By Afraa Kori
Local cyclists are calling for motorist and local authorities to help change the culture of road safety.
Pakenham resident and sales manager of Trek Bicycle, Wolf Bitzer observed concerning behaviours from motorists that threaten cyclists’ safety.
This includes motorists passing too closely, making cyclists fear being pulled into vehicle wheels, or pulling out in front of them despite clearly seeing them. Aggressive behaviors like revving engines, speeding up, and quickly passing are more common when cyclists are riding slowly uphill.
These incidents happen throughout the shire, especially on Browns Road and the descent from Upper Beaconsfield into Beaconsfield, along Beaconsfield Emerald Road.
One of their former riders, who moved to Europe, rode 30,000 to 40,000 kilometres a year, and experienced more frequent close calls or unsafe encounters due to the amount of time spent on the road. Whereas Wolf only rides from home to the shop once or twice a year, so he has less encounters of motorists not behaving properly.
The decline in motorist behaviour can potentially pressure cyclists to give up what they love or avoid riding on certain routes.
“We have had clients, and in fact, we just had a gentleman here today, and apparently he used to ride from Pakenham into the city for work. He did for a great number of years, and he stopped because he was essentially scared of his life.”
“There’s certain routes, like where on the road that people won’t ride on because they don’t feel safe, so they avoid certain places. All the cyclists that I know of or the ones that ride in our groups, they refuse to ride on Wellington Road.”
Many cyclists like Wolf prefer riding with a group for safety, as it reduces the risk of being overlooked or left alone in case of an incident.
Wolf believes these behaviours are happening because some drivers feel entitled to the road, and aggressive behaviour is more common with car drivers, as they have a larger vehicle and get frustrated when stuck behind cyclists.
“They think, ‘I pay registration, so you shouldn’t be using the roads,’ which is completely ridiculous. There’s also an arrogance, like they own the road.”
“There’s this mindset of, ‘I need to be somewhere, and I don’t want you to slow me down.’ It’s like, ‘I need to get to my destination, and you’re preventing me from doing that.'”
Motorist drivers are often found using phones and not paying attention to cyclists, which contributes to the problem.
Wolf acknowledges that cyclists can also be at fault, failing to follow road rules and contributing to negative perceptions.
On a positive note, Wolf believes the road is generally safe for cyclists and that cyclists and motorists can work together to share the road safely.
However, when it comes to improving road behaviour, all motorists, regardless of the vehicle type, could benefit from a shift in mindset and a greater sense of respect for one another on the road.
Wolf, originally from Germany highlights the need for education to break this generational problem.
“There needs to be more training when you’re learning how to drive and how you should be treating other road users.”
“Get them in early when they’re still learning how to use the road and that way, hopefully, it will eventually change.”
