I’ll leave most of his comment to stand on its merits but I must expand on the “one reflects on all” thing. Of course I don’t believe that one single action by one single cyclist is going to change anyone’s opinion. Quite the reverse: it only serves to reinforce people’s existing biases when they see cyclists breaking the road rules or even riding within the rules in a way that “inconveniences” them (on some things you can’t win, even when you’re doing the right thing). There’s a cumulative effect at play here, combined with a confirmation bias. It’s somewhat pointless to rail against this effect, because basically everyone does this sort of thing about something or other (which supports Chris’s point about changing people’s attitudes).

But there’s a way in which this effect is insidious: it can lead to a view that the rightful position of cyclists on the road is contingent on the good behaviour of each individual cyclist. This is bollocks. If the rights of a group depended on all members behaving faultlessly, then it’s drivers who would have less claim to the road: I need only point to things like drink driving, and the normalisation of speeding and distracted driving to support this line of argument. And it’s still bollocks.

But unfortunately you do sometimes hear cyclists buy into it, expressing views that sound like “let’s all be good little cyclists, so the big nasty motorists won’t hurt us”. This, too, is bollocks. However, there is one possible exception to all this bollocky—but I think I’ll need to work up a separate post to explain it…

It will become a problem if a few of them throw themselves under cars and legislators enact bans on cycling on certain roads because “it’s too dangerous”.

That said, I don’t subscribe to the argument that “one bad cyclist reflects on us all”. That effectively says that one single three-second interaction is going to change the life-long perceptions of an observer, which is akin to a tadpole changing the direction in which a whale is swimming — it just doesn’t happen. If you don’t believe me, try changing your own fundamental beliefs about a community group or issue and see just how much time and discipline that takes.

The “one reflects on all” argument is just a way in which people with pre-conceived bigotry against cyclists try to justify their beliefs to others (the old “he made me do it” line). Where it becomes dangerous is when you get police and judges subscribing to it, and excusing drivers for violent/abusive behaviour on the basis that it “isn’t really their fault”. If anyone is serious about promoting safety for cyclists, this perception needs to be stamped out.

The rider of a bicycle must not ride past, or overtake, to the left of a vehicle that is turning left and is giving a left change of direction signal.

So the kind of stupidity Stu mentions is unquestionably illegal, but I can’t quite get as upset about it because the only person likely to go bouncing across a car bonnet is the idiot him/herself. Injury to other people is unlikely, although damage to property is.

However, I take Stu’s point about the actions of one reflecting on all cyclists and I’ve touched on this before in a slightly different context. So in this regard that sort of thing is just as bad, if not worse than careless phone usage.

While I’m thumbing the rule book, mobile phone usage by cyclists is definitely illegal:

The driver of a vehicle…must not use a mobile phone that the driver is holding in his or her hand while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked…

Bearing in mind that:

Unless otherwise expressly stated in the Australian Road Rules, each reference in the Rules…to a driver includes a reference to a rider, and each reference in the Rules…to driving includes a reference to riding.

And as no specific exemptions are made, I assume that the rule about use of mobile phones applies equally to bike paths as it does to roads.

Last night, I was riding home and copped a load of anit-bike abuse from a carload of idiots … can you see how these things are related? Actually, to be fair these guys seemed to equate cycling with homosexuality and felt that this was sufficient reason to shout abuse at a stranger … so all their problems clearly can’t be put down to a traumatic encounter with a reckless cyclist in their past.

But still, the behavior of the likes of mr-overtake-on -the-left described above hardly help the cause of cyclists sharing the road.