Viral Video Endangering Riders

Over the weekend a rider had a drink thrown at her whilst riding.  Luckily she didn’t crash, but she is concerned a post circulating on social media may have inspired a copy-cat.

One of our team members commutes regularly around the eastern suburbs of Sydney.  On her journey home from a volunteer surf patrol on Australia Day, she was passed closely, run into the gutter by a bus, and had her leg scraped by a car. In both cases there was plenty of time for these vehicles to plan a safe pass as she pedalled up steep hills.  

Road Safety

This behaviour comes in spite of the work of BIKEast and Bicycle NSW running Bikes and Buses safety days on weekends to educate drivers.  It also follows the NSW Centre for Road Safety ignoring our appeals for a high quality safety campaign to educate drivers and protect bike riders.  

If you experience unsafe road user behaviour, we remind you of the NSW Police 4D’s initiative and to report it if you can.  Bicycle NSW has learnt, in response to submitted footage of a heavy vehicle driver threatening a rider, NSW Police will be targeting a problem section of road.

“We know the cameras to record evidence for police are beyond the budget of many bike riders, and it’s not always possible to remember a registration number if you’re struggling to stay upright,” said Bicycle NSW General Manager of Public Affairs, Bastien Wallace.

“If it’s possible to safely record evidence we encourage riders to report incidents to NSW Police,” said Bastien.

All bike riders deserve to be able to cycle safely. We encourage you to report any incidents to local police and to let your MP know what happened.  Your efforts help create a safer environment for all bike riders in your area.