NSW roads minister says cyclists should be licensed and banned from some roads - for their own safety

"I need to be tougher on car drivers, but I am increasingly persuaded that we need to look at a licence for cyclists."

That's being 'tougher on car drivers', is it?

“It’s not going to worry the ones that are doing the right thing, but the bad ones that are running lights, crossing over, being aggressive, they’re a large part of the statistic”

I'd like to see those statistics. If they're anything like the UK ones, he's talking out of his arse.

...six cyclists out on a club run on Southern Cross Drive suffered serious injuries when the group they were riding with was hit by a car...

So how many of these cyclists weren't doing the 'right thing'? All? Some? None? Did the driver just decide not to take any chances and wipe them all out?

“there are some really good rides that cyclists do, and part of it involves Southern Cross Drive and then on down to Wollongong ... but there have been a couple of accidents there."

I wonder how many roads he intends to ban motorists from because 'there have been a couple of accidents there'. I suppose 'making the roads safer and providing decent infrastructure for all road users' isn't in his vocabulary.

"... it is a very small section of cyclists that don’t do the right thing. It would be probably under one per cent”

Ah - so the vast majority of cyclists do the 'right thing' after all. His measures therefore won't help anyone or achieve anything positive, but instead further depress cycling in a state that's already very anti-cycling.

And that Phil Ayres, the so-called chief executive of Cycling New South Wales, appears to have assumed the role of cycling's Uncle Tom. He's doing cycling in NSW no favours at all with his pathetic grovelling and acquiescence.

One thing that I've noticed when traveling by bike, is how people judge my bike. Back home (Switzerland) it's absolutely a no go to take your bike into a hotel room. Because it is regarded as a vehicle, quite as a car in fact. Kids go to school by bike, so it's an essential part of growing up. When crossing the north american continent by bike, it was considered as a simple toy, you'd store in the trunk of your car to "have fun".
Some years back we even had to buy plates for our bikes in Switzerland – the toy became a vehicle.

https://www.google.ch/search?q=velo+nummer&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=...

live in Melbourne but have a 457 visa so no need to get a Victoria licence my UK one is good - in the UK I could drive a 7.5tonne truck plus a trailer total 12tonnes - lucky when I first passed my test I actually drove a 5tonne truck on a regular basis and an experienced driver rode along and taught me how to use mirrors and assess space needed

here's something from the NSW learn to drive site

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/licensing/tests/hazardperceptiontest/buildyour...

as far as I can tell you can't brake, steer or reduce speed (but that might be browser dependent - I'm being generous)

cyclist appears but you can wait and click on him as your bonnet glides past and get an ok without deviating or slowing

half the "hazards" are stationery obstacles fits with a video I should dig out with an Au' expert in road safety talking about setting speed limits - focussed on speed limit being set to reduce driver injuries when drove off road - other road users hardly got mentioned

It's easier for them to just try (but fail) to ignore it (as demonstrated here as he and others can't stop talking about cyclists...

When I passed my driving test I was given a license that allowed me to ride and drive all sorts of other stuff, big and small, that I was not trained or tested on. Now we have someone who is suggesting that I need a license to ride a bicycle; a mode of transport I have been using all of my life and I include the time when stabilisers were fitted!

The bicycle is the solution, not the problem!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2012/10/09/16/23/drivers-owe-900-mil...

unpaid traffic fines

similar here in Victoria

They should be incensed, not licensed.

Go easy on poor Duncan. He must've copped a hell of a time at high school

I read the Queensland report on cycling which resulted in the 1 and 1.5 metre passing law being trialled in Queensland. Of the ~ 80 recommendations, I don't remember seeing one about licensing.

This just makes me think that Duncan Gay is pandering to the lies promulgated by motorists for political gain i.e. cyclists don't pay road tax, cyclists get hit because they don't wear a helmet or hi vis, they run red lights, they hold up traffic, they're inconsiderate etc, etc.

It's all easier than doing what they know works. Their own studies show that Sydney's cycle lanes reduce accidents by 50% and yet when the liberal party came into power they stopped building Sydney's cycle lanes. Never mind that cycling is far and away the cheapest way to move people around the city (Aucklands new rail link tunnel is costing $350,000 a metre as a comparison).

His name is GAY, GAY! Hahahaha

....in other news, nobody gives two shits about Australia.

So when they've banned and burned all the cyclists they'll move onto pedestrians. Lets ban them, burn them all! We want the the roads all to our selves. When they are no more things to blame, ban and burn we'll turn on ourselves, smash and burn them to smithereens. Get out the frikin' way!

Why don't they ban pedestrians too. Then they could ban the aboriginals!!! How about banning homosexuals? And old people and disabled people. That'd solve all the problems.

I sense a money making scheme coming to NSW, the coffers must be on the empty side.

Irrelevant Minister "Some bastards are still riding their bikes, even with the helmet law. We've got to stop them, it's for their own good."

Completely Irrelevant Minister, Duncan Gay "No worries, we'll licence the stupid f*****ts and if that doesn't work we'll tax them as well. Obesity, who cares? Exercise is for idiots, and as you can see, I make very sure that my brain doesn't get any."

Surely even the average Aussie has worked out what's going on by now? Government ministers have fingers in many pies, like manufacturing cars and building roads for cars, but I bet there are precious few who have shares in bike shops.

As a car driver I have a car license and as a racing cyclist I have a cycling license (which costs more than the car license)

Just having a license doesn't help the rate of accidents. Just look at how many bingles there are between cars on a daily basis.

We need to look at driver awareness and teach drivers to actually drive rather than just how to pass the driving test

License plates on bikes? Pull the other one Duncan - it's got a tax disc on it

In most countries it's totally impractical to license bikes, but when you've reduced cycling to a fraction of a percent with so many other stupid laws that fly in the face of scientific evidence you might just be able to pull it off.

Country with mandatory helmet laws hates cyclists shocker.

Just substitute the word Pedestrian for Cyclist in the above article. Now I wonder how the pontificating idiot above would feel.

If all Pedestrians were licensed they would behave better and increase their safety! Surely that's what is required!

I do believe everyone making a public statement about cycling should first be required to commute to work for a month.

On the other hand, if every school boy and girl was to pass a bike driving test, they would be more aware about bike safety in traffic, also later as a car driver.

Over here in Switzerland I had a cop at primary school teaching us the rules, taking us practicing several times and testing our skills driving busy roads (I got a gold medal, the only ever though…).

Quote:

During March, six cyclists out on a club run on Southern Cross Drive suffered serious injuries when the group they were riding with was hit by a car.

and no charges yet against the driver

(and that should read very serious injuries)

Aussie driver like it simple - that's my lane and the speed limit is my speed

oh and I've already got a license - not checked what the biggest I can drive in Aus is but I've got 2tonne SUV as well as my 7kg bike

Nearly all cyclists already have licenses. Adult cyclists anyway. They're the same driving licenses that neanderthals like Duncan Gay have.

he's doing a Boris... throwing a dead cat onto the table to detract from the dangerous state of his roads and the deadly driving of his motorists...

".... part of it involves Southern Cross Drive and then on down to Wollongong. I understand how important this is for cyclists, but there have been a couple of accidents there"

Strikes me (having grown up and ridden there; and now being an occasional visitor with a bicycle) that the problem is that when they built the Sthn Cross Drive/M1/M5 interface, particularly the bit at the western end of the runway tunnel, they simply ignored bicycles. As an aside, the runway tunnel itself if (I find) terrifying on a bike. If I am riding south I will skirt around the northern edge of the airport through Tempe to avoid it.

Australian cars are generally bigger (and older) than your average UK car and because there's usually less traffic they are frequently travelling faster than vehicles in the UK. To compound matters, your average Australian driver tries to make up for their lack of skill (hard to believe, but the average quality of driving in Australia is considerably below that in the UK) with aggression. I find riding my bike in and around London considerably less stressful than Sydney.

Isn't Australia largely irrelevant?

It's geographic disconnection has caused it to take some very different evolutionary paths to those travelled elsewhere in the world.

Witness the marsupials, Aussie rules, their attitude to the environment, Holden cars, and Shane Warne.

Similarly, their politicians have developed in a similarly unique and bizarre manner.

What a prat. He hasn't bothered to read the crash analysis of course. But there are a lot of dolts like him who believe victim blaming is the answer to road safety, and I've come across a lot who think that way in Australia in particular.

Of course in the UK, maybe we should support the Aussies doing this? It'll certainly restrict Australian cycling and that'll help keep TeamGB in its prominent position. Just joking - but maybe if someone pointed out to him his move will help ensure British cyclists will keep on beating Aussies he'd take a different tack.