In recent years there has clearly been a national trend of cyclists demanding greater respect on our roads. This has provoked quite a backlash form drivers who consider them a nuisance. Cyclists are very organized and quite bolshie. They have no hesitation in making it known which areas they consider to be particularly dangerous to them.

The growing ranks of lycra clad pedal pushers on the nation's shared paths have annoyed many pedestrians also. This conflict has been quite intense here in Perth.

There are a lot of these shared paths in Perth, and some serious bingles do occur from time to time. Quite frankly I'm amazed that they're not more frequent. 

There are some shared paths that you really have to be careful on. And there are a few dedicated bike paths that pose a risk to pedestrians as well, because walkers will routinely cross them. Now, I know that in some cases they don't actually have to. But it's just human nature to do so. (Jaywalking is technically illegal, but we all do it occasionally to save time now don't we!)

One little stretch of cycle path that is very risky is right next to West Leederville Train Station, on the southern side. If you want to get onto the station you can actually avoid crossing the bike path. But if you're coming off Subiaco Rd and you're intending to catch the train towards Freo, it's often quicker to just nip across the bike path and probably hundreds of people do this every day.

There's this little bottleneck there shown in the photo below. (The second shot shows the path looking west.) The bikes just come flying through there and you really do take your life in your hands if you choose to take this short cut. My advice is to avoid it, particularly during peak times.