds. I know that Bath is getting a lot right on Active Travel infrastructure, and it appears the Range Rover lobby will be addressed by this lighting scheme, so that the scheme could go ahead. The alternative is a major road that runs alongside the park that I would never dare to ride a bike along. I believe we should be supporting the scheme, and then putting the case forward for increased light levels once the scheme is in place, and exactly what is happening right now on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path in S Gloucrstershire.
@chrisonabike Remember that Adam Hansen did not write the article, very likely has little say in which parts of his statement are put into that article, where they are put in the article, how they are framed in the article, indeed, we do not know the full transcript of Adam Hansen's statement, what questions he was asked, whether the information about helmets was late in the statement, an afterthought, etc. In any case, it seems unlikely he asked the BBC reporter to use that title.
"We’re removing entrance-level products and really focusing on better and best" ...Oh they want USWE's spot in the market. Shame I rather like my ~£50 rogue light. I wouldn't pay 2x as much.
Agree: some things are just blockers, no matter "but I do so you can" or "look at the stats, it's really safe!" But the devil is in "can we get there from here?" (sometimes literally). Much of what supports mass cycling elsewhere is in the bigger picture. Like decisions about what traffic goes where made at the network level. Or getting decent public transport in so that it's easier to make that motor traffic evaporate.
@Kadinkski Interesting in a way off base sort of way.
@Surreyrider Agree. You see this a lot with people who only ride race bikes when they review endurance bikes.
27 thoughts on ““If you want to ride on the road, get a car”: Sky News Australia presenters call for “all bikes to be banned from all roads” – and brand recumbent cycle a “kid’s toy” – after lorry driver almost hits motorist in “crazy near miss” + more on the live blog”
Ride on the road by getting a
Ride on the road by getting a car…..? Like this you mean? I fail to see how that would help.
I think they had this in mind
I think they had this in mind*
*buried in the antipodean psyche
Quote:
Surely the logical takeaway from that is that HGVs need to be either speed limited or actually banned?
Not gonna lie, from what I
Not gonna lie, from what I can tell, Australia makes the UK look like a modern, forward thinking country when it comes to the media.
You have to be just a little thick to see a lorry driving dangerously on a road and think “yeah, the issue here is the bike”.
Perhaps they would like a deal. All these big fast open roads are just for motor vehicles but as soon as we get to anywhere populated, motor vehicles are banned? Yeah? Clearly thats the safety first approach because built up areas are where all the people are so dangerous vehicles shouldn’t be there.
mctrials23 wrote:
Build a parallel network of separate roads for the “road trains” to keep other (unimportant) traffic out of the way. Ban general traffic from the smooth new lanes. Now we can safely run even longer road trains, making more money for drivers and their employers. To cut down even more on fuel use, the “road train only” roads can have metal rails instead of asphalt, and the trucks and trailers can be switched over to special steel wheels with a spacing matching the rails exactly, making it a much less mentally tiring job for the driver as the
roadtrain will now automatically follow theroadrails.Scared Traveller: I hear the
Scared Traveller: I hear the most dangerous thing in Australia is a spider.
Hairy-arsed trucker 1: hold my beer; I’ll fix that for you…
Hairy-arsed trucker 2: Nah mate! I’ve got a beer in one hand, steering wheel in the other. I’ll fix it!
Hairy arsed trucker 3 holding
Hairy arsed trucker 3 holding beer in one hand and steering wheel in the the other and not slept for 24 hours whilst driving 140 tonne road train at 130 kph !
Cyclo1964 wrote:
Well, naturally: I thought that was a given 😀
I don’t think enough time was
I don’t think enough time was spent talking about guts
We do have roads that are
We do have roads that are just for the big vehicles. In the UK they’re called motorways. But we also have roads that I wouldn’t ride on because people drive like lunatics on them, such as the A34, even though it has cycle lanes on it.
Best to avoid driving on the
Best to avoid driving on the A34 if at all possible, never mind cycling on it.
bensynnock wrote:
Which section of the A34 (there are two, unconnected bits)? Back in 2016-17 when I was riding from London to the North West a lot (for reasons I’ve mentioned before) I regularly rode of the stretch between Stone and Talke (ie past Stoke/Newcastle). It wasn’t particularly fun, but it was ok.
That Aussie Sky screenshot
That Aussie Sky screenshot encapsulates the whole ‘othering’ or out-grouping of cyclists by mainstream media, which in turn results in things like Morton being run off the road and cyclists suffering broken bones and trauma (and sadly far too many killed) due to being shoved off their bikes or hit by an inattentive or aggressive driver.
Those opinionated c**ts on Sky TV and elsewhere are culpable but unfortunately nothing will never be done about it.
Anti-cycling programs or
Anti-cycling programs or articles always get a lot of attention or comments, so they are very good for media advertisers.
I’m just going to jump in
I’m just going to jump in here to say that Australia is comprised of the Eastern States (SA, VIC, NSW, ACT, QLD) the Northern Territory and Western Australia. NT and WA are not part of mainstream Australia. Adelaide is in SA and it’s where Rupert Murdoch is from. NSW is where most Australians live and where most tourists visit. Murdoch media has sway over the UK, US and the Eastern States. He has bugger all influence in WA. We have our own local rag owned by our own local billionare. Our billionare is into mining and land clearing, because as well as owning the paper he is also the distributor for CATerpillar. So we have a lot of very flat sand to look at. So if you’re a tree or a bird there are better places than WA, but at least we don’t have Rupert Murdoch and his cohort of suckholes.
As a resident of South
As a resident of South Australia I whole-heartedly deny the scurrilous accusation that we’re an Eastern State, and/or in any way associated with the splitters of NSW, QLD and VIC!
Fair enough. I do really
Fair enough. I do really like Glenelg and the Hills too, so I think we’ll renew SA’s Not Part of the East passport. Also Rupert did leave Adelaide and never come back.
On behalf of all South
On behalf of all South Australians, we thank you, and you’re forgiven for your initial error
Aluminium can wrote:
What happened to poor little Tassie, mate?!
Rendel Harris wrote:
Well, first the British came, now there aren’t any Thylacines or indeed original Tasmanians in one sense…
I remembered right after
I remembered right after posting then figured no one would notice so didn’t fix my post. They’re used to it…
Aluminium can wrote:
Aw, poor Tassie! To add insult to injury you classed ACT, with a lower population, as a state, which it isn’t!
Ref. “Or maybe all
Ref. “Or maybe all Australians should just be given a remote, so they can turn off Sky News and not have to listen to this rubbish” I quickly learned that when scrolling through the Foxtel channels’ menu one should never, ever, select any channel starting in “Sky”. A more red-neck, right-wing-lunatic bunch of gammon-appealing fantasists you couldn’t hope to find. Their debate-style programmes are especially interesting, as the right-wing hosts always have guest with exactly the same attitudes, in a self-congratulatory, self-reinforcing, self-perpetuating, paradigm. By the same token I never open any “news” post from Sky.
The even more depressing fact is that the normally more-sensible callers on ABC Adelaide’s radio programmes addressing this incident on the whole also thought it was the cyclist’s fault!
Never a fan of Sky News or
Never a fan of Sky News or Murdoch with their wacky right wing c**p. However they seem to conveniently forgot the road rules governing what one should do when passing a cyclist.
Rule – Drivers are required to give a minimum of 1 metre when passing a cyclist where the speed limit is 60 km/h or less or 1.5 metres where the speed limit is over 60 km/h.
This law applies in most states and territories of Australia so it’s not new. So I would assume that first drive who is aware of the law slowed down and was waiting for the best opportunity to pass safely. The truck driver on the other hand was probably in a rush to get nowhere fast, as usual, was not paying attention to the traffic and nearly caused a crash. Fortunately for him he opened his eyes just in time. In the event of a crash the onus would have been on him.
But why should Sky discuss the true nature of the event when it better to create a bull shit story and rile up the right wing base against a precived notion that cyclists are baddies and should be removed from the roads.
anyway that my thoughts on the subject.
P.S Cyclists are not allowed to use major city freeways. Here in Melbourne these include the Monash, East Link, City Link, West Ring Road, etc. Another cycling road rule. Sky News needs to go back to driver training again.
IIRC when I was in primary
IIRC when I was in primary school, the only time the school had to go outside and stand by the side of the road and wave was this one time that the Queen drove past.
Anyhoo – is Comic Relief going to pay for Mr McGuinness to get new knees fitted after this exercise?
As a keen cyclist who lives
As a keen cyclist who lives about 10km from where this incident happened, I would never ride on Main South Road at Wattle Flat. There are excellent gravel roads on each side of Main South, although they are probably too steep for a recumbent. Having said that I don’t believe the recumbent was at fault. It was just unfortunate timing.
Carmic0 wrote:
FTFY