So I hit a pedestrian this morning...

[Jigghead]

...with my MTB

 

OK, travelling down Witkoppen this morning on my way to The Spruit (for anyone who knows the area, it's on the left of the road between Main Rd & Cambridge going towards The Spruit).

 

I see this guy walking ahead of me in the distance. He's walking on the right hand path so I think no problem, I'll switch to the left which I do. He hears me quite late and turns around. Now, I've been told that my light makes all my mates think there's a car behind them when we ride, so all I can think of is that this guy panicked. What he proceeds to do is leave his path and jump directly into mine, I'm around 5m away at this time.

 

I'm going around 40-45km/h at the time and my only thought is save my neck and head, so I position my shoulder for impact and hit him hard. He goes straight down face/front first. I think I landed on him and tumbled a few meters on. The bike stopped where I hit him. I slide quite "relaxed" (I've been told that fighting the forward motion when seeing my ass makes me relaxed and less likely to damage said ass) to a halt a few meters on and get up to see this guy face planted where he fell.

 

I run over and ask if he's OK, I'm still not sure he spoke English 'cos he got up and looked around. Maybe he was surprised to see a cyclist and not a car/motorbike had hit him? He looks winded and is holding onto his leg a bit. I ask him a few times if he's OK and he just looks dazed. Then, without any further comment, he resumes his journey albeit with a slight limp.

 

I check my bike and see that it's good to continue on my planned ride and continue checking again as I pass him if he's OK. This time he replies that he's good.

 

Now, I think about this a lot during the ride and wonder if it could have been avoided. First thought was he should not have jumped. But then I thought that my initial reaction and my usual course of action which is shouting a warning up front to those in my path would have avoided this nasty little incident. I didn't do it because I thought that there was plenty of space and I was wide enough of him to ensure safe passage.

 

The moral of the story is multi-fold:

 

1. Pedestrians have the same right to be there as we do (something like cyclists on a road?)

2. Pedestrians are easily spooked

3. Don't assume that they will behave as expected

4. Always warn those in your path, no matter how much space you think you have, do this with some time to give them their bearings as well.

5.Relax when you see yer ass, this has now worked for me more than once

 

This incident was probably my fault and I wish I'd taken his number, because even tho he walked away, I hit him very hard and it must have hurt.

 

So, apologies to MTB'ers as I fear this is the type of incident that gives cyclists a bad name, just like riding all over the road.

[Kranswurm]

...with my MTB

 

OK, travelling down Witkoppen this morning on my way to The Spruit (for anyone who knows the area, it's on the left of the road between Main Rd & Cambridge going towards The Spruit).

 

I see this guy walking ahead of me in the distance. He's walking on the right hand path so I think no problem, I'll switch to the left which I do. He hears me quite late and turns around. Now, I've been told that my light makes all my mates think there's a car behind them when we ride, so all I can think of is that this guy panicked. What he proceeds to do is leave his path and jump directly into mine, I'm around 5m away at this time.

 

I'm going around 40-45km/h at the time and my only thought is save my neck and head, so I position my shoulder for impact and hit him hard. He goes straight down face/front first. I think I landed on him and tumbled a few meters on. The bike stopped where I hit him. I slide quite "relaxed" (I've been told that fighting the forward motion when seeing my ass makes me relaxed and less likely to damage said ass) to a halt a few meters on and get up to see this guy face planted where he fell.

 

I run over and ask if he's OK, I'm still not sure he spoke English 'cos he got up and looked around. Maybe he was surprised to see a cyclist and not a car/motorbike had hit him? He looks winded and is holding onto his leg a bit. I ask him a few times if he's OK and he just looks dazed. Then, without any further comment, he resumes his journey albeit with a slight limp.

 

I check my bike and see that it's good to continue on my planned ride and continue checking again as I pass him if he's OK. This time he replies that he's good.

 

Now, I think about this a lot during the ride and wonder if it could have been avoided. First thought was he should not have jumped. But then I thought that my initial reaction and my usual course of action which is shouting a warning up front to those in my path would have avoided this nasty little incident. I didn't do it because I thought that there was plenty of space and I was wide enough of him to ensure safe passage.

 

The moral of the story is multi-fold:

 

1. Pedestrians have the same right to be there as we do (something like cyclists on a road?)

2. Pedestrians are easily spooked

3. Don't assume that they will behave as expected

4. Always warn those in your path, no matter how much space you think you have, do this with some time to give them their bearings as well.

5.Relax when you see yer ass, this has now worked for me more than once

 

This incident was probably my fault and I wish I'd taken his number, because even tho he walked away, I hit him very hard and it must have hurt.

 

So, apologies to MTB'ers as I fear this is the type of incident that gives cyclists a bad name, just like riding all over the road.

 

Get a bell if you are going to ride on pavements,cycle tracks,commute etc

[Jigghead]

Get a bell if you are going to ride on pavements,cycle tracks,commute etc

 

The pavement/track is around 30m wide in this area and it was 04h50 in the morning. There's usually no foot traffic.

[Warrior Princess]

Glad you're both okay jigghead

[Anine]

ouch to both you and the pedestrian!

 

Most of my training rides include dirt shoulders and other footpaths with plenty of pedestrian traffic.

What I've learned is that I need some kind of recognisable warning signal when approaching pedestrians from behind. shouting or whistling isn't reliable but a bell works well, specially one that sounds like a 'bicycle' bell.

 

warn well in advance and repeatedly because if you approach from behind, chances are they'll stop, turn to look back, process and then only move out of your way.

 

if startled, pedestrians seem to always jump forward or in the direction they were travelling in initially. I've never seen them jump back towards the way they came.

[Stretch]

if i come across pedestrians i slow right down - pedestrians are unpredicatable, especially if you approach them from behind. You have the benefit of doubt of making up your mind well in advance where you want to go but in that 5m it took for him to realise you were there, he had to try decide what you were, where you were coming from and where you were going....all this in 5m at 45km/h

[Joe Low]

The pavement/track is around 30m wide in this area and it was 04h50 in the morning. There's usually no foot traffic.

But you still hit him and say its your fault, so a bell doesnt seem too much to ask. And its also the law, if you're into that kind of thing.

[Firemeister]

At least you live to ride another day

[Jigghead]

I usually slow right down when approaching from behind. I also shout well in advance and would rather stop entirely if not seen or acknowledged. As far as small pavements are concerned, I tend to prefer moving to road in these cases.

 

I must be honest that this was poor judgement on my side and I should have slowed down, called and given the guy a wider berth, especially considering the fact that there was so much room. Lessons learnt tho I suppose, just a pity that he had to learn my lesson too...

[Peter Parker]

pity you didnt get that on camera.

[Thorn199]

I once hit a pedestrian on my dirt bike. He was walking towards me, in the middle of a gravel road. I headed to the far left to get past, but it turns out he was old, blind and deaf, and at the last second, he heard me coming and instinctively jumped to his right, straight into me. Not a pleasant experience, as I really thought I'd killed him. Now I take it really slowly around pedestrians on whichever bike I'm on.

[Zook]

Bummer - not a fun feeling I'm sure. I guess you can look for him in future mornings (edit: to ask him how he is etc). Oke must have been on the way to work, so I assume it'll be a similar time.

 

General thoughts. Not trying to be preachy since I know you learned enough lessons for all of us, and it takes a man to own up. Just saying what I try to do because it seems like it reduces accident odds.

• I generally slow down for pedestians/dogs, especially when coming up to them from behind, and if possible give them a serious berth. I'll only ever go past at full speed if I have about 5 metres distance to the side that I can use.
  
• If you have Stans in the tyres, go off the track.
  
• Think of each pedestrian as your flinchy mom, and you should be fine. Unless you dislike your mom.
  

Eish, 40-45km is caning it. I went into a new ditch once at that speed and took a while to recover!

Edited November 26, 2012 by Zook

[SilverRider]

I'm not surprised you hit a pedestrian, the voetvolk is a bigger threat than cars on my commute everyday. As cyclist we are taught that we should behave in a predictable manner, be it when racing, group riding or commuting. Pedestrians mostly do as they like and just act on sudden inclinations.

 

Glad that you, your bike and the pedestrian is sort of fine.

[Jigghead]

pity you didnt get that on camera.

 

I thought about that as well, my mate was behind me and I did suggest that we invest in a pair of GoPro's for the future. We've had a couple of funnies over the years.

[divernick]

This is one reason I like my loud Hope hub. Gives the peds some warning.

['Dale]

Glad you're both okay jigghead

 

Yeah.

A rough start to the week.