PPA launches Stay Wider Of The Rider safe cycling campaign

[Barker]

laws will always be broken...and in this country they cant even enforce the real important laws...never mind traffic laws and unfortunately when a cyclist is hit it is probably more due to the cyclist or driver not concentrating for that split second.

 

I was going down a main road with my bike, 2 lanes in each direction. Was doing 30kph+- with my bright yellow helmet, reflective clothing, flashing lights on front of bike, flashing lights on helmet and flashing rear light on bike when a car from the oncoming traffic turned over the lanes right in front of me to try and get to a petrol station...After a second that felts like at least a minute of braking and swerving i slowed down but still hit the car. The driver was really nice and apologised and simply said he didn't see me... now i ask you what else can you do...

 

It unfortunately comes down to how our brain works. The driver is looking for other cars on the road and not bicycles and his brain filters out that which is not looking for without him realising it.

Have a look at this link.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2011/12/14/if-you-cant-notice-a-gorilla-how-the-heck-can-you-testify-as-a-witness/#.VNNHbf6Ud8E

Edited February 5, 2015 by JoeZipp

[Lappies38]

Glad to see there is still campaigns aiming to keep "us" safe, but it doesnt help if were not vissible, and showing the motorist community that were also aware of them, and that we want the cyclist and the motorist to be safe- just my 2 cents on this.

[Patchelicious]

All the pictures I saw of the these guys looked like this:

 

[GoLefty!!]

ok so that pic is taken in Sea Point just before a My Citi bus stop. I went home the same way yesterday and had a similar issue with cyclist BUT I didn't get annoyed nor did it annoy me. WHY?

Because that road is is narrow and when  car tries to overtake they force into the parked cars.

When they do this you on the bicycle are a moving target for drivers wanting to pull out of driveways.

Driving home along that section, I encountered many littlegroups of riders doing this.

 

Funny thing is, because I was PATIENT and WAITD FOR A SAFE PLACE TO PASS, the drivers behind me FOLLOWED MY LEAD....

 

 

ya nuh, so be the change you want to see...

[Pure Savage]

ok so that pic is taken in Sea Point just before a My Citi bus stop. I went home the same way yesterday and had a similar issue with cyclist BUT I didn't get annoyed nor did it annoy me. WHY?

Because that road is is narrow and when  car tries to overtake they force into the parked cars.

When they do this you on the bicycle are a moving target for drivers wanting to pull out of driveways.

Driving home along that section, I encountered many littlegroups of riders doing this.

 

Funny thing is, because I was PATIENT and WAITD FOR A SAFE PLACE TO PASS, the drivers behind me FOLLOWED MY LEAD....

 

 

ya nuh, so be the change you want to see...

 

 

Wish everyone has this attitude. The truth is on that road even if you are single file there is no space for a car to pass. SA drivers will want to squeeze past, and that's where the accidents happen.

 

Same when I drive and its not safe to pass on roads like this, I will sit and wait behind the cyclist until its safe to pass, much to the dismay of the other road users behind me.

[droo]

Not sure if this is the place for it, but I have a bit of a rant this morning:

 

The number of riders I saw on my ride home from the finish yesterday jumping lights was beyond ridiculous. And a good many of them were wearing 1.5m and wider of the rider jerseys.

 

How, in the name of all that is logical, do they expect motorists to respect their loudly and luminously proclaimed calls for respect and tolerance on the roads when they can't be arsed to obey the most basic of rules? Especially on a day when half of Cape Town is shut down by the tour? All they're doing is making giant luminous yellow targets of themselves, as reflected by many otherwise reasonable people on my facebook feed.

 

Fortunately, now that the Funride World Champs is done for the year, I'll be back in my natural habitat in the mountains so it won't be my problem, except on my 10 minute commute to work in the mornings. But I feel sorry for the law abiding ones who will no doubt be abused and / or flattened by motorists who have had this attitude in spades.

[Patchelicious]

Not sure if this is the place for it, but I have a bit of a rant this morning:

 

The number of riders I saw on my ride home from the finish yesterday jumping lights was beyond ridiculous. And a good many of them were wearing 1.5m and wider of the rider jerseys.

 

How, in the name of all that is logical, do they expect motorists to respect their loudly and luminously proclaimed calls for respect and tolerance on the roads when they can't be arsed to obey the most basic of rules? Especially on a day when half of Cape Town is shut down by the tour? All they're doing is making giant luminous yellow targets of themselves, as reflected by many otherwise reasonable people on my facebook feed.

 

Fortunately, now that the Funride World Champs is done for the year, I'll be back in my natural habitat in the mountains so it won't be my problem, except on my 10 minute commute to work in the mornings. But I feel sorry for the law abiding ones who will no doubt be abused and / or flattened by motorists who have had this attitude in spades.

This

[DJR]

After the Argus I rode home along Main Road towards the Southern Suburbs and obeyed every traffic law, including red traffic lights and riding single file. We used front and rear flashing lights and the whole team wore the "Stay Wider of the Rider" shirts. We felt making a point by obeying the law was the least we could do to say thank you for having the City Centre and the M3 all to ourselves for the day!

 

Several groups came past, some dressed up in red, riding like they had a death wish.   I sometimes think they deserve to have their wish fulfilled. We have to get our fellow cyclists to change their attitudes first.

 

Safety, like charity, must start at home.   

Edited March 9, 2015 by DJR

[(Deon)]

Not sure if this is the place for it, but I have a bit of a rant this morning:

 

The number of riders I saw on my ride home from the finish yesterday jumping lights was beyond ridiculous. And a good many of them were wearing 1.5m and wider of the rider jerseys.

It's a really tough topic, nobody whether motorist or cyclist wants to be told they are in the wrong.

 

 Looks like the campaign possibly needs to be aimed a bit closer to home first. Not only PPA but the critical and moonlight mass et al too.

 

You find quite often a very clever defence is thrown back at any criticism of the way the events are run, basically without instruction or user education. Seemingly nothing more than.. "Here's your shirt." or "We leave at 8.." and then it's left up to personal responsibility from that point - and we all know how much of that is going around!

[GoLefty!!]

It's a really tough topic, nobody whether motorist or cyclist wants to be told they are in the wrong.

 

 Looks like the campaign possibly needs to be aimed a bit closer to home first. Not only PPA but the critical and moonlight mass et al too.

 

You find quite often a very clever defence is thrown back at any criticism of the way the events are run, basically without instruction or user education. Seemingly nothing more than.. "Here's your shirt." or "We leave at 8.." and then it's left up to personal responsibility from that point - and we all know how much of that is going around!

 

 

Excellent point Deon,

 

Clubs need to do more to educate their members in this regard.

Schools need to do more to educate their pupils in this regard.

 

No body wants to be told they're wrong so the defences are up in both directions, but certainly there needs to be more fact based education rather than just experience based.

[sakkiebomskok]

ok so that pic is taken in Sea Point just before a My Citi bus stop. I went home the same way yesterday and had a similar issue with cyclist BUT I didn't get annoyed nor did it annoy me. WHY?

Because that road is is narrow and when  car tries to overtake they force into the parked cars.

When they do this you on the bicycle are a moving target for drivers wanting to pull out of driveways.

Driving home along that section, I encountered many littlegroups of riders doing this.

 

Funny thing is, because I was PATIENT and WAITD FOR A SAFE PLACE TO PASS, the drivers behind me FOLLOWED MY LEAD....

 

 

ya nuh, so be the change you want to see...

I did the same thing the other day. Drove slowly and waited. Some star citizen behind me honked his horn so i simply stopped my car where he couldn't get passed, got out, and walked up to his window. Now im not a small dude. Weight 105kg, 1,85m tall bench press 160kg(just to paint you a pick) the guy got such a fright he wouldn't turn down his window at first and was very apologetic. When he finally rolled down his window i simply said to him. There are cyclists infrint of me, and if you honk your horn at me again i will make you swallow your car key. Swear he nearly started peeing. Doubt he will drive past a cyclist on a rode again. Hahaha

[Patchelicious]

I did the same thing the other day. Drove slowly and waited. Some star citizen behind me honked his horn so i simply stopped my car where he couldn't get passed, got out, and walked up to his window. Now im not a small dude. Weight 105kg, 1,85m tall bench press 160kg(just to paint you a pick) the guy got such a fright he wouldn't turn down his window at first and was very apologetic. When he finally rolled down his window i simply said to him. There are cyclists infrint of me, and if you honk your horn at me again i will make you swallow your car key. Swear he nearly started peeing. Doubt he will drive past a cyclist on a rode again. Hahaha

Bullying and physical intimidation, nice!

[droo]

It's a really tough topic, nobody whether motorist or cyclist wants to be told they are in the wrong.

 

 Looks like the campaign possibly needs to be aimed a bit closer to home first. Not only PPA but the critical and moonlight mass et al too.

 

You find quite often a very clever defence is thrown back at any criticism of the way the events are run, basically without instruction or user education. Seemingly nothing more than.. "Here's your shirt." or "We leave at 8.." and then it's left up to personal responsibility from that point - and we all know how much of that is going around!

 

See, if you were talking about cosmology, integral calculus or string theory I'd agree with you here, but we're not. In terms of traffic lights, I'd say education is a factor in roughly zero per cent of cases. Green = go, red = stop. If you can't grasp that one then it's back to preschool with you I'm afraid.

 

IMO, there are a lot of people who refuse to see the possible consequences of their actions for the greater community. It's not a problem specific to cyclists, but we do make an easy target because we're highly visible and vulnerable.

 

I don't have a solution aside from enforcement - confronting offenders generally just results in middle fingers being waved - maybe some sort of registration system as was the case a thousand years ago would be a start. That way offenders could be banned from competing in events for a period of time.

 

All I know is that unless something is done it's only going to get worse. Look what happens in townships where the residents dish out the justice that the cops should. Messy is not the word.

Edited March 9, 2015 by droo

[(Deon)]

I did the same thing the other day. Drove slowly and waited. Some star citizen behind me honked his horn so i simply stopped my car where he couldn't get passed, got out, and walked up to his window. Now im not a small dude. Weight 105kg, 1,85m tall bench press 160kg(just to paint you a pick) the guy got such a fright he wouldn't turn down his window at first and was very apologetic. When he finally rolled down his window i simply said to him. There are cyclists infrint of me, and if you honk your horn at me again i will make you swallow your car key. Swear he nearly started peeing. Doubt he will drive past a cyclist on a rode again. Hahaha

You drive a merc?

 

 

[droo]

Bullying and physical intimidation, nice!

 

Unfortunately it's the only thing some people understand. Appeals to common sense and decency can only work if they're there to start with.

[GoLefty!!]

Bullying and physical intimidation, nice!

 

 

hmmmm fine line here cos it sounds like he merely tapped on the window for a friendly chat.

 

as for "making you swallow your car key" and "shoving your car key down your throat" are two different things.

 

In the first scenario its like, he will persuade the twat that the only logical course of action for continually being a twat will be to swallow the car key so that a nicer personality can be unlocked from within....

 

as opposed to the second interpretation which would be bullying...