1IUP989 – April Fooled Me

Perth, Australia

1 Apr, 2026 - 2 weeks ago - on The Esplanade
The problem is part driver arrogance and part road design pretending to be adequate.

Between Mt Henry Bridge and Canning Hwy along The Esplanade, there are nine left-side entrances. All of them are Give Way signs, not Stop signs - even on bends. Presumably someone decided drivers would have enough visibility to ease out safely without stopping. That might be comforting in a meeting room. Out on the road, not so much.

If a cyclist is riding properly and keeping left, they are hidden by houses for longer. That should mean drivers take extra care. Instead, too many seem to treat Give Way as a suggestion and just roll out anyway.

This was my third incident on this stretch in two months. Having it happen on April Fools’ Day was almost too on the nose, because the real punchline is pretending this setup is safe.

The fix is obvious. Replace the Give Way signs with Stop signs and stop treating cyclists’ lives like a traffic engineering joke.

Main Roads: do better.