Alter attitudes on Bike Boulevard. Opinion

I AM angered by some people’s one-sided attitude towards the Bike Boulevard in Shakespeare Street.

I am for it, along with quite a few other neighbours who can see the vision for Mt Hawthorn and Perth in relation to cycling.

Some people totally misunderstand the concept here. The road is not being made narrower. It is 9m wide and in some cases even wider.

Parking will be staggered so all the way down Shakespeare Street there will be cars parked on one side and not the other.

There will be two-way traffic for vehicles/cyclists but the speed limit will be reduced to 30km/h.

The chicanes are to slow traffic and stop drivers looking ahead down the street and wanting to speed.

Traffic coming up the street has to stop and give way to those coming through the chicanes.

One thing that does need to change is people’s attitudes towards cyclists, and until this happens there will continue to be accidents.

Look at the deaths over the past year from cyclists being run down. Whose fault was it?

In the majority of cases, the people in the vehicles.

I have recently taken up cycling again and in a very short time have experienced the attitudes first hand.

Most cyclists own a vehicle and pay for the roads like everyone else, so are just as entitled to cycle on the roads.

For those of you in Shakespeare Street sitting on the fence, please vote “Yes” for the Bike Boulevard because it is the future.

Don’t get stuck in the past. It will add value to our homes.

Gail Neindorf, Mt Hawthorn.