Cyclist down - Johan Labuschagne

[Stretch]

I have said it time and time again..inconsiderate asshole drivers are not entirely to blame - the TRAFFIC POLICE ARE. Maybe its time for a mass action lawsuit against the traffic police - focus on one metro to start with and the ripple effect will take course. Sueing the government is the only way that will make them stand up and realise that they need to proactively police the roads and stop with this reactive b\/llsh1t

[Fast Forward]

Solution: you really want to do something? Then take the registration no of an offending driver and lay a charge. All cyclists do this and keep at it. Eventually motorists will realise they need to be mindfull not driving negligently or the SAPS will come for a warning statement. Depending on the strenght of the case this could at the least scare the **** out of them when police come knocking or even lead to emense legal fees when being prosecuted.

The road traffic act has a provision that assumes the owner is the driver of the vehicle. The police has to investigate & go knock at the owners given address.

All we need to do is keep track of the investigation & irritate the investigator & prosecutor.

Doing this will help statistics build up & gov realising something need to be done.

Try this - i did it. Got a truck driver in court with R1500 fine.

[Caerus]

I thought that that was what my first post did - the law enforcers need to give some teeth to the rules of the road because if the rules are not enforced (which they are not) then there is no real deterent when one breaks them. I honestly believe that impounding the taxi's (if they are proven to be in the wrong) will have the desired effect. Although they should be doing that when they are found to be unroadworthy too.

 

How to alert the authorities to this scourge is the problem as I don't believe they really care. Voting in the DA seems to be the only viable solution. That said we still need to see if they are able to enforce the 1.5m rule down there in Slaapstad.

They have tried that in Durban and it descended into anarchy & chaos, the cops folded and gave them back. Nothing will change as long as the cANCer is in charge.

[Caerus]

Interesting, that's a very scary thought!

 

Where did you read this, link?

That's old news, and very real. I read a story a few years ago about this in the Daily News in Durbs.

[WillHH]

Living and cycling in the Fourways area for some years I used Witkoppen and Cedar Road as road cycle training routes ... on a number of occasions during my last season I had seen [and once been closely involved in] taxi drivers knowingly push cyclists off the road ... pass cyclists dangerously close ... narrowly overtake a cyclist then cut the cyclist off whilst coming to a dead stop ... in every case that I've witnessed it was clearly no accident. One morning I approached some traffic officers on duty at end of Cedar Road, thanked them for their presence and shared that we [cyclists] are seeing an increase in malicious and provocative driving by taxis ... the officer on duty seemed to be aware of this and assured me they were doing their best with resources they had ... I decided [sadly] to stop training on Cedar and Witkoppen.

[Spinnekop]

So no license. And an illegal immigrant.

One can stand to argue that if border control did their job this might not have happened and secondly if Metro did their job this guy would have been in jail a long time ago.

 

Instead he is making good money in SA with no consequences!

 

Nice

[ichops]

Solution: you really want to do something? Then take the registration no of an offending driver and lay a charge. All cyclists do this and keep at it. Eventually motorists will realise they need to be mindfull not driving negligently or the SAPS will come for a warning statement. Depending on the strenght of the case this could at the least scare the **** out of them when police come knocking or even lead to emense legal fees when being prosecuted.

The road traffic act has a provision that assumes the owner is the driver of the vehicle. The police has to investigate & go knock at the owners given address.

All we need to do is keep track of the investigation & irritate the investigator & prosecutor.

Doing this will help statistics build up & gov realising something need to be done.

Try this - i did it. Got a truck driver in court with R1500 fine.

I tried to lay a case against the 40ft container truck that took me down 2 years ago at the time of the accident, with absolutely no success - cop's attitude - you look OK go claim for your bike from the truck company !

[Caerus]

Scary thing is I was just behind a taxi this morning that almost took out a commuter in Paarden Eiland. The twat just pulled out and the poor cyclist swerved into the oncoming lane, thank god there was not a car coming in the other direction as it would more then likel;y have ended up as a fatality. I chased after the c#@t and gave a piece of my mind. They really don't give a damn about anyone or anything but themselves. Makes my blood boil

 

The Govermunt is to blame as there is no proper legislation regarding these menaces. Something needs to be done. We must have some of the worst fatality rates in the world on our roads

[Gandalf]

So yesterday afternoon on my way home, a taxi comes passed all the cars waiting at the red robot in the oncoming traffic lane while cars are turning into that lane. He then jumps the red robot (at this point the cars and bus stop to avoid collision with imbecile), he races to next robot( also red) and jumps that one too while cars with right of way are busy driving. He had no lights on and it was raining really bad - there was so much water i could hardly see though my windscreen with the wipers on full.

[argiDirk]

Dear Johan, I don't know you, but that taxi driver should be culled for his unlawful and inconsiderate actions. Taxi drivers are scum- I study at NMMU in PE and twice did taxi drivers try and hit me whilst cycling.

 

Edit: Get well soon, co-cyclist.

Edited November 29, 2013 by argiDirk

[Fast Forward]

I tried to lay a case against the 40ft container truck that took me down 2 years ago at the time of the accident, with absolutely no success - cop's attitude - you look OK go claim for your bike from the truck company !

If they do not want to take your complaint you take their names and report to the ICD (independent complaints directorate) its not for the saps to decide on cases , its the prosecutors mandate.

[b-rad]

Living and cycling in the Fourways area for some years I used Witkoppen and Cedar Road as road cycle training routes ... on a number of occasions during my last season I had seen [and once been closely involved in] taxi drivers knowingly push cyclists off the road ... pass cyclists dangerously close ... narrowly overtake a cyclist then cut the cyclist off whilst coming to a dead stop ... in every case that I've witnessed it was clearly no accident. One morning I approached some traffic officers on duty at end of Cedar Road, thanked them for their presence and shared that we [cyclists] are seeing an increase in malicious and provocative driving by taxis ... the officer on duty seemed to be aware of this and assured me they were doing their best with resources they had ... I decided [sadly] to stop training on Cedar and Witkoppen.

 

Have always wondered how effective a pepper ball (from a paintball gun/pistol) would be through an open window of the taxi...should empty it out for a good few hours.

[Rider3000]

I know Johan...

 

Get well soon buddy !!!

[Rider3000]

Im sooooo sick to my core about this hitting us….. i won't even express how i feel! and why is the taxi hit on the right? or was photo swopped round? Johan is probably the nicest guy i have ever met in cycling!

 

[Caerus]

Have always wondered how effective a pepper ball (from a paintball gun/pistol) would be through an open window of the taxi...should empty it out for a good few hours.

I was thinking the same thing the other day, I had it in hand window down ready to spray

[Jaws677]

.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Jaws677