Two road safety advocates have defended a group of cyclists filmed taking up an entire lane on a road during a pack ride.
West Auckland resident Nikki Bessem captured the group on video as they weaved across the winding 100km/h speed limit road.
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At one point the group appeared to be more than two abreast while one cyclist was completing a pass.
Bike Auckland representative Ross Inglis put the blame on the road itself, questioning why the speed limit was so high.
"It didn't look like a 100km/h road to me, it was rural, it was a single lane each way, it was winding, and there were blind corners. There's driveways on that road," he said.
"To expect drivers to go 100km/h on that road is a bit of a problem to start with."
He said Ms Bessam was only held up for 24 seconds, which in the grand scheme of things was not that much. But he did admit cyclists do need to be considerate of other road users.
"There's a [few things] that road cyclists can do to improve their relationship with others on the road and that includes making sure that you go single file if there's somebody behind you and obviously wants to overtake," he said.
"That's best practice."
Brake road safety charity representative Caroline Perry said while motorists need to consider cyclists as they're the more vulnerable road user, cyclists should not aggravate the situation.
"Both motorists and cyclists have a responsibility to each other, as well as to their own safety," she said.
"There were some manoeuvres on there which we've seen that were not ideal and were putting themselves, the cyclists, and other road users at risk."
But overall motorists bothered by cyclists need to take a second to think about the cyclist that's bothering them.
"That cyclist - while they may be annoying to you as a motorist - is somebody's family member, somebody's friend. If they're injured or killed, that has a severe long term impact on others," Ms Perry said.
Newshub.
