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Just got news that Lynette Burger has been run over, cnr Kingfisher and Rondebult this morning. In Sunward Hospital. Punctured both lungs, broken ribs.

Please use this forum to share your experiences with regards to Minibus Taxi's on our roads. Have had three near misses, in fact two near misses and one hit, in the last week alone and all of these incidents were Taxi's. First near miss was opposite Cape Point in Cape Town late evening with nobody on the road and this taxi comes flying past and extremely close to my shoulder. The road is seriously wide along that strip, WTF. Second incident happened ealrier this week on Kommetjie road in bumper to bumper traffic. I have an incredibly bright front light with epileptic inducing blinker and cautiously approached on his inside when he decides to ride me into the pavement, with his left rear mirror hitting my shoulder in the process. Jumped off my bike and gave him a piece of my mind while he staired at me with a blank expression on his face, probably thinking I'm crazy AND in the wrong. Third incident just happened half an hour ago (late Friday morning), again along Kommetjie road in Kommetjie, a quiet suburban area. Taxi comes so close I could feel the left mirror shave my earlobe. Made a few polite gestures at him as he drove into the distance as you do because I mean what else is there to do? Am seriously considering carrying pepper spray and emptying the can into the drivers face should I be given half the chance. Somethings gotta get the message across and asking nicely ain't gonna cut it. So I'm guessing this sort of thing happens all the time with Taxi's on our roads and we should just sit back and accept that when it's our time, it will almost certainly be at the hands of an incompetent, ignorant and lawless taxi driver. Do they not understand the concept of safe passing distance, or just good driving practice FFS and what can be done about this?

Just an observation I've made, there aren't too many people who cycle early morning or evenings wearing reflective jackets or other items of visibility other than their front and rear lights. Firstly, is there a reason for this? Also, given that the largest part of a cyclist on a bike is the actual cyclist, would it not make sense for the cyclist to be most visible? The reason I ask is I am fairly new to cycling and wanted to understand if items like the two jackets below with LED's are considered taboo? or not practical for some reason? or just not readily available? With Winter fast approaching and most of my cycling to occur during darker periods I am hoping to understand what options are available to me or recommended to ensure I remain safe on the road. Not sure if I'm alone here or if others share the same thoughts or interests in items like the below?