Driving into cyclists the Emma way

[Archibald]

It can come down to etiquitte and I try to do my best to be a considerate cyclist. I also see many cyclists behaving appallingly. (I don't buy into the "it was better in the old days" argument, though). But there are also many situations where motorists place their own sense of urgency (and dare I say entitlement?) ahead of my safety. Just what is it that getting behind the wheel does to people to turn them into unsafe, impatient and inconsiderate ar$eho13s? Why should their hurry cost me me my safety? That I am expected to scurry along the edge of the road like a firghtened squirrel just so people can pilot themselves along her majesty's highways without irritation or minor delay that I may cause is deeply offensive.

thanks to the constant media carry-on, you're no longer seen as a person - you're one of those "cycling menaces"...
Easy to pick on minority groups, and it appears that mode of transport is the current whipping group now that it's illegal to pick on everyone else

 

[StryderHells]

More hit and run fun times and hi-jinks in sunny, sophisticated Melbourne in the last 24 hours. Lovable larrikins in their jaunty jallopies!

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cyclist-injured-in-hit-and-run-at-toolern-vale-20151003-gk0k5n.html

I know Stacey M who was the rider hit in this incident, been on many rides with her and she is a capable, confident and courteous rider and to have this happen to her is disgusting.
I spend 15+ hours a week on Melbourne roads and the attitude of some drivers has been getting worse, the local media doesn't help the situation with most articles and TV segments starting with headlines like 'Drivers vs Cyclists' or 'War on the Roads'. Things like that just plays into the mindset that roads are for cars and bikes are the issue, it also helps give license to a certain sector of drivers to bring violence into it. I was put into the gutter just the other day because a driver yelled that's I was holding up traffic and when I said how can I hold up traffic as I am traffic he swerved his car across and I hit the gutter, good thing I had a soft landing.

so have things improved or gone further backwards since the incident with the Hell Ride several years ago - the one with the elderly fellow dying

Well as far as the Hell Ride goes, No! The Hell Ride is obscene, once the testorone gets going these guys (and some women) run red lights, weave in and out of traffic and yeah just don't care about anyone but themselves. I don't have anything to do with the Hell Ride and won't condone it by participating. It's pretty sad that they continue to act this way after that accident (and others including a young women cyclist who was knocked and badly injured) they should be proactive and by acting as adults they could help the greater cycling comunitee but as a group they just don't care. I find the hills better than the flatlands when it comes to good manners from both drivers and cyclists, suburban roads can be a roll of the dice unfortunately

 

[StryderHells]

More hit and run fun times and hi-jinks in sunny, sophisticated Melbourne in the last 24 hours. Lovable larrikins in their jaunty jallopies!

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cyclist-injured-in-hit-and-run-at-toolern-vale-20151003-gk0k5n.html

I know Stacey M who was the rider hit in this incident, been on many rides with her and she is a capable, confident and courteous rider and to have this happen to her is disgusting.
I spend 15+ hours a week on Melbourne roads and the attitude of some drivers has been getting worse, the local media doesn't help the situation with most articles and TV segments starting with headlines like 'Drivers vs Cyclists' or 'War on the Roads'. Things like that just plays into the mindset that roads are for cars and bikes are the issue, it also helps give license to a certain sector of drivers to bring violence into it. I was put into the gutter just the other day because a driver yelled that's I was holding up traffic and when I said how can I hold up traffic as I am traffic he swerved his car across and I hit the gutter, good thing I had a soft landing.

So, you made it more dangerous for other riders by needlessly stoking the fire of this motorist?

Yeah I made it worse for others no doubt, I was yelled at with a expletive laden tirade from a driver who felt he was being held up for a couple of seconds (I highly doubt it was even that) and when I calmly told him that I couldn't be holding up traffic as I was traffic and he then uses his transport to put me into a gutter hmmmm yep you are correct! How dare I do that to other riders

 

[movingtarget]

The Brains Trust Strikes Again. The tragedy is, the victim was devoted to improving lives. Hopefully the sentence will be substantial but nothing surprises me with such cases. Life is cheap especially for cyclists it seems.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30204572/driver-texting-before-fatal-crash/

 

[frenchfry]

Re:

The Brains Trust Strikes Again. The tragedy is, the victim was devoted to improving lives. Hopefully the sentence will be substantial but nothing surprises me with such cases. Life is cheap especially for cyclists it seems.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30204572/driver-texting-before-fatal-crash/

There should be an automatic jail sentence for anyone caught texting while driving.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

The Brains Trust Strikes Again. The tragedy is, the victim was devoted to improving lives. Hopefully the sentence will be substantial but nothing surprises me with such cases. Life is cheap especially for cyclists it seems.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30204572/driver-texting-before-fatal-crash/

I was living on that section of Kings Park road when this happened. It's a very busy road, with bikes, cars, trucks and buses constantly running through the day. Anyone texting while driving along there is especially moronic

 

[Archibald]

Re:

The Brains Trust Strikes Again. The tragedy is, the victim was devoted to improving lives. Hopefully the sentence will be substantial but nothing surprises me with such cases. Life is cheap especially for cyclists it seems.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30204572/driver-texting-before-fatal-crash/

I like the media's use of "fataly injured" as if to downplay the lady's death. Nothing wrong with stating the outright truth and say "killed"

Then comes the token punishment from NSW gov... Double demerit points for using your phone over xmas period.
Talk about 'keeping up appearances', as they conveniently ignore that over any holiday period/longweekend it's double demerit points for all offences

 

[Stingray34]

Re:

The Brains Trust Strikes Again. The tragedy is, the victim was devoted to improving lives. Hopefully the sentence will be substantial but nothing surprises me with such cases. Life is cheap especially for cyclists it seems.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30204572/driver-texting-before-fatal-crash/

Joanne Leigh Lawrence is a menace to society. She continues to drive and text and crash. What's worse, the law allows her to! She is allowed to drive herself to medical appointments and to take her children to school. Now her children are endangered. What a mess.

 

[movingtarget]

I don't believe her story.. The deceased was riding one metre behind his girlfriend. if she saw the girlfriend in the mirror she would also have seen the deceased. It's obvious she did not look at all but just flung open the car door as many people do. I friend of mine almost got scalped by a truck door being flung open luckily I was not right on his wheel and had time to go around the door but I was lucky there was no traffic inside me. Writing letters of apology and paying $1,000.00 fines will not change this behavior.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30233720/mother-fined-for-cyclists-car-door-death/

 

[Archibald]

Re:

I don't believe her story.. The deceased was riding one metre behind his girlfriend. if she saw the girlfriend in the mirror she would also have seen the deceased. It's obvious she did not look at all but just flung open the car door as many people do. I friend of mine almost got scalped by a truck door being flung open luckily I was not right on his wheel and had time to go around the door but I was lucky there was no traffic inside me. Writing letters of apology and paying $1,000.00 fines will not change this behavior.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30233720/mother-fined-for-cyclists-car-door-death/

surely a charge of manslaughter is warranted, even if "involuntary"...

 

[42x16ss]

Mitch Docker fined for trackstanding at a stop sign instead of unclipping, at 6:30am on Kew Boulevarde. Yep, you read that correctly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/--R4D3kj7n/embed/captioned/?v=6

 

[Archibald]

Re:

Mitch Docker fined for trackstanding at a stop sign instead of unclipping, at 6:30am on Kew Boulevarde. Yep, you read that correctly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/--R4D3kj7n/embed/captioned/?v=6

technically, when driving, you're supposed to use your handbrake at a stop sign too... bet they pick up a few folk for not doing that

 

[42x16ss]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30299000/perth-cyclist-killed-hours-before-surprise-party/

 

[42x16ss]

Guy gets off on leaving the scene because he "was too drunk to know that he'd hit someone".

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/judge-rules-firefighter-too-drunk-to-know-he-hit-cyclist-not-guilty-of-hit-and-run

 

[Archibald]

Re:

this morning's tragedy.
condolences to his family and friends/club members
I think we're all feeling this one here
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cyclist-killed-in-crash-with-car-in-maroubra-20151208-gliv4n.html

 

[42x16ss]

 

[winkybiker]

Real mixed bag in NSW with long-awaited 1m passing laws bizarrely mixed with the requirements for cyclists to carry photo I.D. What risk does the photo I.D. actually address? Are there actually a bunch of scofflaw cyclists who when pulled over by the police get away it because they don't have I.D.?. Also massively increased fines for cyclists' transgressions such as riding without a helmet. (How does the rest of the world survive without their helmets?)

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Real mixed bag in NSW with long-awaited 1m passing laws bizarrely mixed with the requirements for cyclists to carry photo I.D. What risk does the photo I.D. actually address? Are there actually a bunch of scofflaw cyclists who when pulled over by the police get away it because they don't have I.D.?. Also massively increased fines for cyclists' transgressions such as riding without a helmet. (How does the rest of the world survive without their helmets?)

It was done partly to appease those who believe that cyclists should be licensed because they're scared people on bikes are getting away with things they aren't. Anyone who rides further than a few blocks without a helmet or ID in Australia is an idiot anyway so it's not a huge thing to adapt to.

I've always carried ID when riding as a just in case measure, but that came from training in Sydney's Northern Suburbs and the Blue Mountains circa 2000 where simply rolling out the door was inviting trouble.

 

[Archibald]

Re: Re:

Real mixed bag in NSW with long-awaited 1m passing laws bizarrely mixed with the requirements for cyclists to carry photo I.D. What risk does the photo I.D. actually address? Are there actually a bunch of scofflaw cyclists who when pulled over by the police get away it because they don't have I.D.?. Also massively increased fines for cyclists' transgressions such as riding without a helmet. (How does the rest of the world survive without their helmets?)

It was done partly to appease those who believe that cyclists should be licensed because they're scared people on bikes are getting away with things they aren't. Anyone who rides further than a few blocks without a helmet or ID in Australia is an idiot anyway so it's not a huge thing to adapt to.

I've always carried ID when riding as a just in case measure, but that came from training in Sydney's Northern Suburbs and the Blue Mountains circa 2000 where simply rolling out the door was inviting trouble.

the new laws summed up pretty well here: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/so-is-it-2017-yet.html


And in other news, it appears Sydney is starting off the year in it's usual fine form...

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...ith-two-cyclists/story-fngr8hax-1227706037374

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...-the-spit-mosman/story-fngr8h9d-1227707135863

 

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Another hit and run in Newcastle (~ 2 hours drive north of Sydney):
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3660171/cyclist-crash-coward-caught-on-car-camera/?cs=305

 

[Archibald]

I've a mate who's convinced the whole road deal of motorist v cyclist is a class war, and the issues with tradies really tends to back this up...

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

I've a mate who's convinced the whole road deal of motorist v cyclist is a class war, and the issues with tradies really tends to back this up...

Mostly this seems to be true, IMO it just seems to be bogans reacting to something that

a. They wouldn't do themselves
b. They perceive as being an inconvenience

If you take a close look next time you're driving in traffic though, you'd be surprised how often you'll see tradies' utes with quick release mounts or wheel holders in the tray, or on their trailers. In Brisbane at least, there seems to be more tradies than you'd expect who've given up playing League/Aussie Rules/Soccer/Touch Football and gone to either Triathlon or Cycling to spare the body.

When I lived in Townsville we had a national masters TT champ who was a carpet layer and the gun crit rider worked in a local smelter. I think it usually comes back to the simple fact that most bogans are selfish POS and a disturbing number of Australians are bogans.

 

[winkybiker]

Re:

I've a mate who's convinced the whole road deal of motorist v cyclist is a class war, and the issues with tradies really tends to back this up...

It's likely not just tradies, but I think those that drive for their jobs can tend to see "recreational" road users as not being entitled to a space on the road, relative to their "professional driver" status. Having said that, most professional drivers (truck and bus) seem pretty good around where I live. Taxis in the downtown area are fairly unpredictable, however.

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Re:

I've a mate who's convinced the whole road deal of motorist v cyclist is a class war, and the issues with tradies really tends to back this up...

It's likely not just tradies, but I think those that drive for their jobs can tend to see "recreational" road users as not being entitled to a space on the road, relative to their "professional driver" status. Having said that, most professional drivers (truck and bus) seem pretty good around where I live. Taxis in the downtown area are fairly unpredictable, however.

I live in London and I think your analysis is pretty good. Its usually fairly busy when I hit the road but most drivers are fine.
It does seem though that there is more of a issue in Aus judging from the posts on here and the serious incidents.

 

[winkybiker]

Re: Re:

I've a mate who's convinced the whole road deal of motorist v cyclist is a class war, and the issues with tradies really tends to back this up...

It's likely not just tradies, but I think those that drive for their jobs can tend to see "recreational" road users as not being entitled to a space on the road, relative to their "professional driver" status. Having said that, most professional drivers (truck and bus) seem pretty good around where I live. Taxis in the downtown area are fairly unpredictable, however.

I live in London and I think your analysis is pretty good. Its usually fairly busy when I hit the road but most drivers are fine.
It does seem though that there is more of a issue in Aus judging from the posts on here and the serious incidents.

'straya is by far the worst country I've ever cycled in. Aggressive, ignorant, incompetent bogan motorists everywhere that go out of their way to scare and hurt you. Terrible roads, too. I left 11 years ago, never to return.