It’s my right, not a privilege

Well I guess this is probably not the best note to start a blog on, but here goes; Australians and road rage; the two seem to fit like hand in glove.
So this morning I’m out for the stock-standard Brisbane river-loop ride, not exactly prime time for a car-bike incident, or was it? Well some middle aged woman driving a Chelsea tractor decided otherwise.
So upon getting blatantly cut up at a slow point on the road, my friend and I catch the driver up to have a bit of a talking to. Well it went a little like this – the classic Australian motorists argument against cyclists “you don’t pay rego, so why are you complaining?”. Well sorry love, but just because you drive 2 tones of crap doesn’t make it your god given right to mow down anything smaller in your way, what kind of skewed logic is that at the end of the day! Besides, rego doesn’t pay for roads, that’s from income tax, and even if it wasn’t, who is to say we don’t own cars as well? I guess you really cannot argue with attitudes such as that. Thing is, its certainly not the first time this has happened – 2 road rage incidents involving contact (on the same day no less!)and many more near misses in the last 2 years in Brisbane. Seriously people!

I guess the whole issue stems back to the point of Australians and driving. Licenses are cheap, and the tests hardly rigorous – driving is something we take for granted, wait no no, it’s our god damn right! Well lets face it, despite the fact that licensing has become a little more ‘rigorous’ in the past few years, its still cheap compared with Europe (a few hundred bucks vs 1500 Euro or so), and to pass the test, you could be a complete potato just as long as you check those mirrors! Motorway driving, what’s that? You mean pass on the left, keep left unless passing, No way!

Next must be the insane attitude that is possessed by many Brisbane locals – the type that seem to want it all, the big house, the nice car, and the big city job. Ultimately these things tend to be mutually exclusive in most places, not in south-east Queensland! Yep, that usually means a stress yourself to the eye-balls commute everyday on roads that were typically not designed for such traffic, and the complaint – “we need better roads” – really? How about a simpler solution, like living in near the city a bit, or maybe even show some respect for others in the traffic if you really must do it! God help you if you were to think about riding a bike past these fools as they are stopped in peak hour!