LETTER: Bells on bicycles should be compulsory

Letter writer Eloise Rowe says cyclists and motorists must have common courtesy.

LOOK OUT: Motorists need to be cautious and extra vigilant when it comes to sharing the roads with cyclists. Picture: Tanya Easterby

IT'S mandatory for drivers to allow set margins for cyclist road users. It is not only a matter of common courtesy, it is a safety and legal issue.

But on shared pathways, where cyclists are often found in groups, with pedestrians sharing the paths, cyclists often forget that "power gives way to sail" is the rule of the sea, the road, and too, shared pathways.

Motorists need to be cautious and extra vigilant when it comes to sharing the roads with cyclists, by law, while cyclists on paths often forget that pedestrians have a right to be warned of their approach from behind or given a wide berth on approaching.

There is no mandatory law, but the law of common courtesy.

Some cyclists approach with speed or more than two abreast, without warning.

When bikes are fitted with bells, as all bikes should be, it isn't just common courtesy to ring a warning, it is a safety issue.

If cyclists expect such courtesy and consideration on the roads, should not they extend a similar courtesy to pedestrians?

Having regular walks along shared paths, my experience is that cyclists either don't care to warn with a bell, or are too involved in conversation to even consider it.

Bells on bikes should be compulsory. Cyclists should ring to warn of their approach every time, keep left, with no more than two abreast on a path, rather than expecting walkers to give way. Selfishness is rampant in our society.

Eloise Rowe

Tannum Sands

Originally published as LETTER: Bells on bicycles should be compulsory