"It's fear."
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That's what first came to the mind of Orange Cycle Club president Neil Yeo when he heard comments that Councillor Kevin Duffy wanted to "scatter" cyclists.
The statement came during a recent council meeting in which the topic of speeding traffic on Racecourse Road was brought up.
"My biggest problem with driving down there every day is those people on those two-wheel things running around, we'd like to scatter a few of them," Cr Duffy said at the meeting.
Mr Yeo said Cr Duffy's comments did nothing but "dehumanise" cyclists.
"If there is a crash, it's a major injury for people. It's a serious injury or death," Mr Yeo said.
"Whether it was a serious threat or not completely misses the point regarding the impact of that language."
When contacted by the Central Western Daily the day after the council meeting, Cr Duffy said he stood by his comments regarding cyclists.
As well as being the cycling club president, Mr Yeo is also a father of an 11-year-old boy.
"We talk as a society about wanting to promote kids exercising, but Councillor Duffy seems to think we're nothing more than targets on the road for him," Mr Yeo added.
"The problem as I see it here, we recognise that people sometimes make comments that might intend to lighten the mood or similar.
"Councillor Duffy's doubling down on (the comments) rather than taking any time to understand why that might have been offensive to people who ride bikes, it shows a real concerning lack of respect for constituents and a major concern regarding simple empathy."
Riding two abreast is legal in NSW however bike riders must cycle within 1.5 metres of each other. A third can overtake, but cannot continue to ride beside them.
- READ MORE: Orange social photos from May 20-22
Cr Duffy, who works as a bus driver in town, said that it was an "off-the-cuff comment".
The next time Orange Council meets will be Tuesday, May 31. Mr Yeo said at minimum, the cycling club would like an apology from Cr Duffy.
"An apology to the cycling community, a recognition that his comments were dangerous and ill-informed," the president said.
"I'm more than happy to sit down and have a simple conversation with him, as I know others are as well. If Councillor Duffy isn't prepared to do that or take those simple steps as a human being, then I think it raises some pretty big concerns regarding his ability to represent the ratepayers of Orange going forward.
"The comments seemed to dehumanise the idea that just scattering people on bikes was a reasonable response to any situation. I think that there's a lot of misconceptions regarding cyclists on the road and we tend to get framed as the traditional mammals."
Among his council roles, Cr Duffy is part of the Orange and Cabonne Road Safety Community Committee.
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