One of the more disappointing aspects of the decline of Byron Bay, and I have a long list, is what has happened to the track that runs beside the Belongil drain, behind the old hospital building.
I have long regarded this area as the nearest thing to a proper park here. I don’t consider the others. I can’t think of one that is not spoiled in some way.
Now this pathway, once a peaceful recreation, is being degraded too. Since the development of Shirley Lane, it has been subject to various changes; I don’t regard them as improvements. What was once an unassuming walkway has morphed into a small road. It seems to be regarded as one; and one which is not subject to traffic regulations.
Leaving out occasional rowdiness from patrons of holiday lets, or the opportunistic parking of vehicles on the mowed stretches on the banks of the drain, it is the significant increase in irresponsible cyclists, particularly the electric bikes. Showing scant regard for other users, they tear along the track as fast as small motorcycles. As elsewhere, most do not wear helmets.
I’m not the only pedestrian to be unnerved almost daily by these machines fast approaching from behind – if one is fortunate, a rushing whine being its only signal, and sometimes not even that.
Children are often riding these e-bikes, often minus helmets and often in pairs. Were they riding a motorcycle like this it would be illegal. The other day I saw two primary-aged girls wearing only swimmers and no helmets tear past me at speed, in half a minute they had disappeared. Do their parents know and agree with this? I can imagine the damage these children would do to themselves should they have an accident, let alone if they had struck a pedestrian.
Who is legally responsible in such circumstances? They have no insurance.
Rather than these e-bike hire businesses being allowed to proliferate and profit, we urgently need regulation and legal protection.
I noticed in this week’s Echo (13 March) an advertisement for e-bike hire and usage on a rail trail through the hinterland. I was unaware that this rail trail was extant and operating. It will simply mean another opportunity for some businesses to profit. And it will negate any chance of peaceful recreation there.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
