In national news, a motorcyclist who had “a strong dislike verging on hatred for cyclists” made headlines on Tuesday, sent to jail for up to eight years, guilty of killing a cyclist.
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Cyclists in NSW, including a Nowra Velo club representative, will meet with state road authorities to suggest road rule amendments, in a bid to prevent road rage and unnecessary accidents.
On July 27, club president Michael Thompson will attend the meeting in Sydney to forward his ideas.
“It’s a two way road, it’s not all about cyclists,” he said.
“We need new rules to try and reduce the number of incidents.”
He would like the government to review the rule that allows cyclists to ride two abreast, up to 1.5m apart.
“That gets up a lot of peoples’ noses,” he said.
Mr Thompson will also lobby for heightened awareness on existing rules.
“A lot of people don’t know you can cross a double line if there’s a cyclist in front and it’s safe to do so,” he said.
“Cyclists do get a bit nervous when a car’s on their tail, and the motorist’s probably frustrated.”
He said cyclists could benefit from advertising campaigns like the ones below.
“I’ve never see an ad on TV regarding safety for cyclists, you see a lot of them about motorbikes,” he said.
Mr Thompson said Shoalhaven City Council has helped to improve roads, but there’s still more improvement needed to ensure roads are wide enough to share amicably.
“Our roads aren't great, if we had that extra bit of width along the road it would help,” he said.
“There’s still a long way to go, it costs a bit of money.”