I will start from in reverse order as the ugly became the issue of the week, last week and will be the issue of the week at Sydney Cyclist and other blogs and discussion groups.
The ugly is www.smh.com.au/news/beijing2008/furious-driver-takes-out-50strong-cycle-pack/2008/05/08/1210131112608.html I found out about the attack on thursday while I was working. I have to say I am surprised anyone would be out training on Southern Cross Drive at that time, but when I heard it was the Bar Coluzzi group the surprise disappeared. The initial report was quite crappy and it became news on Sydney Cyclist pretty quickly under the title Herald Journalism at it’s best. The initial report focused on Ben Kersten and Kate Nichols. Nichols had only recently returned to training after recovering from her injuries in the incident that claimed the life of her teammate Amy Gillett. It didn’t take long for the Terror to pick up the story in a way only it can. It put it’s version out complete with a comments section where and a poll with a question “Are cyclists a problem on Sydney roads? “. Of course the call went out through Sydney Cyclist and other websites and right royal ding dong battle was waged through the comments section and the poll. The thing that really stood out in my mind was the ignorance of road rules as they apply to cyclists demonstrated by motorists claiming that the cyclists should have been riding single file (we are allowed to ride two abreast and a 3rd cyclist is allowed to overtake). With the comments it got to the stage where if the word “cyclists” could be substituted for “poofs”, “fags”, “dykes”, “wogs”, “lebs”, “gooks”, “curry munchers”, “coons”, “boongs” or “abos” and the phrase “get off the road” replaced with “go back to where they came from” or “get out of the country”, well you know what I am getting at. The driver then made things worse by ringing talkback radio announcer Ray Hadley to give his “version” of events (to hear the lies just go to www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23674175-5001021,00.html and click on the hyperlink). Ben Kersten was listening and the two faced off on live radio. This was then used to begin another comments section with many moronists claiming that Kersten was aggressive, while anyone with a brain saw through “Jason’s” lies.
The long and the short of it is “Jason” was interviewed by the cops but it was a long time between drinks between him getting interviewed and charged. I was getting pessimistic about the prospects of him being charged and no doubt the cyclists involved were as well. Many of them are reported to be considering a class action against him for the damage to their bikes and medical costs to themselves. I hope they do it through their insurer if they have (most of them being CA members would have cyclecover) The insurer would compensate them but chase “Jason” or as his nick name has been revealed “Huss” (www.smh.com.au/news/national/cyclists-dispute-drivers-account/2008/05/09/1210131264145.html). They would then testify in court and while Huss goes through the motions of defending himself. The long and the short of it is I am not expecting the cops to do anything, I only know of one situation were they have (it was similar to this one) and the driver was prosecuted but that was only because there were independent witnesses to the event. There were with this one but I would say it could get political. The NSW police are best described as the most politicised police unit in the country. When pedestrians throwing rocks at cars became an issue in NSW the media reacted with anger at the danger that rock throwers posed. A couple of car passengers were badly injured and the issue got to parliament where tougher laws were passed. Now if you throw or drop rocks at vehicles the prosecution doesn’t need to show that you meant to do any harm with it to get you thrown in the big house. I get the feeling that there will be more cyclists who will join Critical Mass because of this, which may revive the Sydney Mass because the numbers were dropping off. Now I would say it is likely to get stronger and if the cops do nothing on this issue more militant. After all if the cops won’t do anything to a motorist who attacks the countrys elite cyclists then what are they going to do for a commuter?
The good news is that Huss/Jason has been charged at present it is only with not supplying details but that may be upgraded or include more later on.
The Bad is people are getting paranoid because of this issue. I am – on Saturday when I went out for the Saturday Slowies ride I wound up being the sweep for the lead group. I made sure my calls of “Car Back” etc were loud and was complimented on it. The problem was I admitted to my nerves – I get the feeling that this went down like a lead balloon. But I am not the only one. It is likely to be an issue for everyone riding in Sydney.
The good is I have had a minor win for cycling in Sydney – that’s right I did something that has helped. As I reported last the desalination plant is being built and it’s infastructure is spreading all over Sydney like one great big spiders web. It has affected the Cooks River cyclewy and looked like it would kill a lot of the cyclepath off for at least 18 months. It is amazing what some quite persistance and some strategic emails can achieve. The only issue is that they have made an alternative path and closed the gates. Still some access is better than none!
I have also done my century – official first although the first real ones were on the Great Escapade but that was a tour. I went to the Mt Penang Gardens in Kariong on the Central Coast on Sunday and completed the century challenge. It was a long ride that left Mt Penang Gardens down to the Mooney Mooney Bridge and then back to the gardens – it was hilly and used the old Pacific Highway. It is a nice area and mostly used by motorcyclists – I saw no Trucks. There was not much in the way of cars (which was a good thing given the Central Coast’s reputation as Penrith on Sea) and so there was little in the way of trouble. I did get one idiot in a hire car reving his engine as he passed but that was it. If I hadn’t got lost and had to fix a pinch flat I would have made one of the controls on time but luckily they weren’t rigidly enforcing the control closure so I got to ride back.
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