In a video that has over 1,000 shares, a car is seen ploughing into the back of a cyclist who was cycling in the middle of the right-most lane.

Netizens are speculating that due to the glare from the sun, tree shadows and the cyclist's small silhouette, the driver of the car could not see the cyclist until it was too late. Others offered a simpler explanation -- the driver wasn't paying attention.

Here's the full video:

Netizens largely pinned the blame on the cyclist.

Several comments noted that cyclists should keep to the leftmost side of the road, and if he wanted to switch directions, he should do so by pushing his bicycle at traffic crossings.

The general sentiment of the comments were against the cyclist, especially on the Hardwarezone forum thread "[GVGT] Cyclist in swimming costume on right lane kana langah - [Goodnight Sleep]":

And of course there are the voices of reason:

Here's one for the cyclist:

There are a lot of cyclists in central London. Dedicated bicycle lanes and slower average traffic (whether this is attributed to the presence of bicycles is up for debate) are reasons why motorists and cyclists seem to co-exist a little better there.

Unfortunately in Singapore, the lack of bicycle lanes coupled with the fact that traffic laws are written more to ensure the safety of motorists/pedestrians as well as to ensure smooth flow of traffic; bicycles will always be at the losing end.

The result of this, as you can see, is that even though the cyclist has been hit, he is being blamed for not sticking to the leftmost lane.

The crux of the matter is that as more Singaporeans take to cycling on roads, there will be more incidents of cyclist-blaming recurring. Motorists will continue to see some cyclists as a (illegal) nuisance on the road taking up space and slowing traffic down.

On the other hand, more cyclists will be getting onto the roads expecting motorists' behaviour to change overnight to accommodate them.

In the meantime, leadership is needed among the key stake-holders of our public roads to address this impasse, before the situation gets out of hand.

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