How to stop the Cycling Carnage on SA's roads?

[ChrisF]

"Carnage" or "Darwinism" ? 

 

Saw some real scary stuff on the Bainskloof pass !!       

 

 

 

It is a NARROW pass !  At the best of times two passing vehicles have very little space .... certainly impossible to pass a cyclist and a car at the same time !!

 

 

Now add to this mix short succesive blind corners .....

 

 

 

Going up the pass from Wellington we encountered two cyclists - driving side-by-side.    

 

What utter morons !!

 

Thankfully I encountered them on a straighter section and could see them, and slowed down until it was safe to pass them.

 

Few bends later I come around a blind bend at about 35 km/h and find a lone cyclist in the middle of the lane !!!  I had to stand hard on the brakes not to rear end the cyclist .....    

 

 

Then a group of three .... jip riding along side each other, taking up the whole lane .... at least all three had high vizz yellow jackets.

 

 

Then a VW Combi riding behind three cyclists.  Doing about 15km/h up the hill .... What a way to endear car drivers.  And hooting at these creatins obviously got me a "tripple bird" .... nice going guys.  You may as well cancel your PPA membership !  NOTHING the PPA does will ever undo the bad PR idiots like you bring to this sport !! 

 

 

Of the 8 groups of riders only two were riding along the side of the road.

 

 

 

Looking at the cyclist behaviour I witnessed today .... expect to read many more "carnage" news headlines.  BUT, based on what I saw today 75% chance it was Darwinism rather than carnage.

 

 

 

O-well ..... guess I should be glad I managed to dodge these blithering idiots.

 

 

 

NOTE - even the two cyclists riding along the side of the road had to be passed after waiting for a gap in traffic.  I did NOT hoot at these guys !  I waited patiently, and waved at these fellow cyclists when I did pass them.

 

My gripe is two fold :

- those riding in the middle of the road after a blind turn .... just a matter of time until somebody cant stop in time !!

- blocking the road with a car doing barely 15km/h is not on !!

[jcza]

 

Posted a number of times before but remains relevant.

[Patchelicious]

 

Posted a number of times before but remains relevant.

We know the logic behind this, but the motorist don’t, and that’s the problem. Unless they are educated about this logic, they will simply regard it as unlawful and douchey behavior.

[Karman de Lange]

Posted a number of times before but remains relevant.

Problem is the law says no riding next to each other.. So motorists have all the right to get upset ..

 

Cyclists should keep their side clean, then nothing motorists can really say/do about it

[jcza]

 

Was going to save it for Friday

[ChrisF]

 

Posted a number of times before but remains relevant.

 

Uhmmm jaaa ..... this missis ONE important fact :

 

- being in the middle of the road after a blind bend is just plain STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisF]

Problem is the law says no riding next to each other.. So motorists have all the right to get upset ..

 

Cyclists should keep their side clean, then nothing motorists can really say/do about it

 

And THAT is the key to MUTUAL RESPECT .... 

 

 

As long as we have cyclists blocking roads we might as well give our PPA money to the SPCA ... 

[Quagga]

Problem is the law says no riding next to each other.. So motorists have all the right to get upset ..

 

Cyclists should keep their side clean, then nothing motorists can really say/do about it

 

How do we do this? If you mention anywhere that a fellow cyclist ride like an idiot, you will be attacked.

[Pulse]

 

Posted a number of times before but remains relevant.

 

This may make sense on paper, but not in practice. If you have the proposed "ideal" as in diagram 5 with the riders taking up an entire lane, and ad the 1.5m "safety buffer", the car passing that group of cyclists must be 0.5m off the road on the right hand side to be able to pass.

 

(I know this has been posted before...)

[Quagga]

This may make sense on paper, but not in practice. If you have the proposed "ideal" as in diagram 5 with the riders taking up an entire lane, and ad the 1.5m "safety buffer", the car passing that group of cyclists must be 0.5m off the road on the right hand side to be able to pass.

 

(I know this has been posted before...)

The idea here is that the 1M (is the rule not 1.5M) does not apply then as long as the car overtakes the cyclist like another car/truck....on the other side of the center line.

[Patchelicious]

 

Posted a number of times before but remains relevant.

 

 

This may make sense on paper, but not in practice. If you have the proposed "ideal" as in diagram 5 with the riders taking up an entire lane, and ad the 1.5m "safety buffer", the car passing that group of cyclists must be 0.5m off the road on the right hand side to be able to pass.

 

(I know this has been posted before...)

 

Its also not to scale. On most roads, two cars can usually pass each other while passing a cyclist who its not riding in the middle of the road.

 

The model also only starts making sense when the group starts scaling in size. Most groups are also not 20 people big.

 

So while this model makes some sense in some scenarios, but we need to think about what solution works most of the time and in most situations.

[Pulse]

The idea here is that the 1M (is the rule not 1.5M) does not apply then as long as the car overtakes the cyclist like another car/truck....on the other side of the center line.

 

The issue is wind turbulence generated by the passing vehicle.  Having a centre line between the rider(s) and the vehicle does not reduce the necessity for the safety buffer, as the turbulence will still pull the rider out of line, and possibly into trouble. 

[Bateleur1]

Its also not to scale. On most roads, two cars can usually pass each other while passing a cyclist who its not riding in the middle of the road.

 

The model also only starts making sense when the group starts scaling in size. Most groups are also not 20 people big.

 

So while this model makes some sense in some scenarios, but we need to think about what solution works most of the time and in most situations.

 

Easy, mutual respect and patience.

[Pure Savage]

Another cyclist hit in Camps bay by an impatient driver over taking when there was no space, got half way round blind corner and found traffic in the oncoming lane, so just pulled into the cyclist who was in the gutter already.

 

Then people are cross why certain groups ride 3 abreast on certain roads so cars physically have to obey the road markings.

 

 

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[Patchelicious]

Another cyclist hit in Camps bay by an impatient driver over taking when there was no space, got half way round blind corner and found traffic in the oncoming lane, so just pulled into the cyclist who was in the gutter already.

 

Then people are cross why certain groups ride 3 abreast on certain roads so cars physically have to obey the road markings.

 

 

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Remember to think about the bigger picture.

 

The motorists who get upset when cyclists "block" the roads rarely know about cyclists being knocked over. So they don't see some people who are trying to protect themselves by riding 3 abreast, they only see "inconsiderate and rude" people on bikes.

 

The case of the two ladies in the hit n run this weekend hasnt even made it onto the Hub, so we need to assume that the average Joe trying to get to work probably also doesn't know about.

 

So just to clarify, I am not saying anybody is wrong (even though its illegal) or am even trying to change the way you ride (long given up on that), I am simply saying, don't be surprised if motorists get upset at you if you ride 3 abreast, they don't know why you are doing it. The only favour I ask, don't retaliate when they do get cross, because makes it even worse, rather just apologise, they don't know better..... 

[Patchelicious]

Just got news that Ryan and Myles got knocked over....

 

https://web.facebook.com/grant.mcdonald.31/posts/1471827429605329?comment_id=1471829329605139&notif_id=1510569628258191&notif_t=comment_mention&ref=notif