Matt Greenop: Young riders put spoke in the wheels

5:30 AM Saturday May 12, 2012

We've all got to share the road. Photo / Thinkstock

Anyone with half an operational brain knows the answer to this, but it seems like the question still needs to be asked. Is it clever to let kids on bikes play in rush hour traffic on main roads?

Exactly. It's stupid, but some of Auckland's swanky private schools seem hell-bent on training in the dumbest places possible. Fine, you've got a bunch of crack cyclists, potentially future medallists etc - but keep up this madness and they won't all make it.

I drive along Auckland's Tamaki Drive every morning. This is a busy road, especially between 6.30-8.30am during the week - but it's not unusual to see young cyclists riding in monster formation during these times - and it's asking for trouble.

Many of these riders are too young to have a drivers' license, have no idea what it takes to stop a car in an emergency and don't understand the road rules.

They zip in and out of the group, crossing lane markers at their whim, and cause those just trying to get to work no end of bother.

I'm not saying ban these young cyclists from using this very scenic stretch of Auckland's waterfront - they have as much right to use the roads as I do, as long as they follow the rules.

And I, like the rest of the country, will be jumping up and down in front of the telly should they ever get to the sharp end of cycling competition.

But it is incredibly worrying that when one of these kids passes another at the wrong time, and ends up bouncing off the bonnet of someone's car, it will be the motorist blamed for the injuries - or worse - sustained by the young rider. Quite unnecessary, considering the undeniable stupidity at play here.

By Matt Greenop

Jan (New Zealand) | 01:18PM Saturday, 12 May 2012

I am a lucky Aucklander as I can bus, drive, cycle or walk along Tamaki Drive every day of the week and can admire one of the finest outlooks in the world. But really the road skills of some of the junior cyclists sometimes seems close to a death wish, they survive by luck and the skill of motorists and bus drivers. Sooner or later their luck will run out. Cannot the City Council write to schools and suggest that they change the children's training times to avoid the risk that they are putting the children to?

Robert Hartlebury () | 01:18PM Saturday, 12 May 2012

Ah yes - children should be seen and not heard. Or preferably in this case not seen at all. In fact all children should be kept in a super safe and hygienic bubble in the cellar until they emerge at maturity as fully fledged pillars of society.
Sometimes childhood involves risk,thank goodness, whether skateboarding or more dangerously crossing the road or more sadly committing suicide because life has no joy or meaning.
Why cant we all just get along and drive to the conditions. If I see a bunch of cyclists I drive more carefully just as I do when I see the car in front is driven by someone with grey hair with a trilby on the back parcel shelf.
Matt get real there is room for all of us.

Jules (Northcote) | 01:19PM Saturday, 12 May 2012

As a keen cyclist (and a keen motorist), trying to imagine why anyone would choose to cycle along Tamaki Drive during peak traffic periods perplexes me. It is just an accident waiting to happen.
At the same time, I feel that your article implies that all of the danger is caused by these young cyclists, and all motorists are saintly. The reason that motorists are generally blamed when there inevitably is a car vs bicycle incident is simply because they are usually (not always) the ones in the wrong.
When we are driving around in our 2 tonne lumps of steel, we have a duty of care to other road users, as pedestrians and cyclists do to ensure their own safety.