Toowoomba is well known for its poor driving reputation, and local cyclists know better than most just how life threatening this can be.
The Queensland Department of Transport is encouraging all road users to report all dangerous incidents and has provided a reporting form to assist us make our roads safer at the url listed below:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/General_information/Cycling/Have_your_say/
The Toowoomba BUG believes in the 3Rs where all road users "... share the same road, have the same rights and the same responsibilities" and from this, it follows that cyclists should not be run down, abused, have missiles thrown at them, or be treated as second class road users.
Keep a pen and paper handy next time you are in the saddle and, should you be subjected to a dangerous or undesirable situation, use the official Qld Department of Transport forms to report it to the Toowoomba Police, keeping a second copy for your own records.
In the last week the Toowoomba BUG has read of Mr. Adam Roberts (Toowoomba Chronicle, 14 September 2007, p.3) being forced from the road and injured, as well as a cyclist being both verbally abused and an attempt made to force him off the road by a semi-trailer driver and a young USQ student who was crashed into and badly hurt at the top of the range, by a car driver.
These sort of incidents are far too common in Toowoomba and cyclists need to take some control of the situation. The first step is to report bad driving, whether you are on your bike or not.
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