I see the Hell Ride finds itself in the news again. "What have they done this time?", I hear you ask. Nothing. Reports in the Herald Sun and The Age in the last few days indicate that the Police helicopter will fly over the Beach Rd route this weekend and on a couple of other weekends in the next few months. According to the Hun:

Officers from the chopper will report breaches to police on the roads, who will then intercept offenders.

I also note that the little paper takes great pains to point out that the Police helicopter costs about $1800 for each hour it spends in the air—presumably to demonstrate yet again how cyclists are a blight on society and don't pay their way.

Who's the hoon here?

This story was fodder for talkback radio this morning, where the usual tired old arguments were rolled out by non-cyclists (including "they don't pay registration", "make them wear number plates", blah-di-blah-di-blah).

But there was a new one: that bicycles should be impounded under the anti-hoon laws. W.T.F?!? The potential impact of a bunch of cyclists travelling within the speed limit does not bear any reasonable comparison to the 40 cars per week that are impounded because their drivers choose to exceed the speed by over 45km/h, engage in dangerous driving practices or street race against other motorists. Talk about ludicrous!

That said, there were also some dickhead comments from cyclists, including a corker about how the down draft from a helicopter would play havoc among the riders—obviously made a cyclist who doesn't watch the TdF coverage on SBS of an evening…

Gleeful reporting ahead?

I can't help wondering if this exercise is going to lead to gleeful media reporting when a handful of rogue cyclists are nabbed on the Hell Ride. I just hope the papers keep it in perspective. I suggest they consider the following as starting points.

In Victoria, in the last 12 months:

And let's not forget those 40 cars per week going into Police care because their drivers lack the maturity and common courtesy to behave responsibly.

Comments

cfsmtb

Slightly more family-friendly version + whistles & bells linkage here: Melbourne Media and the 'Hell Ride'

Treadly and Me

All good—although my preference is for the straight talking (complete with the rantin' and ravin' and effin' and blindin').

Crowlie

By all means let off steam. This definitely deserves it. What sort of publicity stunt is this? Who is being stroked by whom? What a waste of tax payers money, all because successive governments haven't invested properly in infrastructure and education (gee, what a novelty) and road laws have not kept up with the fact that roads are public property for legitimate use by car traffic, pedestrians AND BICYCLES!

What about all the youngsters who are going to be inspired to have a bash at racing by Robbie McEwan and other Aussies proudly competing in the Tour de France and other amazing events on the world stage? How are they going to develop the skills and talent to represent Australia when they have helicopters flying overhead and dickheads in cars throwing beer cans at them?

Speaking of which, how many idiots in cars will be arrested because of footage taken by said police helicopter?

This really gets my fur in a bunch.

Treadly and Me

I pretty much agree with Crowlie. Although I'm less concerned about future world champion cyclists—they'll need to be pretty hardy to make it to the top anyway—than I am about the growing waistlines of our kids. What parent is going to encourage their kids to get on their bikes while cyclists are being made out to be the villians of the road? Far better to keep 'em safe and sound on the sedentary route to type II diabetes…

Regarding the Police, the Air Wing does Detection of traffic offenders through Operation Airtector - to detect and apprehend blatant traffic violators on the state highways as part of its routine work. So cyclists are subject to observation from above just like any other road vehicle. And let me be clear: I certainly don't object to that—I'm more than happy for the law to be enforced on me or any other cyclist exactly the way it is enforced on other road users. But as I've outlined above, there are other far more significant menaces on the road than cyclists, even those who take part in the "infamous" Hell Ride.

And is anyone at all surprised that there was no bad behaviour on the Hell Ride today? With the coverage in the media this week, I've no doubt every rider on Beach Rd was really keeping it in check. But eventually someone on Beach Rd is going to get pinged for some kind of traffic infringement and you can bet your last razoo that it will be the most widely reported misdeameanor in many a long day. And ultimately that's what irritates me the most—the complete lack of proportion about who the real road hazards are. Folks, I'll give you a clue: it's ain't cyclists.