FIX CULTURE AND ROADS

LOVE them or loathe them, cyclists have every right to share our roads. Just like all vehicles, there has been a marked increase in the number of cyclists on local roads in recent years, drawing plenty of ire from frustrated motorists.

This frustration seems to have evolved into a culture of casual abuse that is all too frequently seen locally.

Ask any local cyclist, and they will be able to recount hurled obscenities and near-misses sustained in the simple pursuit of a leisurely ride.

But it doesn’t need to be this way. Across the globe, cyclists and motorists share roadways without the same level of angst that seems to occur every weekend on our coastal roads.

We are developing a culture of road cycling intolerance, with seemingly dramatic consequences.

Local cycling groups say they are facing daily incidents with motorists and there have been at least two serious crashes in recent weeks, resulting in one death and another hospitalisation. They say the danger is such that they are running out of roads on which to ride.

While our culture is in dire need of a fix, the fact is so too do many of our roads. Some of the most popular coastal routes have woefully inadequate shoulder room to accommodate both cyclists and motorists, only exacerbating the growing intolerance problem.

If we can get the infrastructure right, perhaps then we can go about alleviating the cause of some of the frustration, and make the first steps towards fixing a culture problem that is threatening the safety of all road users.