I don’t know how many times it happened to me, but it isn’t just once with cycling. Minding my own business, I have come out of a shop or a pub to terrorised and nearly skittled by a crazed cyclist on the footpath doing a gazillion miles per hour.
Shock and fear have always been my first reaction. These emotions are soon followed by anger and frustration.
Let’s best be honest; you need a license to own a dog in this city. You need to have your cat micro-chipped and not allow it out at night. The only harmless thing that doesn’t need a license for are the fish in your goldfish bowl.
So how is it possible that a person on a bicycle travelling at 30 to 40 km an hour can ride on the footpath with impunity. Forget red lights, don’t walk or caution signs these BMX bandits, pay no heed to any laws that I can find in the ‘Transport for New South Wales Road User Handbook’.
They, together with the new scourge’s that have been brought into our community in the form of those of electric bikes and electric skateboard’s setting out as a pedestrian has never been more dangerous. It is not as though they have nowhere else to ride. Living in the city of Sydney under the bastion of the illustrious Clover Moore our sainted Lord Mayor, Sydneysiders have become used to a proliferation of bicycle paths all over the City of Sydney Local Government Authority. Without consultation, nor consideration, these paths have been inflicted upon our community. Similar to the locked down laws our city of Council believe that this is in our own best interests. Are they?
Today the bicycle is a mixed bag, usually with more negatives than positives. In many cities, bike lanes now consume more road space than they free up, they add to pollution as well as reducing it, they hurt neighbourhoods and business districts alike, and they have become a drain on the public purse. The bicycle today — or rather the infrastructure that now supports it — exemplifies “inappropriate technology,” a good idea gone wrong through unsustainable, willy-nilly top-down planning.
Notwithstanding they are severely under-utilised, they also cost the earth. The renegade faction seems to feel that they are free to do whatever they want with little or no scrutiny from the Boys and Girls in Blue.
But what happens if you are the poor unsuspecting coot who is bowled over by one of the lunatics.
Firstly, they carry no personal indemnity, nor third-party accident insurance. They are not linked to any government accident plan or program that I could find.
So, if you were hit or injured then you’re on your own. This doesn’t seem very fair to me.
When you drive a car, you must carry a green slip. A CTP insurance policy or Green Slip predominantly protects the driver of the motor vehicle from liability if they were to injure or cause the death of a person or people in a motor accident. You need a Green Slip to register a motor vehicle in NSW.
CTP insurance protects the third party, being pedestrians, passengers, cyclists, motorcyclists, and drivers of other vehicles, by paying for their treatment and care, which may be for life, and also for loss of income if they are an earner, and any damages claim they may be entitled to lodge. It will also provide you with 26 weeks of benefits from the date of the accident if you are at-fault or mostly at-fault.
As far as I can gather bicycles have no such insurances. But I am not an expert. I therefore turned to in-house legal beagle John Walsh to answer a few important questions.
John what rights if any do I have if I’m knocked over or injured by a cyclist on or off the road?
First the rules are complex because of the multitude of human powered and electric-powered bikes scooters wheels etc out there; leading to much regulation
So, for this article we will restrict ourselves to human powered bicycles
The best source is the Transport for New South Wales, Centre for Road Safety
However, for this article we have extracted;
THE TWELVE ROAD RULES FOR CYCLING
1. Bike riders over 16 cannot ride on footpaths; except in rare and signposted situations
2 Where there is a designated bike lane bike riders must ride in that line
3 Bike riders must give way to pedestrians
4 Bike riders must wear helmets
5 Bike riders must not ride a bike at night or in hazardous weather conditions unless the bike displays a flashing or steady white light from the front and a flashing or steady red light from the rear the bike also requires a red reflector which is visible from the rear
6 Bicycle riders must obey the road rules
7 Bike riders must stop at red lights and stop signs, give hand signals when changing direction, give way as indicated by road signs,
8 A bike rider aged18 or older must carry photo ID
9 A rider of a bicycle over 16 years of age is not permitted to ride on footpaths except in restricted cases
10 A bicycle rider must give way to pedestrians in all circumstances
11 Bicycle riders in pathways that are designed for both cyclists and pedestrians must keep to the left and ride at a speed suited to the environment especially having in mind their obligation to always give way to pedestrians, and take all steps to avoid any danger to the pedestrian
12 A bicycle Rider is not to cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver or a pedestrian
13 From our own research where a bicycle rider and a pedestrian are in proximity the bicycle Rider has similar responsibilities to that of the driver of a vehicle; VERY onerous
14 When dealing with a pedestrian a bike rider has a far greater responsibility to take all necessary steps for the protection of that pedestrian
We will look at vehicles other than bicycles on another occasion
However, to answer your question as to what rights a pedestrian has in the circumstances: the short answer unfortunately is probably none.
Or three main reasons.
First, the bicycle riding community do not appear to have any idea of the very strict legal obligations they ride under. In fact, some seem to ride in absolute disregard of this; although in fairness there are, of course, some very courteous bike riders who do understand the word “share”
Secondly, I have never heard of any Police enforcement of these obligations on bike riders. It’s almost as if they are the “shamans” of the road. With some assuming that it’s our responsibility to get out of their way
Interestingly, this contrasts with the rigorous way in which the jaywalking rules are regularly enforced against pedestrians, and the driver rules are enforced against vehicle drivers; other than, of course, bike riders
Third, as you have so eloquently explained. There is no registration, no insurance, and (in practice) no identification!!!
Then the question becomes: what we should do about it, short of carrying a cricket bat when on the roads, and especially the footpaths
There is no simple answer, save that all the odds are firmly stacked against pedestrians. This unlikely to change until all bikes are registered. And in our view this can’t come soon enough.
