The Rain in Spain falls mainly on the redneck

http://forum.justmustangs.com.au/viewtopic.php?p=21114#21114

I have just responded at length (checkout Matt51F1) to someone saying that cyclists shouldn't be allowed on the roads and that car drivers should be allowed to run them down or to get out and hit them.

Why am I such a threat as a cyclist?
Why do car drivers think it is OK to try and hit me off my bike? Is this sport or something? Would they think it as funny if I were to play cat and mouse with their classic car when I'm driving the truck? "Hey You! Get your old hunk of shit off the road! I'm bigger than you are - MOVE IT!!!"

I've included part of the exchange below....

LGC67 wrote:
Every morning I drive to work along a stretch of road bordered by a perfectly good bike path that my rates and taxes and I would suggest at least part of the 3 regos I pay each year helped to build for the use of the poor misunderstood bike riders (and I guess part of the bike riders taxes etc as well) Are the bike paths good enough for the bike riders .......................OH NO. The poor dears insist on riding on the F'ING road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
]

Let me guess... You live down at Redlands? I think I know of where you speak....

Bicycle riders don't ask for bike paths. Those who don't feel safe on the road ride on the footpath. Those that are commuting and actually have somewhere to be (as in: going to work, like you, and not just cruising for fun) have to get there safely as well.
Simple fact is that bicycle paths are only built because politicians want the public to think that they are doing something for the community while they are lining their own pockets. Trust me on this: a LOT of cyclists say that cycle paths are a waste of public funds!

LGC67 wrote:
So to prove some moronic point, they battle with trucks and cars and slow every body else up (to well below the speed limit) risk not only their own useless lives, they risk my wellbeing and sanity if I happen to be the poor basta.d that knocks one of them of their mountainbiked 197 geared, dropped foreskin covered handlebared multicolored card in the wheel padded arse biked panted useless POS BIKE !!!!!(which some of them so richly desreve to knocked off)


True - the clowns who weave over the road and ignore the road rules *are* looking to get knocked off and *do* cause problems for those who are moving faster. The problem lies with councils and main roads who continue to build substandard roads and then sit back and fiddle with themselves while legitimate road users battle each other because most don't recognise who the real enemy is and the curse of Australian apathy allows them to CONTINUE to get away with substandard structures.

LGC67 wrote:
Why can't they use the bike path for Christ Sake???????


Consider the cost of a set of good quality bicycle wheels. One bloke at Harry's paid $4,500 for a set of 20" mags + tyres for his Mustang convertible. Would you ask him to drive along a potholed road covered in broken glass and gravel on every corner that causes him to slip off the road every time he turns?


LGC67 wrote:
What are they Olympic champions who are above the use of such of a perfectly serviceable bike path ?? F'ing wankers every man (woman and child) jack of them. It should be legal to stop the car, get out and smack them up side the head and lead them by their arrogant nose and rub their dumb arsed face into the concrete on the bike path till they wakeup to themselves.


Here's a thought.... Considering the standard of public transport in this country (pathetic at best when not in the centre of a capital city!) - how do people get around who can't drive; are afraid to drive; know they are a danger on the road and refuse to drive; have lost their licence; have lost their job; have been taken for everything by an ex-wife and can't afford anything?

Like I said - MOST automobile drivers DO NOT know the road rules and as such are not entitled to do anything to any other road user until they correct their own behaviour first!!

LGC67 wrote:
Have they not heard of “the right of might”? What, when they are lying in hospital crippled saying “I had the right to be on the road and bloke in the truck should not have run over me “That will show all those pesky car and truck driver who’s life is also now ruined by guilt and remorse because the dipstick bike rider had the “ right”to be on the road and not wise up and use the bike path. There should a bounty on every one of the sausage who rides on road way bounded by a bike path.


If the roads were constructed according to the Australian Standards like they should be, instead of being ignored by local councils and main roads (don't kid yourself - they do it every stinkin' day!!): would that truck have been anywhere near the cyclist in the first place instead of trying to overtake on a road whose width is indicative of Australia in the 50's???

I could halve the road toll in this country in a year. The politicians know what it would take but they refuse to do it because dead people don't blow out the health care budget! People who don't die get old and need to be paid pensions and get sick more often - doctors are needed to treat them - drugs are needed at subsidised rates to comfort them.

Think too about this.... WHY is one bloke on a bike in pretty colours holding you up for maybe 20 seconds MAXIMUM deserving of such ire?
Do you have kids? Do you have grandchildren? Have you ever been a victim of crime? Have you ever been sick?

Why are you not angry at the TOTAL F'ING MORONS who allowed $400 MILLION to be spent of STATE money on a stinkin football stadium that people up north and out west can never use?
Can you go and kick a footy there with your kid?
How many of the closed hospital wards could that money reopened?
How many nurses could be employed to care for those close to you?
How many extra cops could be put on the streets to help remove the truly dangerous drivers and criminals from society?
How many extra teachers and schools could that have helped pay for?
How come every time a minister redocrates their office, they get a new air conditioning system, but kids in Goondiwindi are told that they are outside the limit and have to sit in sweltering heat in a demountable all day? (and only then get air con because the city council donates a 2nd hand unit to the school!)
Should a child be treated worse than criminals in jail (who DO have aircon?)

I was born and bred here and I think this is a great country, but I see red every time someone shrugs their shoulders and goes "but what can ya do?" when faced with real issues. I know - they attack the cyclist who holds them up for 15-20 seconds while they go to work to pay taxes so that the George St bludgers can live the life of Riley!

To answer:
Yes - I have thought about running for office, but I know that a punch in the mouth doesn't come under parliamentary priviledge (which is something most of those fools deserve!).
This is also why I was on the committee of that halfwit association: MOCA - because I wanted to do something to help like-minded people both in the city and beyond. The fools running that club now have NO idea. The Townsville, Mackay, and Darling Downs chapters are all shadows of what they once were because the committee chose to look after themselves first, Brisbane second, and everyone else could go and jump in the lake - and the members allowed this to happen!

So.... if I'm not riding on the substandard path, that I and so many others didn't ask for, that runs beside a road and I get attacked by someone who thinks that roads are for cars only - then they had better use the car to run me down because I plan to use the 11 years of training in self defence techniques to protect myself and my property - right before I throw a match in their car!

Don't confuse me for the enemy here - I own a mustang and a hotrod (halfway there) and I love to drive my baby, but why should I get second rate treatment for something that wasn't my fault?