IN our time, there is an ever escalating war between bikes and cars on the roads. Roads built for cars, trucks and buses are being used by bicycles; bicycles that don’t need to pay road registration and, some believe, don’t follow the same road rules as cars. The deaths and injuries caused by this feud are growing, both in numbers and in severity.

Perhaps bicycles are the future and will replace cars, and the photo above shows just that; a growing number of bike enthusiasts facing up against the colossal mass of cars.

After doing some research, I found a number of cases where the Bicycle-Car War has hit a worrying high. In one case in the UK, a motorist hit a cyclist, throwing him over a hedge yet causing only slight injury. However, after the incident, the driver boasted on Twitter that she hit the cyclist, saying: “Definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier. I have right of way - he doesn’t even pay road tax! #Bloodycyclists”.  After this, the tweet went viral. On top of this, the amounts of deaths caused by bike and car collisions are always rising.

At the end of the day, both cars and bikes come with their own problems. Cars add to pollution and can be seen as somewhat primitive, while bikes cause accidents on roads as they don’t always have designated bike lanes. And not to mention the mental anguish of a car waiting in traffic seeing a bicycle glide past on a bike lane or footpath without a care in the world.

Cars are restricted to the roads while bikes have a choice between the road, bike lanes and footpaths. Maybe this adds more fuel to the fire, with bicycle owners having more options than cars.

Bicycle marathons block the roads (for example) and unlike bikes, the cars can’t just go around. This could also happen to ambulances in a rush to the emergency room. Bike riders are always at risk of being hit by cars, which led to the introduction of the ‘Metre Matters’ campaign. Upon the launch of the campaign, one would think that the logical solution would to be either ban bicycles on the roads or build different/widen roads for them. Either way there would be anger; car enthusiasts angry at having to pay tax for bike roads and bike lovers angry at not being allowed on the main road.

At first, the concept of a Bike-Car War sounds mild and not going as far as splitting families. Unfortunately, it is very serious. Here in Queensland, a woman petitioned to have cyclists banned from the Kuranda range. The petition gained speed and it’s easy to see why, especially on such roads as the Kuranda range.

I’m not saying that roads are exclusively for cars, I’m simply saying that the road is almost entirely populated by cars. I’m not saying that bikes should be banned, I’m saying that there is definitely a problem with both cars and bikes on the same road. And it won’t be solved without any anger, be it from car enthusiasts or bicycle supporters.