rkeetsa Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 This morning as I was cycling just after 6am, by myself, i was confronted by the reality of the aggression of some motorists towards cyclists - something i have only really encountered and now experianced since moving to Pretoria East. Does anybody have suggestions for safer cycling in the Pretoria area?
Spinnekop Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Sadly Pretoria is getting more and more brain dead and motorist in general are becoming more and more aggressive. I had a little incident myself this December........ One can only hope that the 2 motorists that die every hour on SA's roads are the ones that have no brain or patients or decency.
Escapee.. Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Blue Bull Country, enough said Patchelicious and Pants Boy 2
Wyatt Earp Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Blue Bull Country, enough said Could very well be true, I have come across a few very highly strung drivers Pretoria way, it is a great place for cycling though . Pants Boy 1
LukeV-2 Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 On a general note: Do you think we can ever have motorist/cyclist harmony without dedicated motoring lanes and dedicated cycling lanes? I'm not sure it's possible. There will always be human error.
Eugene Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 On a general note: Do you think we can ever have motorist/cyclist harmony without dedicated motoring lanes and dedicated cycling lanes? I'm not sure it's possible. There will always be human error. Cape Town has more dedicated cycling lanes (or pavements) than any city in SA. The cyclists still ride on the road.
Spinnekop Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 On a general note: Do you think we can ever have motorist/cyclist harmony without dedicated motoring lanes and dedicated cycling lanes? I'm not sure it's possible. There will always be human error. I had the privilege to cycle for a week in Mauritius.People there are patient. Caring. Very poor. They have this immense respect for life. There are NO cycle lanes. And yet the tolerance on the roads are amazing. Also spent a week in Bali last year. With thousands and thousands and thousands of motorbikes and traffic that is so insane.....in a weeks time we did not see ONE accident. Not one.If someone wants to cut in.....they let them......if someone is in the way....they wait.Patient.Calm.No anger what so ever. In SA you have these biltong eating couch farting rugby spectators that need to show that his 4x4 is bigger and faster than the BMW next to him......a constant "mine is bigger than yours" mentality. So no.....no cycle lanes....not law enforcement.....no awareness rides, nothing is going to change the general mentality of the common, avg South African road user. Very sad actually that we have so little respect for life. Just me again, Pants Boy, rkeetsa and 4 others 7
Hennie VR Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 On a general note: Do you think we can ever have motorist/cyclist harmony without dedicated motoring lanes and dedicated cycling lanes? I'm not sure it's possible. There will always be human error. A cycle lane will be a nice place for car users to through their beer bottles. In the end the cyclists will use the road anyway as mentioned about Cape Town cyclists.
Hennie VR Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 I had the privilege to cycle for a week in Mauritius.People there are patient. Caring. Very poor.They have this immense respect for life. There are NO cycle lanes. And yet the tolerance on the roads are amazing. Also spent a week in Bali last year. With thousands and thousands and thousands of motorbikes and traffic that is so insane.....in a weeks time we did not see ONE accident. Not one.If someone wants to cut in.....they let them......if someone is in the way....they wait.Patient.Calm.No anger what so ever. In SA you have these biltong eating couch farting rugby spectators that need to show that his 4x4 is bigger and faster than the BMW next to him......a constant "mine is bigger than yours" mentality. So no.....no cycle lanes....not law enforcement.....no awareness rides, nothing is going to change the general mentality of the common, avg South African road user. Very sad actually that we have so little respect for life. I have been a MTB'er all my life but have started doing road cycling to save on maintenance etc. I have soon realised the bigger someone's paycheck the more that person thinks the road belongs to them. They have no patience toward fellow road users. Honestly I feel safer riding around a township than riding through Pretoria East. Scooter69, rkeetsa and ichops 3
Bateleur1 Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 All the cycling lanes in the world will not help SA. The biggest problem in SA is the fact that we do not have respect one another. Until that is fixed things will not change. Just look how we like to generalise to make us feel better. We already had the response that it is Blue Bull country. You have the same k@k in Cape Town, JHB, Durban, everywhere in SA. You have threads daily of the guys on the MTB trials who don't respect each other. You can put up a thousand cycling lanes here and then there will be war between the cyclists and the pedestrians. I also had a car on Monday telling me I am not allowed to cycle at 08.00 on Pretoria roads. Simple solution .. respect one another ... it is really that simple but yet so difficult for us in SA. BigDL and Scooter69 2
Scooter69 Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 A cycle lane will be a nice place for car users to through their beer bottles. In the end the cyclists will use the road anyway as mentioned about Cape Town cyclists. True, true.
Karooryder Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) We live in an anger-consumed country. Driver - cyclist hostility (and vice versa) is only a symptom of a society that has become perpetually angry. It's like Spinnekop said. Edited January 9, 2014 by Karooryder
Eugene Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 A cycle lane will be a nice place for car users to through their beer bottles. In the end the cyclists will use the road anyway as mentioned about Cape Town cyclists.Actually the lanes are spotlessly clean.
Sitting slip Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 cycle lanes in pretoria or the whole transvaal will become an extra taxi lane.
cfcjim Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 As I was on my home yesterday (in my car) a guy did an illegal u-turn at a traffic light which made me swerve and almost hit a row of parked cars. I gave him a flash (lights, ahem..) and received a single finger salute in return. Car: Toyota Fortuna or similar.Driver: Wrap around 90s style shades, big 'tache, massive stomach (I could see this at the next set of lights).Plate: GP. What exasperated me was that I was the only car for at least 800m, so he could have waited for a couple of seconds and not scared the crap out of me.But no, he typically drives like a selfish tw@t. Ah well, got home and after an hour and a half on the bike and I was calm. The cycle lanes are very clean, I often see the guys cleaning the centre section of Blouberg road. rkeetsa 1
rkeetsa Posted January 9, 2014 Author Posted January 9, 2014 Thanks for your thoughts guys, the underlying thread through out is respect for others, which is drastically lacking. and perhaps thats what we need to try and develop, any suggestions how?
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now