45
Australia, why are you still obsessed with freeways – when they’re driving us away from net zero?
(theconversation.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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It is common knowledge that many Australian motorists are overtly and irrationally hostile towards cyclists. So much so, that there is a running satirical joke in dashcam communities where people jokingly blame cyclists for accidents that didn't even involve one. Anyone who rides regularly, or knows people who ride regularly, is aware of this hostility.
Not saying you're wrong, the driver road rage mentality is definitely a thing, especially when it comes to cyclists.
But i've been surprised at the difference the 1 metre separation, etc laws have made to drivers general behaviour to cyclists. I think it really set a tone for better behaviour.
Since those laws were introduced i've seen one aggressive driver to cyclists. So thats a cool bit of annecdotal progress.
Geez, I think I've had at least one bus driver alone, per year since I started working professionally who tried to run me off the road. And that's despite mostly working from home since COVID, and ignoring all the car and ute drivers.
The one metre rule has made a difference for sure, but only against the marginal idiots. No difference with the complete morons or the actively hostile.
The bus driver bit is very surprising. Got some aggressive drivers out there in brisvegas hey?
But i'm not in the Perth city much, the roads are quieter where I am, pretty sure your inner suburbs brisbane so maybe theres a difference in that.
It happened in a way that, if it were an extremely rare occurrence, I could easily put down to sheer ignorance, rather than aggressiveness. But it was just so common, and these are supposed to be professional drivers, so ignorance is a hard excuse to swallow. I'd be riding along and a bus would start overtaking me, and then mid-overtake would just suddenly pull into the kerb, forcing me to jump off my bike and onto the footpath to avoid getting crushed. I was only commuting along that particular road for about 2 years, but it probably happened 5 or 6 times on a single 400 m stretch of road.
edit: I did live inner suburbs at the time, but this was actually happening in Adelaide Street, an inner-city CBD street.
Hmm, i had a road like that when i rode to work, Orrong rd, if you want to look it up. It was 'dual carriageway??' (I think, thats what you call it) and busy as fuck.
Riding along that road sounds similar to how you describe. I don't know if anyone was really gunning for me, the roads construction feels constricting to the driver if you're trying to pass a rider, so i's happy to give the benefit of the doubt when a driver got a bit close.
After about a month or so I realised the council had me sorted, they'd constructed a safe road specifically for riders running parallel to Orrong, of course, until you reached the industrial area, no one ever gives a shit about riders or public transport in industrial areas, that shits me.
Oh, Adelaide Street is nothing like that:
It's a single lane in each direction, with that lane being wide enough that when buses are pulled over for passengers, another vehicle behind them usually has room to overtake. Or, a cyclist riding near the left kerb can very easily be overtaken with enough room. What doesn't work, here or anywhere else, is buses starting to overtake cyclists, getting halfway past them, and then pulling in to a stop to drop off passengers.
Hahaha
@Gorgritch_umie_killa @Zagorath you rode a bike along Orrong? And you're alive? :bill:
Haha, yeah it was a pretty hairy ride in places, but other parts were really nice down by the river, even some of the back roads in the welshpool industrial area were nice to ride down.
I miss being able to do that ride.