It takes an impressive degree of selective blindness to look at a photo accompanying a recent article of a child riding his e-bike to the beach, surfboard in hand, and conclude that the child is the thing to fear.
Not the 10-tonne truck with which he is forced to share the road, with its banged-up side view mirror and no protective side rails to stop him from being dragged under its wheels and killed in a collision. Nor the pathetic painted “bike lane”, which entices him along the truck’s blind spot – the most dangerous place on the road. The article’s “fed up locals” must at least be happy that he is wearing a helmet, although polystyrene offers him little protection in a collision with a truck or car.
A teenager snapped heading to the beach on his “fat bike” in Cronulla.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The fearful locals object to the boy riding on the footpath because he rides too fast, but would also object to him riding on the road because he rides too slow. The same group of people get whipped into frenzied opposition every time the obvious solution is proposed: reallocating road space to build a network of dedicated cycleways separated from motor traffic and pedestrians.
The benefits of separating bikes from pedestrians should not distract from the fact that there is no sensible comparison between the daily carnage inflicted by motor vehicles – with their vastly greater mass and speed – and the risks posed to others by people on bikes, including e-bikes.
More than 1000 pedestrians a year are struck by motor vehicles in NSW, an occurrence so commonplace that it is no longer newsworthy. Last year, 349 people died on our roads, and nearly 10,000 were seriously injured. Reports of serious injuries or deaths to others caused by people on bikes are almost non-existent. A carelessly ridden bike is a nuisance. A carelessly driven car is lethal.
The benefits of a separated cycleway network extend far beyond those who already cycle. As any transport planner or Balmain resident will tell you, private cars are a terrible way to get around a busy city and building more roads only induces more traffic.
The annual economic cost of congestion in Sydney will increase to $15.7bn by 2031.Credit: Nick Moir
Sydneysiders make over 2 million car trips a day of less than two kilometres, a distance easily covered by bike. The economic cost of congestion in Sydney is forecast to grow from $8 billion in 2016 to $15.7 billion by 2031. Transport is the second-highest and fastest-growing source of greenhouse emissions in NSW, made worse by a boom in the sale of super-sized SUVs and utes. A shift to EVs will do nothing to reduce road trauma, traffic congestion, or the looming public health crisis caused by inactivity. Seventy per cent of children are failing to meet minimum physical activity recommendations, with rates of active travel to school dropping from 75 per cent to 25 per cent over the past 40 years.
Cycling is a cheaper, cleaner and often quicker alternative to the car for trips of up to 10 kilometres and a far more efficient use of road space. E-bikes make cycling a viable alternative for more people, over longer distances and hillier terrain, and with cargo or children on board. Despite the hostility towards people on bikes expressed in comments sections and talkback radio, a majority of Sydneysiders either ride or are interested but concerned about mixing with motor traffic.
Get angry about our missing cycleway network, not kids on e-bikes
15
24
20.03.2024
It takes an impressive degree of selective blindness to look at a photo accompanying a recent article of a child riding his e-bike to the beach, surfboard in hand, and conclude that the child is the thing to fear.
Not the 10-tonne truck with which he is forced to share the road, with its banged-up side view mirror and no protective side rails to stop him from being dragged under its wheels and killed in a collision. Nor the pathetic painted “bike lane”, which entices him along the truck’s blind spot – the most dangerous place on the road. The article’s “fed up locals” must at least be happy that he is wearing a helmet, although polystyrene offers him little protection in a collision with a truck or car.
A teenager snapped heading to the beach on his “fat bike” in Cronulla.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The fearful locals object to the boy........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Donald Low
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
