Cyclists gambling with their lives on highways

Ayoung cyclist died recently after a collision with a prime mover travelling in the same direction on the West Australian stretch of the Nullarbor.

The question of bike safety on arterial roads and highways has been bought into question, yet again.

Obviously there are two sides to the story and ‘all’ road users should have access to all of our roads but the transport industry is questioning ‘why’ people would put their lives in danger by cycling on a dangerous highway that is a busy main freight corridor - a road that barely fits two trucks passing each other.

As much as some in the transport industry ‘joke’ about cyclists and the menace they are and we have all encountered or heard about them riding several or more abreast and holding up traffic, no one is as cold hearted not to care when another human tragically and horrifically loses their life.

The first thing in question is the roads themselves which unfortunately don’t accommodate everyone. Whilst many cities have built bicycle paths, these are just not available on highways and main roads.

An alternative is for those in charge of road works is to increase the road shoulders to allow cyclists and slower moving vehicles room to pull over when required. This would of course cost billions of dollars, would take decades to complete and who is going to pay for it?

With all other motorists paying registration, license fees and the commercial sector paying heavily for compliance and insurance – cyclists pay no money towards infrastructure with exception of their own business and personal tax.

Next is speed. An experienced cyclist can travel up to 30 kph.

However, they are riding on a road where the rest of the traffic is travelling at 100, 110, even 130 kph in some states of Australia and frankly, they are a fraction of the size of a road train.

It makes sense to question ‘why’ cyclists are allowed to travel on roads where the speed limit is above 60 kph if there is no infrastructure in place for them.

Another question regarding speed is why all other road users can be fined for doing