I refer to letter by Robin Harrison (Binna Burra).
When I drive my ‘two tonne steel box’ around Byron Bay, despite the speed limit being 50kph, I usually drive between five-to-30kph, due to (a) numerous persons wandering all over the road like drunken sheep; (b) vehicles with Queensland number plates being driven by persons who apparently obtained their driver licence from a cereal box; (c) drivers going the wrong way down one way streets; (d) foreign drivers driving on the wrong side of the road; and (e) and numerous persons riding bicycles in an unlawful (self obsessed) manner – putting others and themselves at risk of serious harm.
When this middle-aged person with multiple orthopaedic injuries (ironically – some caused by being hit by a car whilst riding a bicycle) has been obliged to ‘leap’ off the footpath to make way for a speeding cyclist or been knocked over by speeding bicycle on the footpath – because I failed to notice the ‘in coming’ attack (weapon of choice being a bicycle), I have been waddling along at 3-4kph.
The damage to my body was not minor, and neither was the damage to my vehicle when a drunken cyclist – on the wrong side of the road – rammed into the side of my parked vehicle (before laughing and riding off).
The most beyond bizarre experience occurred adjacent to the intercity bus stop in Byron Bay. Speeding female cyclist scattered the tourists on the footpath waiting for coaches.
However, due to the crowd blocking my the view down the footpath, I did not see her coming until it was too late. As I was knocked out of the way, my right arm and hand automatically flew up in an attempt to regain balance to prevent falling onto the concrete footpath.
Somehow my flailing hand hooked onto the earphones she was wearing – pulling them out of her ears and i-Phone.
Consequently, she stopped – not to ask if I was alright – to demanded that I return her earphones and threatened to call the police claiming that the accidental pulling of the earphones out of her ears was ‘assault’ and ‘theft’.
I replied: please, do – because I would really love to hear you explain to the police how your earphones ended up in the hand of this disabled, middle aged lady walking on the footpath.
She snatched the earphones out of my hand and sped off – down the footpath.
Adults riding bicycles on a public footpath is negligence – the risk to pedestrians is foreseeable.
Riding at speed on a public footpath is criminal negligence – demonstrates a depraved indifference to the health and safety of others. Regardless of country of origin, bicycle riders are obliged to obey the law.
Would Robin Harrison argue that we should tolerate citizens of the USA carrying loaded weapons on the main street of Byron Bay – just because they are permitted to do that in some towns in their country?
Perhaps Robin Harrison would not be a defender of the indefensible if he was an elderly or disabled person or the parent of a young child knocked down on a footpath by a speeding cyclist.
As for the retarded bicycle riders who ride at night with no lights – if it was only a matter of the negligent cyclist being hit by a car, one could say ‘natural selection, luv’ (almost worth the dent in the ‘steel box’ to rid the world of a self obsessed idiot).
However, cyclists without lights also speed along Byron Bay footpaths – adding to the hazard for pedestrians.
Pagan Morgan, Byron Bay
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