Today's Crash in Mascot

There was a fairly hefty cycling crash in Southern Cross Drive in Mascot today, a small pack of Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club riders all hit by a small 4WD.  The only good news is the cyclists all survived. The dust hasn't really settled yet on the incident and the police investigation still has to run its course, but the reaction on social media and in comments sections on assorted  articles has been quite striking. There doesn't seem though to be much debate about the party at fault (the driver appears to the at fault party: cyclists are allowed to ride there; he clearly hit them from the back; the road is straight, flat and the light was good and the roads dry, and there's no traffic lights or intersections nearby for the cyclists to pop out from. You've also got the weight of numbers. Were 6 people all in the wrong or the single motorist?). Indeed the ESCC rides appear to join Southern Cross Drive miles north (near Centennial Park) and rides the route routinely.

Here's an image of the car post-crash. Clearly they hit the riders rather hard:

So the social media stuff threw up the standard array of topics. The cyclists don't pay rego chestnut, as is that was some sort of justification or defence. Given bike rego doesn't exist, it seems rather daft to jump up and down when the cyclists involved didn't purchase it, and nor do the people give any indication how that would have helped them at all today.

Most other comments were similarly silly. They did though a rather striking insight into the depth of angst that exists about cyclists being on the roads. I think this is such a logical place to start addressing the cyclist-driver rift  - a campaign personalising the people in the lycra, and making it clear that they are 100% entitled to be there. That would be a great start to improving cycling safety.

Probably the only question I saw raised that was vaguely worthwile answering was why do cyclists ride there? Given Southern Cross Drive is a 3 lane road (each way) that forms the CBD - Sydney Airport corridor and the speed limit reaches 80 km/h, to non cyclists it probably seems like the sort of place to avoid on a bike. Thing is the same qualities that make it a good transport corridor also make it a good place for cyclists: A well surfaced, quite straight road. No traffic lights, and very few entry and exit points for traffic. That means less stop start, and ducking & weaving (both of which cyclists deal with daily, but don't really enjoy). And in the early hours on a Sunday, there's a lack of traffic, so getting around a slower moving cycling group should be quite easy. It's also 100% legal. There are motorways/expressways where cyclists aren't welcome, but this bit of Southern Cross Drive isn't one of them.

I hope the injuries aren't too serious, and justice is served.