*Road Safety Alert* – the Tour Down Under is starting soon!

image: http://chitanda.poznews.net

Happy Thursday everyone! 🙂

Now, I do intend to post about sleep today but – after hearing so much advertising on the radio on my way home from work – I felt the need to post about this first!

My home town, Adelaide, is in the midst of preparations for a massive international competitive cycling event – the Tour Down Under (click here to view the official site and learn more, if interested!). It officially starts on Sunday and takes riders through varied terrain around Adelaide and surrounds including the Adelaide Hills (very pretty area) and down by the ocean.

I’m all for exercise and healthy activities such as cycling, and the event is great for local tourism. However, I’m not a fan of the unexpected by-product this event produces reliably every year it is on – chaos on suburban roads…

What do I mean by this? I’m not talking about the race itself, as that is well organised and roads are blocked off to ensure the public’s vehicles don’t interfere. I’m talking about the phenomenon by which almost everyone who owns a bicycle in Adelaide, regardless of how long it’s been since they’ve been on it, decides to hop on, in their lycra, and clog main arterial roads riding to and from work in peak hour traffic, and on most weekends, during this event!

Unfortunately Adelaide drivers have a reputation in Australia as being the worst in Australia. Add tons of Adelaidian cyclists to the mix = chaos! People suddenly decide it’s okay to ride 3 or 4 abreast, outside of the designated bike lanes, and break other road rules, which can lead to dangerous situations with cars.

I drive my car to and from work on the days I work in the ‘burbs (2 days/week), and consider myself a responsible driver. I keep my eyes out for cyclists when I’m on the road and am careful. But it gets very frustrating when cyclists don’t obey road rules and cause or almost cause serious accidents.

Anyhow, I’ll end my rant here. The key message I want to send out is enjoy the Tour and getting back into bike riding but please do it safely and observe basic road rules!

With luv,
Sarah

PS. On another note, Adelaide’s annual German festival Schutzenfest is on tomorrow and Saturday – anyone going? It’s the largest German festival in the Southern Hemisphere, complete with all kinds of beer! (More info here.)