Melbourne shows all the signs of having a love affair with bikes – a constant increase in the number of cyclists on our streets, an expansion in bike lanes and plans for improved rules for road users. But for all that, the dangerous tension that exists between riders and drivers shows no sign of abating. New laws may help end the spiralling tension.
By VANESSA CICCOTELLI
Foot to pedal, legs contracting then relaxing in continuous harmony with the rapid spinning of her bike’s spokes, Philippa Birch cycles her usual morning trail through Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges.
She knows the track well. She basks in the morning’s fresh, dewy air. She chases the unique high that comes from complete physical exhaustion. It’s the nearest thing to total freedom that she knows.
But even as she peddles over bushy terrain, dirt and sticks, potholes and tree roots, at one with her beloved mountain bike, there is still one place she’s not so eager to go on two wheels.
Cycling tracks are one thing, the road is another. Although Ms Birch started out as a road cyclist, since being involved in a hit-and-run incident four years ago she has found herself opting more and more to mountain bike instead.
Elsewhere in Melbourne, Garry Brennan is on his way to work at the Bicycle Network in Melbourne's CBD. He draws on a lifetime of cycling to ride with confidence, assured by his own level of fitness and physical co-ordination.
But as he passes the Maribyrnong River, sticking closely to his side of the road, the memory of being deliberately struck down by a car on his way home from work two years ago spins through his mind. His grip on the handlebars tightens slightly.
At the same time, Ashlee Hirschfeld is making her way to work at Car City in Ringwood. As she drives through the heavy congestion along Maroondah Highway, she hopes this morning she will not have to slam her foot on the breaks as she’s had to so many times before. She looks out her window at the group of cyclists driving up ahead, her pulse quickens and she thinks: “You had better stay in single file.”
As Ms Birch, Mr Brennan and Ms Hirschfeld make their way to their respective destinations, one common sentiment underlies each of their thoughts – the status quo is not coping with the level of tension between cyclists and other motorists as the two attempt to coexist on Victoria’s roads.
VicRoads is undertaking a review of Victoria’s cycling road rules and road safety legislation, following the rise of cycling in Victoria in recent years.
The review comes as part of the Victorian Government’s Cycling Into The Future 2013-23 cycling strategy, which sets out a 10-year plan to build and support cycling in Victoria.
The cycling strategy reports that more than one million Victorians ride a bike each week and that cycling in Melbourne increased by 23 per cent from 2005 to 2011.
VicRoads senior media adviser Gail Carland says VicRoads is looking at almost 11,000 responses from road users to an online survey conducted as part of the review, which will be considered in the report provided to the government in early 2015.
“The aim is to determine whether the cycling-related road rules and legislation for bike riders are working as well as they should be and, if necessary, to make recommendations on how they can be improved or better communicated, to ensure the safety of bike riders and encourage more people to ride,” Ms Carland says.
Mr Brennan is hoping this review will set some major changes into motion.
Every day at work in his role as spokesperson for the Bicycle Network, a community organisation that promotes cycling, he is reminded of the need for planning and regulations to reflect Victoria’s current cycling landscape.
Each day brings a new story of a cyclist being involved in an incident with a car. It is always a reminder of his own incident: the car revving, swerving right at him, screams and deliberate howls of laughter coming from within the car, falling to the ground, a broken shoulder.
“I’m hoping and expecting that there will be some really creative ideas that government agencies and authorities will do research on, because we want evidence-based solutions,” Mr Brennan says.
“Some of those road rules date back to horse and cart days. The last big rule change dates back to 1992 when the national road rules were introduced in all states.
“At that time, Victoria was the only state with any appreciable number of bikes on the road, so not a lot of attention was paid to whether the rules suited bikes or not.
“But now that we have a very large number of bikes on the street, it makes sense to renew the road rules.”
While Mr Brennan agrees updating rules and planning will be a move in the right direction, he believes the root of the issue is behaviour and attitude.
“The main issues bike riders report to us are to do with the behaviour of road users and aggression by drivers,” he says.
“What annoys them is the lack of respect shown to them by other people on the road.”
Ms Birch has experienced this first-hand.
“They drive as close to you as they can. You get tooting and people yelling at you,” she says.
Ms Birch's initiation to the frightening side of cycling came via a hit and run four years ago.
“It was my seventh or eight ride ever,” she recalls.
“I was coming down a hill in Warrandyte and a car was coming out of a side street.
“They hesitated and then they stopped and I had right of way anyway, so I was like, 'Cool, they’ve seen me'. But then as I was going past the street they came out and hit me. Then they just drove off.”
Two broken hands meant that for two months Ms Birch could not shower herself. For six months her hands could not bear any weight. It was nine months before she could go back to work.
Her love for cycling meant she was eager to put foot to pedal once more, but the incident had worked its way into her psyche.
“I’d freak out whenever cars would come out of side streets. I would naturally break. It took about a year to get full confidence back,” she says.
“I try to block it out, but when I encounter aggressive drivers it can still play on my mind a bit.”
VicRoads acknowledges the need to “encourage safe and respectful behaviours from all road users”, and identifies education as a means of doing this, however, Mr Brennan thinks it will take more than education.
“Research has shown that when drivers get on to the road, they are already angry getting into the car that morning,” he says.
“They’ve had a fight with their kids or their boss. Something else has happened. So bike riders are the objects of their anger, not the subjects of it. Bike riders are a convenient whipping boy for drivers to take their anger out on.”
Mr Brennan believes getting more cyclists on to the roads is the key to changing drivers’ attitudes and improving cyclist safety.
“Because for so many years we didn’t have that many cyclists on the road, they were treated like outlaws. Some psychologists call it the ‘edge group’. All minorities suffer discrimination just because they’re an identifiable group and prejudice naturally arises in that context,” Mr Brennan explains.
“But now the number of bike riders is increasing.
“Social empathy might be a force that will kick in as more and more people know someone who rides a bike. Once you see the human face of cycling, you’ll have empathy for it, because riders ahead of the drivers on the road are no longer anonymous.”
But while Victoria’s number of cyclists may be growing, general attitudes of motorists indicate there is a long way between theory and reality when it comes to getting motorists to make the switch to cycling.
Motorist Ms Hirschfeld thinks the development of infrastructure for cyclists, such as additional bike lanes, will not address the problems that affect the majority of road users.
“The fact is, it’s not like the majority of people are going to switch from driving to riding a bike. It’s impractical and people just don’t want to,” she says.
“It’s not like they’re going to create bike lanes and people are just going to go, 'Oh, I might just ride to work today'.
“That’s just such a waste of money when there’s so much other stuff that needs to be done. They’ll create this nice, pretty bike lane, and the road next to it is terrible and covered with potholes.”
However, Ms Hirschfeld agrees the issue is predominantly a behavioural one.
“I think they feel like they’re a minority so they just hate all other motorists,” she says.
“It’s the same with motorists. Pretty much all motorists don’t like cyclists.”
When the review is delivered to the government next year, the government will consider what its future priorities and policy on cycling should be. Public education and improved communication of existing rules, as well as development of strategies and policies will be the first actions to be considered.
VicRoads says that if the review presents strong justifications for changes to road rules, “further consultation will be undertaken to understand the impact of any proposed change”.
Until then, the cycle continues.