The old cycling debate

There was a tragic accident on Footscray Road the other day, when a cyclist was cleaned up on a blind corner.  This is not a new problem in that stretch of road, where I've had near-misses on both occasions when I've ridden that way.

There's a good little opinion piece in The Age about commuter cycling.  I don't think there's much to quibble over, with one exception.

One of the reasons commuter cycling is (supposedly) safer in Europe is that drivers are held to be at fault if they are involved in an accident with a cyclist.  The reality is that a car traveling at any speed over 5km needs a large margin for error, not to mention a good amount of stopping distance.  Given the difference in bulk, it is clear that a cyclist is more vulnerable to physical injury and death in any altercation with a moving vehicle.

Many of the comments below the article point out that there is a need for better information, and that drivers and cyclists alike need to modify their attitudes.  The usual cankers -- that helmets discourage riding, cyclists think they're indestructible, there's not enough cycling infrastructure (well, that's true enough) -- are proudly on display, but little consideration of who is truly at fault in cyclist-car incidents.  Speaking from my own experience, car doors are a major hazard of on-road cycling, and to be fair, driver fault is assumed automatically in these cases.

However, when the accident involves a moving vehicle, things are not so clear.  I would suggest that it is time automatic driver fault was legislated into the road rules in these cases.  Cyclists routinely deal with inadequate provision for their presence on the road in the form of cycle lanes that disappear suddenly, or where an off-road path terminates with no obvious onward link.  There are many more split-second decisions involved in this situation than most motorists would admit.

The reality which has been demonstrated yet again is that a cyclist gets squished; the most the vehicle requires after an accident is a little bit of panel beating.  The cyclist-motorist blame game is a cop-out when it's life or death.