So I hit a pedestrian this morning...

[Cippo]

Have you considered actually reporting it to the police. Just ask them to make a notation in their occurence book and get a reference. If that guy ends up in hospital later it's gonna come back to bite you in the ass. Cover your side of the incident. I may be overreacting but its a reality.

['Dale]

Lekka honest apology, Jigghead.

Nicely done.

[BrianMTB]

Sorry to hear about this and I am glad that you are (both) okay. I sympathise with you because I had a very similar experience on the Spruit the other day. It was late in the afternoon and I was whipping along at about 30km/h (a stupid speed to be doing on the Spruit, I know). I looked up to see a chap walking on the left path ahead of me so I hopped over onto the right and carried on going - without slowing down. The guy heard me just as I was approaching and in his fright he jumped right in front of me. Luckily for both of us his reflexes were sharp as a pin because he jumped out of the way again the same instant.

 

I was annoyed with myself because I nearly wiped both of us out. Lessons I learn't:

1. Always warn pedestrians.

2. Expect the unexpected from pedestrians

3. The Spruit isn't Kyalami and if I want to ride like that, I should take it to Groenies or Thaba.

 

I think I'm a better (more considerate) rider for the experience.

[V12man]

Glad you are OK - lets hope the Ped is too.

 

Please BUY a BELL - R12 at Linden cycles... Pedestrians seem to recognise the noise a lot better that a noisy freewheel (aren't you supposed to be pedalling?) and react well (better) to them when used early enough. It also seems to get people to try and control their unleashed dogs quickly...

 

They are also fun to play tunes on if you are bored... or need to accompany your ride partners singing... (maybe drown it out )

[Paul Ruinaard]

wow, my worst fear in passing a ped is exactly this. Your post is food for thought. I have nearly hit dogs in the Delta and gone over the bars as a result of trying to avoid them, not my fault as they were off their leash and came from nowhere, but I felt really ***, never mind the broken helmet. I am really careful now as I dont want to off someones pooch . But a ped is a lot more solid.

 

I find my Hope hubs make so much noise that I just have to back pedal furiously and that alerts them to my presence.

[nishiki]

OP should have known better cycling on a well trafficked pedestrian route. You should not be carrying such speed in areas where you are unsure of who/what is in front of you.

Typical "Spruit Warrior" gunning down a mediocre footpath (yes, they are footpaths made by FEET of 'peds') trying to relive some scene from ROAM. Go ride in the bush with reckless abandon. Some people go to work at these times, and yes, they sometimes walk.

[Jigghead]

OP should have known better cycling on a well trafficked pedestrian route. You should not be carrying such speed in areas where you are unsure of who/what is in front of you.

Typical "Spruit Warrior" gunning down a mediocre footpath (yes, they are footpaths made by FEET of 'peds') trying to relive some scene from ROAM. Go ride in the bush with reckless abandon. Some people go to work at these times, and yes, they sometimes walk.

 

OK, so I'm not sure what a typical "Spruit Warrior" is, and I've already taken responsibility for my actions here.

 

Just a little info. I have been riding this route around three times a week for the last year, 95% of the time it's between 04h30 and 04h50 in the morning due to needing to get kids to school etc. This is the first time I have encountered FOOT traffic on this particular section of the ride at this time of the morning.

 

If you read my OP, you would have read that I was well aware of what was in front of me but made an error in judgment when not warning the individual and not giving him a wide enough berth when trying to pass him, I have taken full responsibility for this. It's a nice little downhill which I'm sure most cyclists use to full potential given the chance?

 

Given my geography, I am unable to ride in the bush and am unfortunately limited as the where and when I am able to ride. I try not to ride with reckless abandonment ever, that's not why I ride, I'm sure you may be aware, that 40km/h is not very difficult to reach on a steepish downhill with fresh legs?

 

When going down this route during the day, my approach is far slower, specifically due to the foot traffic.

 

The purpose of my post was to alert my fellow riders of the dangers posed by foot traffic, who like cars, we are forced to share much of our rides with, hopefully helping someone avoid the same mistakes made this morning. My lessons, be more careful around pedestrians, always give ample warning no matter what, and yes, possibly even slow down.

 

Calling me names due to my limited geography and making assumptions on why I was doing such speed (reliving some scene from ROAM?) is probably unnecessary.

 

I have reported the incident to the police as suggested, they don't seem particularly perturbed, but it's done. As I always say to my kids, these sorts of things are only problems if we fail to learn from them. The fact that I was not injured and my "victim" seemed for the large part unharmed makes me think that this is one of those moments where I need to take the lessons learned with me into my future rides and with any luck prevent someone else from doing the same thing in the future.

[LOSMEICHERIE]

Sorry Jigghead ... are you ok though ? any pains ?

[Jigghead]

Sorry Jigghead ... are you ok though ? any pains ?

 

nah, grazed leg, but I get that often. pretty lucky all things considered.

[nishiki]

OK, so I'm not sure what a typical "Spruit Warrior" is, and I've already taken responsibility for my actions here.

 

Just a little info. I have been riding this route around three times a week for the last year, 95% of the time it's between 04h30 and 04h50 in the morning due to needing to get kids to school etc. This is the first time I have encountered FOOT traffic on this particular section of the ride at this time of the morning.

 

If you read my OP, you would have read that I was well aware of what was in front of me but made an error in judgment when not warning the individual and not giving him a wide enough berth when trying to pass him, I have taken full responsibility for this. It's a nice little downhill which I'm sure most cyclists use to full potential given the chance?

 

Given my geography, I am unable to ride in the bush and am unfortunately limited as the where and when I am able to ride. I try not to ride with reckless abandonment ever, that's not why I ride, I'm sure you may be aware, that 40km/h is not very difficult to reach on a steepish downhill with fresh legs?

 

When going down this route during the day, my approach is far slower, specifically due to the foot traffic.

 

The purpose of my post was to alert my fellow riders of the dangers posed by foot traffic, who like cars, we are forced to share much of our rides with, hopefully helping someone avoid the same mistakes made this morning. My lessons, be more careful around pedestrians, always give ample warning no matter what, and yes, possibly even slow down.

 

Calling me names due to my limited geography and making assumptions on why I was doing such speed (reliving some scene from ROAM?) is probably unnecessary.

 

I have reported the incident to the police as suggested, they don't seem particularly perturbed, but it's done. As I always say to my kids, these sorts of things are only problems if we fail to learn from them. The fact that I was not injured and my "victim" seemed for the large part unharmed makes me think that this is one of those moments where I need to take the lessons learned with me into my future rides and with any luck prevent someone else from doing the same thing in the future.

 

You mentioned in your OP "I see this guy walking ahead of me in the distance."

 

So you saw him, yet still took him down? I've seen plenty of Spruit Warriors when I used to live there. Guys who put their heads down and don't make way for others using the paths. Fancy carbon and lycra like it's the Epic.

Get a life and slow down man.

[Anine]

You mentioned in your OP "I see this guy walking ahead of me in the distance."

 

So you saw him, yet still took him down? I've seen plenty of Spruit Warriors when I used to live there. Guys who put their heads down and don't make way for others using the paths. Fancy carbon and lycra like it's the Epic.

Get a life and slow down man.

 

He saw the pedestrian, he took steps to avoid him by switching lanes. The pedestrian then jumped into him.

As the OP said, he could have given him a wider berth or made some noise. He didnt, he realised he made a mistake.

 

'Get a life and slow down man' is neither a helpful nor necessary comment to make

[Joe_Cogs]

@ jigghead - glad you're ok bud. Rough start to the week. I almost did the same on the spruit zest. Dude with his dog. Came flying down the hill. Dog and him almost jumped into me despite me giving them a wide pass. My fault completely though.

 

@nishiki. It's too early in the week for your bitterness. Don't be a douche waffle.

[Guest The Bushpig]

...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.

 

Eish, sorry Man. Glad you are ok. I've narrowly escaped this, with a Pedestrian who was walking towards Me ! She seemed to be attracted to the light like a moth, and veered into my path: I just managed to swerve and miss her. You just can never know what the heck a person is going to do.

 

Thanks for the honest post and reminder.

[Jigghead]

You mentioned in your OP "I see this guy walking ahead of me in the distance."

 

So you saw him, yet still took him down? I've seen plenty of Spruit Warriors when I used to live there. Guys who put their heads down and don't make way for others using the paths. Fancy carbon and lycra like it's the Epic.

Get a life and slow down man.

 

I ride a R7K Merida (2010 model) with 7000km on it, nothing fancy. Point taken on the slow down thing. As I said lesson learnt, careful on passing judgement with the type of person you think I am. Even if I had the cash, I'm not into the very expensive bikes etc. (I couldn't clean mud/dirt out of one of those without crying). And those that are, who cares, it's their hard earned cash to spend as they see fit. My best friend rides a R60K bike and he's the most unassuming guy I've ever met. Not all JHB riders are poseurs, just like not all cyclists think they own the road. The OP also said I tried, in error to bypass him and he jumped in front of me.

 

As said, I'm not here to try and justify the type of person I am, I made a judgement error and someone could have been badly hurt. Lesson learnt.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Jigghead

[Hairy]

My worst and most pain-full falls commuting have been due to pedestrians jumping or running into the road with out looking and coming from behind big vans whilst running into the road.

• Never trust a pedestrian or a motorist
  
• A back pack can also save your back and head from hitting the road hard when coming down
  
• Barking, yes barking, seems to be far more effective than a bell .... you can ring that bell like an ice cream selling and the pedestrians will mostly not hear you, even when you are just behind them.
  

[Escapee..]

Yes Jigghead get a life man!