Cycling in Sydney - AKA the door zone

[Stingray34]

This blog about cycling in Sydney represents what it's like riding in Australia, or for that matter, English-speaking countries in general.

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-sty...clings-door-zone-of-death-20120517-1ys25.html

The City of Sydney has controversially made bike lanes available discontinuously throughout parts of the city, which is to say, painted some green lines here and there. The problem with them is:

The cycle paths in Balmain have been built for dooring - you are forced into riding in the space that the driver needs to open their door as council has designated this a bike path.

This is a common reaction to cyclists in Australia:

"And if a door is opened into a cyclist’s path, causing a collision, who is to blame? The law is unequivocal in this instance: people are obliged to open doors with care, and any resulting collision is the fault of the door opener."

That is the stupidest thing I've ever read. ANY resulting collision? So if a cyclist (or another driver for that matter) is driving too close, not paying attention, drunk, asleep, then its still the door opener's fault?!

If a car is parked on the side of the road and the driver opens the door to exit the car only to find a cyclist wrapped around the doorframe then I would assert that the cyclist hasn't allowed enough room between themselves and the car and are riding too close.

As usual, cyclists trying to blame everyone buy themselves for their poor judgement and perverted necessity to be as much of a nuisance and inconvenience to motorists as possible.

And this:

Cyclists want it both ways all the time, I have lost patience with them. Sanctimonious troublemakers who think that by holding up traffic they are saving the planet.
The roads are overcrowded and cyclists harder to spot, yet they love zipping through the tiniest of gaps, or running lights, it's impossible to know where they will pop out even when you try to look for them, they certainly won't ever acknowledge fault. maybe if they showed some of the consideration they demand from drivers they might not be so maligned.

 

[LongSprint]

It's no better in Melbourne

Me to fat guy loading shopping into an SUV parked so far from the kerb in a strip shopping area that it almost forces me onto the tram tracks as I pass: Try parking!

Fat guy yells to me as he passes in his SUV having loaded his shopping and taken off: Try getting off your a**e and doing some shopping!

WTF????

 

[Stingray34]

Me to fat guy loading shopping into an SUV parked so far from the kerb in a strip shopping area that it almost forces me onto the tram tracks as I pass: Try parking!

Fat guy yells to me as he passes in his SUV having loaded his shopping and taken off: Try getting off your a**e and doing some shopping!

WTF????

That's the best he could come up with?? Fat, dumb and witless.