Lucky Luke.

Not sure that can happen unless Gerrans decides to go home early :/

Indicators might as well be optional extras on SA cars. If this guy walks away there will be no message sent and more cyclists will die as a direct result. All citizens of this country owe it to themselves to make sure this goes to court and a proper job is done by the prosecution.

Ha, decided to engage the brain a bit more before dropping another rant Either way, it seems obvious to me that we as cyclists really need this case to go to court and it looks like there is a genuine risk of that not happening, which is what gets my blood boiling.

Yes you are correct, it appears it's a civil law. However, I would argue that the effect is almost as powerful on the driving public. It's implemented all over Europe - in the majority of EU countries. ... http://www.bbc.co.uk...otland-22155209

I'd really like to know myself, but can't find anything in the media. I assume nothing will come of it - the rider's family were poor folk from the Eastern Cape. The driver is probably back at work by now.

Thanks Duane, let us know how we can help get this case to court.

Like evidence was presented in the Golden Arrow case. Apparently that cyclist threw himself under the bus. Chalk another one up for SA justice.

What you call 'mob justice' is the letter of the law in Europe and especially the netherlands, where coincidentally, cyclists have a much better life expectancy.

To state my opinion clearly, what I'm saying is that in a just society the onus would be on the driver of the vehicle to prove his innocence. Regardless of where we stand with SA law, which I assume cares zip for cyclist preservation. In the EU there is something called the 5th Directive, implemented in the Netherlands as strict liability. In car-cyclist accidents, the onus falls upon the driver of the car to prove they were not at fault. Link above states charges are provisionally dropped anyway. No surprises there.

I said 'should be' not 'will be'. Depressing that members of this forum are so comfortable with this guy walking away to drive his taxi down the same roads. When one of you get flattened I expect we'll hear the same crap echoed around these parts. http://www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/wiki/dutch-cycle-because-strict-liability-made-everybody-drive-safely-and-play-nice

Reports all clearly stated the driver turned right in front of Burry as he descended a hill. Are we now to assume they are wrong? In some countries, in the case of cyclist / car accidents, there is automatic presumption of guilt for the driver of the larger vehicle. It's called presumed liability. Personally I think this is a fantastic law. Being an apologist for driver negligence in this case, with the exposure that it has had, and considering what we have lost as a nation, what Burry's family has lost - seriously? This driver, unless he can prove beyond all reasonable doubt that he was not at fault, should be hung drawn and quartered for all the country to see. We might see a bit more caution exercised in future.

Sometimes there's nothing you can do and your best efforts to avoid a collision will still not be good enough, which is what your incident sounds like to me - don't stress yourself over it. When living in London I was riding down a hill at a fair pace, and a guy jumped out of a car and stepped into the road without looking - couldn't hear anything coming and didn't think to look - I shouted at him and crossed to the opposite side of the road to avoid him, but he hit the ground running and managed to get in front of my wheel. I cracked my helmet, taco-ed my front wheel and he got taken away in an ambulance.

Great idea but it seems he forgot to mention the guy who won? Sprocket got there first.

Yep, until the year simpson died on Ventoux, and a silent "oh ****!" went around the pelaton. Testing was introduced and the average speed of the race nosedived by several km/h in the following years.

No, we must have one pinned thread that explains waving etiquette. With pictures and supporting video for the serial waving thread people.

The country has it's problems like a great many countries, but I don't see the relevance here. Cyclists slowing down the traffic is really not one of the showstoppers. We should cut vulnerable road users some slack and try to help or give a friendly warning when there's a real danger that others will not. As vulnerable road users ourselves we are in a perfect position to take the higher ground. The idea that we are part of a national cycling club and must punish members who make us look bad is a bit pathetic.

It's a shame that you're so comfortable with such a negative and boring old cliche that does the place you call home such a disservice.

Yes, I agree here, I feel we really only need one thread for the 'own worst enemy' posts and pictures or video should be mandatory. Even then, the value of the posts may be negligble when compared to stopping the car and politely engaging the people concerned. One thing I'm sure of is that, without context - pics, names, clubs etc - the threads offer no value and just go round and round in circles. Where the hub is concerned, if we really are a representative SA 'cycling community' as stated earlier, and one that has any interest in cyclist safety, surely we ought to have a couple of pinned threads for interested parties and newbies, that deal with how to ride safely and responsibly on the road? We have the bikejacking safety info, which is great, but I don't think there's anything about the main risk that we face, namely the traffic.

So are you preaching apathy? Why start the thread? I thought we were here to debate a way forward. Your original post explains how a car overtakes in the face of oncoming traffic, but then puts the blame on the cyclist it overtook. Because 'this is Africa' the negligent cyclist must foot the bill for homicidal driving? Nobody forced the driver to cross into oncoming traffic. What's really missing is respect for human life on the part of those with the power to take it away. Dutch laws may be beyond our reach today, but it only takes a couple of braincells to take note of the example they set, and implement it as a personal attitude adjustment. However, I would argue that most here, in SA and on this 'cycling community' forum, are unwilling to make that leap. I don't see much in the way of altrusitic intentions from yourself and others who repeatedly post this type of thread. It's usually all about hurling abuse at our fellow 'Idiotic cyclists' as you so helpfully put it. Much safer and more fun to bang on and on here behind the keyboard than while it's happening. It's ingrained in our culture that the little guys need to GTFO of our way when we are driving our big shiny penis extensions down OUR roads.

The completely obvious difference is that a stupid cyclist stands to come off much worse than a stupid motorist. No cyclist willfully enters the flow of traffic and tempts a car to flatten them into the tarmac whilst shouting 'it's my right to be stupid!!!'. Give me a million 'stupid cyclists' over a hundred stupid drivers any day. Stupid cyclists need education and assistance in preserving their own lives. Stupid drivers feel entitled to their attitude and are often beyond caring. The Dutch recognise this obvious imbalance of power with Strict Liability. The law puts paid to the 'might is right' attitude that most embrace or accept in SA. Nobody wastes 1kb of forum space shouting into the void at some cyclist they rode past last week who took up their own lane. Delayed drivers wait patiently for cyclists move aside and go about their business. The rest of Europe is pretty similar. Even the Italians display a level of patience that would be replaced by a symphony of hooting and swearing here.

I disagree completely on this. That is a total myth. If every cyclist turned into Mother Theresa today, we'd still have the same crop of **** drivers tomorrow.

Me too, if someone puts my life at risk I definitely react, but in all my years of riding I've never found it to be another cyclist.

definitely. I cannot control how others ride their bikes. do you not feel the same way? I try to help where I can when I can see there's a problem, but seriously, I have a life to live.

Apart from the negative effect on their own safety - I don't much care how other cyclists behave - as it has nothing to do with me. I didn't teach them to ride and they didn't teach me. We don't compare notes on how many stop streets we run at monthly tea parties and I don't know every single Argus entrant on a one to one basis. HOWEVER. When I do see somebody endangering their own life on a bike, I will stop and make them aware of this. I don't want to see any more dead bodies than I already have on my daily pedal. I do draw the line however, at using the hub as an instructional manual on how to cycle - or worse - as seen here - as a mouthpiece to criticise somebody you cycled past on the weekend - seriously? Completely pointless in my opinion. Save it for when you're doing the deed. It does seem VERY odd to me that cyclists continually voice this concern that other riders 'paint us in a bad light' or whatever. You don't find car drivers worrying about this - how other drivers behave - as if this would reflect badly on them as road users - a little ridiculous when you put it like that no? Actually many bad drivers are quite proud of being **** at it, and can often be heard regaling crowds at parties with stories of their *** driving, or how they got one over on some other road user. This behavior is totally acceptable, because roads were built for cars not bikes, and cars are after all much bigger than bikes, so you better bloody watch yourself around them. Obviously many drivers will be **** and as a cyclist you should look the fark out and stay in the gutter at all times. Such seems to be the prevailing attitude anyways - on the hub and off it.

Been looking for a purple colt for my fixie for a few weeks - no response from the Brooks guy on bidorbuy http://static.lfgss.com/attachments/55433d1340741336-campag-triple-brooks-colt-001.jpg