I’m not going to pretend I don’t get angry on my bicycle. Whether it’s a pedestrian not looking where they are going, a car cutting me off or some random opening their door on me – almost weekly at some point somebody on the roads annoys me.

With my Long Haul Trucker equipped with an AirZound air horn however, a quick 120db blast is al that’s usually needed for the situation to resolve itself.

For those cyclists who don’t use an AirZound or similar device however, the only tools left are directly confrontational. You can shout at people, stick your finger up at them or in the extreme cases even vandalise an offending vehicle.

Unfortunately regardless of which side of the fence you’re on, be it aggressor or victim, confrontational violent behavior benefits no one.

On one side of the fence you have the aggressor.

Last week seventy one year old Mary Touma was walking along Gardeners Road in the suburb of Eastlakes, New South Wales.

An argument then broke out between Touma and a passing cyclist guy on a bike and he then pushed Touma. Touma fell backwards and hit her head on a brick wall.

She later died.

Having a look at Gardeners Road, it seems to be a large four lane road with no bicycle lane.


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Given the cyclist guy on a bike was ‘wearing black pants, a dark-coloured top and white sneakers‘ and ‘aged in his 20s‘ I’m going to assume he didn’t have the road confidence to take up a lane on the road itself.

He also probably wasn’t wearing a helmet.

My guess would then be that the altercation between Touma and the guy on a bike was over him riding on what appears to be quite a small footpath on Gardeners Road.

Mrs Touma looks a bit like a nagger so I’m guessing guy on a bike had enough and shoved her to shut her up. She then fell over backwards and most likely hit her head on one of the low brick property fences seen in the map above.

Someone is dead over an argument about riding a bicycle on the footpath.

Firstly you shouldn’t be on the footpath to begin with and secondly just how hard is it to keep riding if some crabby old lady decides to get stuck into you?

What is pushing her over going to achieve? Regardless of how crabby Mary Touma might have been, any sense of self satisfaction as a result of pushing over little old ladies should be negated by the fact she’s a little old lady.

Kind of like winning a boxing match against a toddler. Amusing, maybe but certainly not a personal or moral victory by any stretch of the imagination.

One the otherside of the bicycle violence fence is then the victim.

David Rourke sounds like your typical lycra clad Sunday warrior cyclist. Rourke was out last Sunday cycling along Torquay Road in Geelong when he was cut off by ‘a vintage gold Ford XC or Chrysler‘.

Not too happy about it, Rourke stuck his finger up at the driver and that’s when things got ugly. The driver got out of the car and chased Rourke across the road before king hitting him.

Rourke went down and as a result of the attack will require

Two steel plates (t0) be inserted in his cheekbones once the swelling in his face goes down and doctors also expect they may have to screw his jaw together.


Worth it for a bit of road rage aggression?

Hardly.

When a cyclist is cut off however there’s not much you can do. I have my horn and that usually stops vehicles dead in their tracks. If all you’ve got is a bell, or worse still nothing then you’re pretty much left with no option but to suck it up.

You could have words with the driver at the next set of lights but no doubt that could just as easily turn ugly.

In Rourke’s case you could split hairs over whether the car cutting him off was the initial aggressor or whether it was the finger that did it but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter.

What’s happened has happened and as Rourke lies in a hospital bed I’m sure it’s crossed his mind once wondering if it was worth it.

I don’t imagine there’s too many vintage gold Ford XC’s or Chrysler’s in the Geelong area so I imagine it won’t take too long to catch the driver. Regardless of his punishment however I still think avoiding the situation altogether would have been the better choice.

In both instances someone has come worse off as a direct result of aggression and violence mixing with bicycles. Unlike their car, truck and bus counterparts however cyclists usually have a lot more to lose when aggression gets out of control.

This is again replicated when a pedestrian is involved as they’re usually going to come off worse then a cyclist again.

As someone who rides around a fair bit I can honestly say that despite having a few of those moments that leave a bitter taste in your mouth for the next few hours, I’ve never completely blown my stack at someone.

People are unpredictable and it’s impossible to know if someone’s a crazy or not before you get involved in an argument with them.

Is it worth risking your health, or as in Mary Touma’s case, your life over?

I think it’s more important to get to where you’re going safely then to attempting a few seconds of life altering self gratification.

Keep safe on the roads guys.



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