In Sydney, few topics incite furious debate quite like cycleways. The chasm between riders and reactionaries is as big as the north-south divide of the Harbour Bridge or the goats cheese curtain between the inner and outer city. And now, the war of the rollers will play out in the federal court with a case that argues the new cycleway on Oxford Street is an abuse of the human rights of the proud people of Paddington.

I hate cycling due to a traumatic event in my otherwise uneventful childhood. Aged ten, my Malvern Star bike was my pride and joy – pink, with a white basket, silver handlebar tassels, and orange spokey-dokeys that would spin as I pedalled around my suburb. One day, while giving my neighbour a “backie”, I misjudged the driveway and smashed into the brick fence. My friend fell off and broke her arm. I can still hear her screams whenever I go near a bike – even the stationary ones at the gym give me the shudders.

Kathryn Greiner and Michael Waterhouse allege the Oxford Street cycleway discriminates against the elderly and the disabled because it will use seven “floating” bus stops. Pedestrians will need to cross the bike lane to catch a........

© The Sydney Morning Herald