I’m just learning to drive now and being behind the wheel highlights how easy it is to misjudge something, and how dangerous it can be to cycle/run on the road. High visibility clothing definitely helps.

I agree that being considerate is key, but although I do run too, I’d say roads should probably be left for wheeled vehicles. That said, the one time in London I saw someone on a kid scooter (like a skateboard with handlebars) leading a long line of buses in the bus lane probably takes the cake!

I prefer running on the road sometimes to on the sidewalks because the road is flatter and also to avoid the disruption to my momentum when I meet the occasional undiscerning pedestrian. People may say runners don’t belong on the road and perhaps rightly so because of the dangers to which I was reminded of a week ago while out on one of my runs. A car brushed against my hand before a junction where it made a left turn and it was not like there was no space to his right! Such inconsiderate drivers irk me all the time but I also understand not all are like that.

There was another occasion when a cab driver pulled up beside me while i was running. And to my surprise, it was just so he could offer me a word of caution as to the perils of running on the road, albeit at the side of it.

His brother had died after being hit by a car while running at the side of the road. That was a sobering reminder what a car in the hands of an inconsiderate driver can do.

Yes, the debate can go on and on about how much of the roads runners, cyclists and motorists are entitled to. But at the end of the day, the roads are for all to use and it would be so much safer and pleasant for all of us if we could just exercise our patience and civic-mindedness. =)

I’ve had to watch out for bikes myself while running on sidewalks.

On the 4th of March at about noon, I was walking along the footpath by the side of Elias Park Primary School, opposite block 510. I was carrying quite a lot of things. I heard the dinging of a bicycle bell some distance behind me. It was a repeated,persistent dinging and seemed to be approaching at quite a speed. I had no choice but to keep on walking along as I had no idea whether to move to the left or to the right, concerned that I would step into the cyclist’s path. When the dinging came up very close behind me, I stopped walking and turned around to look.

The cyclist braked and was almost on top of me. I had thought that it was an impatient youngster, but it turned out to be a man of about 60. He shouted at me and said something to the effect of “you think you own the road(?) ah?”.
I replied, “You are very rude.”
He shouted that I ‘should move aside when I heard him coming’.
I then replied, “Which side do I move to? I don’t know which side you are coming from, left or right? You were cycling too fast”

I had my umbrella opened, but down to the side and he raised his arm and hit at it and cycled by, all the time yelling the ‘f’ word at me. My umbrella suddenly went limp and I realised that he had hit it so hard that it had bent. I followed him and called out that he had broken my umbrella but he used the ‘f’ word again and pedalled off. I couldn’t catch up with him.

When I got to my daughter’s home, I told my daughter about it and I later called the neighbourhood police and spoke to a Corporal Koh, who told me that I “should have taken down the cyclist’s particulars.”
What particulars? There was no license number to take down and he wasn’t about to stop and give me his particulars although I would recognise him if I ever saw him again. That corporal simply said there was nothing much they could do and said ‘goodbye’ and hung up.

My point is, without licensing for bicycles, such people get away with acts of aggression and nothing can be done about it? What if he hadn’t braked in time and hit me? How would I get redress for that?

This is not a once off incident. I’ve had 2 other brushes with nasty cyclists within a few months. I hope the relevant authorities will look into protecting pedestrians against errant cyclists.

It would be helpful if the town council took steps to continually educate cyclists on cycling etiquettes.

Thank you.

Thanks for sharing your experiences in Perth, always good to hear what it’s like in a different place. Yes behaviour is more important than infrastructure, that’s exactly the conclusion I came to while writing this article. There’s something very reaffirming about seeing a queue of cars waiting patiently behind a cyclist crawling up a hill (I’ve been that cyclist before!).

A smile campaign could be fun – say for speeding, ‘smile, you’re on camera!’ – or those yellow boxes, repaint with smiley faces saying ‘don’t squish me!’. Right well, wonder how it’d work in the downtown rush hour. Don’t mean to sound cynical, I just think it’s hard to hit the right notes with a campaign, especially since there’s always some campaign going on (cue: rap, a happy journey starts like that). Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try though.

On road tax – it is indeed an argument you often hear from motorists. A few possible rejoinders to that.
(1) Cars cause much more wear and tear to roads than cyclists can ever hope to.
(2) Ditto for environmental pollution, which is an externality since it affects others as well.
(3) Cars take up much more space on the road per person than bikes, you’d need a fully occupied car to equal cycling.
(4) In Singapore’s case, if you compare COE/tax payment of cars to motorcycles, then scaling the payments down by a similar proportion for bikes will give you a fairly nominal figure.

Ok I haven’t thought through all the possible rejoinders properly yet, any more suggestions/criticisms are welcome!

Cheers,
Zing

I remember the Traffic Police having a ‘smile’ campaign where motorists were encouraged to give way to each other, i reckon we could have a similar campaign that emphasise the safety of cyclists as well. Afterall, they are still humans who are trying to get from point a to b. Although i’m guessing that the key to the campaign’s success is to change the mindset of the motorists who are paying Road Tax. Yes the cyclists are not paying any.