‘F..k the police’: Cyclists rage at police crackdown on safety and behaviour

Motorists have long been penalised for not sticking to speed limits, or running through stop-signs at a snail’s pace with not another car in sight. Cyclists, welcome to life on the road, writes Neil Keene.

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Complete madness!

So started the up-in-arms Facebook post I read last week - one of many deriding police action in recent days to crack down on cyclist behaviour and safety in NSW and Queensland.

Neil Keene, an avid cyclist, says no road user, on two wheels or four, should be above the law

The first hot winds of contempt started blowing on Wednesday after it emerged, shock-horror, that police were finally starting to treat cyclists like the equal road users they have long lobbied to be by enforcing signposted speed limits and a stop sign in Centennial Park.

From today, new fines have come into effect meaning cyclists will be penalised to a similar extent to motorists, althought they have won a battle to delay the requirement for them to carry ID.

“F--k the police!” cried one cyclist on Facebook, beneath a story link outlining the action. The post was a reference to the NWA song made famous recently by the acclaimed film Straight Outta Compton.

NEW CYCLING LAWS COME IN TODAY

That outlaw bikie echoed the sentiments of many complaining about this affront to freedom and common sense.

Others said the park’s 30km/h speed limit was ridiculous, and that the intersection in question didn’t require a stop sign at all.

Cyclists urged their brethren to contest any fines issued in court, both to avert the financial penalty and to clog up the justice system in a show of two-wheeled solidarity.

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But since when did personal opinion give road users the right to flout the law?

Motorists have long been penalised for not sticking to seemingly silly speed limits, or running through stop-sign intersections at a snail’s pace with not another car in sight.

Welcome to life on the road.

As far back as 2014, The Daily Telegraph reported an average two cyclists were being hospitalised every weekend after accidents in Centennial Park.

New laws kick in today seeing cyclists fined at a similar rate to motorists. Picture: John Grainger

Cyclists were being clocked at the time travelling almost 50km/h in the park’s 30km/h zone.

I’m a frequent and avid cyclist, though admittedly not of the lycra-clad variety.

Often, I have my four-year-old son riding along in a child seat on the back of the bike.

Increasingly, he’ll be weaving drunkenly beside me on a scooter or on his own bike supported by trainer wheels.

I’ve lost count of the times we’ve had a near-miss with clusters of much faster cyclists approaching silently from behind on our local shared bike/walking track, before overtaking at pace.

A simple ring of a bell would have been sufficient both to warn us of their approach and move us to the far left of the path.

But they don’t have a bell!

In their unending quest for streamlined efficiency (and image, I suspect), the cycling elite remove the bell their bike came with, or fail to install one on those models that don’t include them.

A number of cyclists have expressed outrage at attempts to crack down on safety and cyclist behaviour

This is against the law in NSW and Queensland, but it is the absolute norm.

It came as no surprise this morning that there’s equally hot-headed upheaval about Brisbane police issuing fines to cyclists whose bikes don’t have bells.

These people will argue that a shouted warning is equally effective.

From personal experience, I can tell you it’s not.

If it were, cops would probably drop the lights-and-sirens business and just start yelling out their highway patrol windows.

I hear a voice directed at me, and I instinctively turn my head to see who is talking. I hear a bell, and I know it’s a warning.

I don’t resent cyclists – I am one.

But I do resent when other road users – on two wheels or four – think they are above the law, or think they are being victimised simply because they’re not sticking to the rules.