Councillor Ken (wr)Ong on bicycle speed limit

Melbourne Councillor Ken Ong has declared that there should be a 20km/h speed limit for cyclists in the CBD. According to him, cyclists are the "silent killers" in the city. It seems Ken has been studying persuasive writing and particularly emotive language.

His logic goes like this; ''The other day when I walked out from town hall I nearly got run over from a cyclist who shot through a red light as I was crossing Little Collins Street right in front of town hall.''

I would contend that the problem here was not the speed of the cyclist but the fact that they shot through a red light. Therefore, cyclists should not be allowed to go through red lights. Which they're not. So that's sorted then.

I'm all for lower speed limits, but it should be a consistent speed limit for all vehicles. I think it's pretty obvious that cars are more dangerous than bikes so I can't see any reason why bikes should have to go slower than cars. Sure, bikes are silent but cars weigh a thousand kilograms and are two metres wide.