CYCLISTS claim the lane.
So suggests the sign with flashing digital orange lettering on Darby Street, just north of Parry Street.
My immediate reaction to this call to arms was 'good luck with that, my lionhearted cyclist friends'.
Claiming the lane refers to riding in the middle of the lane, rather than sticking to the left in the area cyclists call the door zone.
Riding in an assertive position in the middle of the lane is recommended as a safe practice in certain situations.
But claiming the lane can incite aggressive reactions from other road users.
Sitting in the middle of a Darby Street lane and pedalling along without a care in the world could be akin to waving a red rag at a bull.
Before you know it, you'll have a dual-cab four wheel drive that far up your clacker you'll feel rage scorching your neck.
This is especially so in Newcastle, where cyclists are still regularly treated by motorists as an annoying hindrance to the rapid progress of their more important personal chariot.
After the bold digital invitation to claim the lane, the Darby Street sign then flashes to a reminder that the speed limit - for the next kilometre or so - is 30kmh.
I mentioned I liked this signage in a casual conversation last week, and a bloke blew up deluxe about both 30kmh limits and getting "stuck" behind cyclists "especially on Wharf Road".
With his foo-foo valve about to blow while channelling former NSW Minister for Roads Duncan Gay (2011-2017), bloke reckoned cyclists have been "getting away with murder in Newcastle for too long".
Bloke lamented the retirement of Mr Gay, a culture-war hero of the National Party and commercial talk-radio audiences for his open hostility toward cyclists.
Mr Gay described himself as "the biggest bike-sceptic" in government and ordered the ripping out of bike paths in Sydney's CBD to reinstate lost street parking.
This happened while governments around the world had been introducing infrastructure and legislation for decades to encourage people to use bicycles.
How times have changed since Mr Gay decided the time was right to spend more time with family.
Last month Transport for NSW announced bicycle riding in-and-around the Sydney CBD will become easier and safer thanks to a government commitment to build missing links on King and Oxford Streets.
"Bike lanes create opportunities for people of all ages to enjoy happier and healthier lives while reducing congestion and saving money, which is why we're committed to building more of them right across NSW," Minister for Active Transport Rob Stokes said.
He was referring to part of the first NSW Active Transport strategy launched last month. It draws on the Future Transport Strategy released last September.
"Cities exist where people come together - yet if we all arrive in a two-tonne, 10 sq.m metal box... the very vehicles that bring us together end up keeping us apart', writes the Minister in the document's introduction.
"Active transport enables equity in our society. It allows citizens of all abilities the means to be free to choose where they want to go... to live healthier, cheaper, more social and less congested lives."
Goals for walking and cycling are embedded throughout the document.
Not a single mention of number plates for cycles.
The ghost of Duncan Gay and his anti-cycling boondoggle has finally been exorcised from this dying government's approach to cycling.
Mind you, this government is likely not to be the government in less than five weeks from now.
All this happy-clapping about active transport may be relegated to the big box under the stairs.
What about these "murders" that Newcastle cyclists have been getting away with?
Riding without helmets.
Going too fast on shared paths.
Ignoring red lights. Taken ownership of the Fernleigh Track and Nobbys Breakwall.
Losing street parking for bike lanes that "no-one ever uses".
Correspondents to the Herald have been repeatedly critical of the 30kmh limit on stretches of Newcastle's streets, including Wharf Road.
The police have been enforcing the law along this stretch between Honeysuckle and Nobbys beach, as well as Darby Street.
While 30kmh feels slower than an NRL season, there is plenty of evidence that 30kmh on suburban streets save lives and reduce car-related injuries.
Bloke remained adamant that cyclists claiming lanes and 30kmh speed limits are nanny-state impositions on motorists by a fine-loving, revenue-hungry government.
And I didn't dare start him up on the electric scooters plaguing Newcastle streets and shared paths.
