'Unbelievable' moment cyclist swerves in front of driver draws police response
A horrifying moment when a cyclist unexpectedly moves into a driver's lane after passing a roundabout has been caught on camera.
Police are calling for witnesses to come forward after two bike riders were nearly hit by a car within two seconds of each other after crossing in front of the vehicle on a busy road in the early hours of the morning.
In terrifying dashcam footage shared online, the Canberra motorist can be seen entering a roundabout towards the city centre as he passes a group of almost a dozen cyclists in the left-hand lane.
While travelling through the roundabout on Fairbairn Avenue in Campbell in the right lane, a rider in black moves across a solid white line and enters his lane, without signalling.
“Don’t cut the f*****g corner, you d**k,” the driver can be heard saying in the 15 second clip, which was taken on February 9 at 6.29am.
After coming alarmingly close to the man’s vehicle, the cyclist pulls to the left, crossing back over the solid white line.
Two seconds later, the motorist — who was travelling at 50 kilometres an hour — is forced to put on his brakes as another cyclist moves directly in front of him, again without signalling.
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Crossing the solid white line, the male rider in a white shirt puts himself in the middle of the right lane, seemingly failing to notice the vehicle until the driver slams on his horn.
Appearing to hear the noise, the cyclist looks over his left shoulder as the driver can be heard saying: “Jesus”, before the rider moves back into the left lane.
‘Video is concerning’
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, ACT Police said they are aware of the video footage “relating to an interaction between a group of cyclists and a car driver at an intersection on Fairbairn Avenue in Campbell”.
“The video footage is concerning as it involves road users putting themselves in extremely dangerous positions,” the spokesperson said. “Anyone involved in the incident is welcome to speak to police to provide their details and recollection of this incident.”
The spokesperson added that cyclists and drivers must obey all road rules when riding or driving on ACT Roads, and that “all road users, including cyclists and drivers, have to obey the same road rules”.
While “motorists are required to take care around cyclists, keeping a safe distance and giving way when necessary,” according to legal service, Go To Court, a cyclist must: “act predictably and signal intentions to other road users between turning or changing direction” and “anticipate other road users’ actions”.
Debate breaks out online
The video, posted to a local Facebook group, has kicked off fierce debate between ACT residents, who slammed the cyclists’ behaviour as “absolutely despicable”.
“What a dopey w****r doing that in front of a car,” one person wrote. “The amount of damage they could’ve caused themselves and the people around them is ridiculous,” said another.
“This is a prime example of cyclists doing whatever the hell they like and us drivers getting the blame when there is an accident,” a third commented.
While others called for tougher laws. “Bicycles should pay for rego to be on Australian roads,” someone suggested. “Unbelievable that these road users on bikes are unregistered and uninsured to be on the road!” said another.
But some urged better behaviour from the driver.
“Maybe give way to vehicles already in the roundabout,” one person said. “Tooting your horn because you feel hurt because you can't get to top speed on the roundabout, that's illegal,” another added.
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