Clearly, the tense situation between automobile drivers and bicyclists sharing the roads in Australia is still very much at play – you may remember the highly publicized incident of a cyclist who crashed into an open taxi door in Melbourne a couple of months ago. In the following video, a bicyclist from Perth in Western Australia compiled footage from all of the near-misses he had over a period of a couple of months at the end of last year and which ended in an accident.
Some commentators on YouTube stated that he wasn’t on the right side of the law at least in one case when he entered a roundabout (at the 35 sec mark) without giving way.
“Considering there wasn’t a shoulder lane marked until the intersection at 0:35 and you were approaching with speed, I believe that one was your fault as you made your own lane whilst overtaking cars. Should have been in the lane behind cars, and turned left at the intersection into the shoulder lane rather than riding straight through. That car made a terrible turn, though,” said Michael T.
The rider, nicknamed Aliwoh, replied: “Michael, the lane is there, it’s not visible in the footage but very obvious when you are there. It’s covered in tyre marks from skidding trucks and cars. The lane is continuous. In any case, the driver of the car crosses a solid white line.”
In the end, Aliwoh crashed into a white Hyundai, which was at fault. Asked why he didn’t slow down, he said, “I didn’t deliberately ride into the car out of stubbornness, I took evasive action as soon as I saw him breach the line.”
The rider suffered some light injuries from the accident. “Drs thought my scaphoid was broken but it’s just soft tissue damage. I reported the crash online and received an automated reply saying that it wouldn’t be investigated. The driver didn’t see me at all, some do see you and still pull out, misjudging your speed. The car hire company has offered to pay for my bike repairs,” wrote Aliwoh.
By John Halas
VIDEO