Accident in the cradle.

[Edition 507]

Fellow cyclist you are in our thoughts. Speedy and full recovery.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Condolences and strength to the cyclists involved. Hope they recover.

 

I saw this from behind. I actually saw the truck earlier and was thinking that its crazy to have large 16 wheel sand trucks in the cradle on Saturday mornings.

 

The cradle was really busy with large groups as well  as runners in large groups running in to the traffic (which they should do) and then also an event at the sculpture park brining in lots of cars.

 

I was literally thinking this is a recipe for disaster and to be very careful and to stay deep on the LHS when i saw this 2 minutes later. 

 

There were also road works and ditches being dug on the way in to Sterkfontein which has compromised the cycle lanes. So you have large groups of cyclists, large groups of runners and then trucks and car traffic...

[Dirkitech]

Condolences and strength to the cyclists involved. Hope they recover.

 

I saw this from behind. I actually saw the truck earlier and was thinking that its crazy to have large 16 wheel sand trucks in the cradle on Saturday mornings.

 

The cradle was really busy with large groups as well  as runners in large groups running in to the traffic (which they should do) and then also an event at the sculpture park brining in lots of cars.

 

I was literally thinking this is a recipe for disaster and to be very careful and to stay deep on the LHS when i saw this 2 minutes later. 

 

There were also road works and ditches being dug on the way in to Sterkfontein which has compromised the cycle lanes. So you have large groups of cyclists, large groups of runners and then trucks and car traffic...

Why condolences? Victor is thankfully still alive...

[Hacc]

I pray for a speedy recovery 

 

The Cradle is my training ground and it saddens me that this happened in our "safer" training area. I guess I have a false sense of safety in the Cradle with not too many cars and no robots and so many cyclists.

 

I also run in the Cradle and there are numerous cyclists not paying attention/chatting so much they don't see us coming in their direction. We often have to go off the road to miss the cyclists. 

 

Please keep us updated on Victor's progress.

[V12man]

I was just behind Victor about to latch on to the back of the group. Was horrible to see up close.

 

There was a big group coming up to the caves, the truck pulled out to the middle of the road to overtake, whilst overtaking the C1 group passed on the other side, there was some touching of wheels and braking in the group, a few rode into the back of others, some ended up bailing left into the grass. Victor was unfortunate, he seemed to loose control and veered into the front of the truck, hitting it at bumper height and in a way fortunately stuck on the bumper rather than dropping to below and being run over. The truck stopped immediately.

 

I was close enough that I was also in a full braking slide but managed to stay upright.

 

There is nothing the truck driver could have done and was just a terrible freak accident.

 

Hoping Victor makes a full recovery and glad to hear was not fatal.

Well - I think I disagree here - he could have not overtaken the group on the left and just waited behind them till the oncoming group had passed him and the way ahead was clear - this is what he should have done and what my understanding of the road traffic act obliges him to do.

[shaper]

Well - I think I disagree here - he could have not overtaken the group on the left and just waited behind them till the oncoming group had passed him and the way ahead was clear - this is what he should have done and what my understanding of the road traffic act obliges him to do.

As I said in my earlier post, there was plenty of room for both groups and passing traffic.  But this is semantics 

 

As an update: I read on a FB post that Victor is awake, aware of his surroundings

[MTB-More]

Well in honesty. Cyclist should start taking responsibility for riding 4 abreast. They know that riding single file is the rule yet disregard it and sit on their high horses as if everything should get out of their way.

 

Sorry for all injured. You all will live to talk about it but hopefully learnt a valuable lesson in single file riding. Lets not shift the blame anywhere and use this as a learning experience rather than finding a reason and someone to blame.

 

If you are realistic about it were else should the truck have been? If he was within the lines then it doesn't matter what side of the road he was on. The question should rather be asked why was the cyclist in the middle of the road cause it could just as well have been a car from behind that hit him.

 

Cyclist safety is so important... I cant believe how many of you guys just disregard it and put your lives/those riding with you in danger and then want to blame someone else. Please start taking responsibility and speak out against those that dont.

 

Just my view on it and the main reason I MTB... Lack of discipline in a bunch is not going to be the reason I get run over. Just saying

 

Edit - Not saying all groups but it happens more than not.

[Vetplant]

Well in honesty. Cyclist should start taking responsibility for riding 4 abreast. They know that riding single file is the rule yet disregard it and sit on their high horses as if everything should get out of their way.

 

Sorry for all injured. You all will live to talk about it but hopefully learnt a valuable lesson in single file riding. Lets not shift the blame anywhere and use this as a learning experience rather than finding a reason and someone to blame.

 

If you are realistic about it were else should the truck have been? If he was within the lines then it doesn't matter what side of the road he was on. The question should rather be asked why was the cyclist in the middle of the road cause it could just as well have been a car from behind that hit him.

 

Cyclist safety is so important... I cant believe how many of you guys just disregard it and put your lives/those riding with you in danger and then want to blame someone else. Please start taking responsibility and speak out against those that dont.

 

Just my view on it and the main reason I MTB... Lack of discipline in a bunch is not going to be the reason I get run over. Just saying

Sho, didn't realise it is Friday yet.

 

I hope you brought your flame suit.

[MTB-More]

Sho, didn't realise it is Friday yet.

 

I hope you brought your flame suit.

 

Yea I know. Sometimes someone need to say something. I'm not saying everyone does it but especially now with the attitude from motorists already negative against all of us we need to be even more vigilant and by just following the basic rules a lot of stupid accidents can be avoided.

 

P.S - My flame suit is on... its called closing the browser

[V12man]

Well in honesty. Cyclist should start taking responsibility for riding 4 abreast. They know that riding single file is the rule yet disregard it and sit on their high horses as if everything should get out of their way.

 

Sorry for all injured. You all will live to talk about it but hopefully learnt a valuable lesson in single file riding. Lets not shift the blame anywhere and use this as a learning experience rather than finding a reason and someone to blame.

 

If you are realistic about it were else should the truck have been? If he was within the lines then it doesn't matter what side of the road he was on. The question should rather be asked why was the cyclist in the middle of the road cause it could just as well have been a car from behind that hit him.

 

Cyclist safety is so important... I cant believe how many of you guys just disregard it and put your lives/those riding with you in danger and then want to blame someone else. Please start taking responsibility and speak out against those that dont.

 

Just my view on it and the main reason I MTB... Lack of discipline in a bunch is not going to be the reason I get run over. Just saying

You are f...ing kidding me.... when last did YOU read the road code sections on safe overtaking?

 

What bit of the road traffic act allows someone to be on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic? (the fact that the bunch was more than 1 abreast is not relevant at all to the actions the driver took - according to you it appears that if a single motorcycle was the oncoming traffic, then the truck was OK? now replace motorcycle with bicycle....

[MTB-More]

You are f...ing kidding me.... when last did YOU read the road code sections on safe overtaking?

 

What bit of the road traffic act allows someone to be on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic? (the fact that the bunch was more than 1 abreast is not relevant at all to the actions the driver took - according to you it appears that if a single motorcycle was the oncoming traffic, then the truck was OK? now replace motorcycle with bicycle....

 

Passing the blame much? Its never relevant when it suits the argument.

 

And no I am not kidding you. He was overtaking and in the process of overtaking the abreast riding and sudden braking caused a bunch of ill-disciplined riders to force a rider into the road. He was already on the other side of the road in the process of overtaking when it was safe to do so when this occurred and a rider was forced into the road in front of him.

 

Ask yourself this quick and take 5 min to actually think of what happened. If the group was riding 1 abreast and the leader of the group shouted stop before braking and causing a bunch to form would this accident have happened?

 

Stop blaming others for lack of discipline on the road.

 

Edit. Also not saying everyone is ill-disciplined but we need to get back to following the safety rules we have. Single file and action communication by means of shouting stop etc goes a long way to keeping everyone safe

[Bateleur1]

So when are you we discussing under Group rides "single file" crashing?  It was said that it was a crash in a group.  Never was it specified from what I have seen that they were riding four abreast (nor 4 abreast on the right of the yellow line) and several other details.  Yet we are all talking about the cyclists causing their own problems.  I do not know the circumstances but have to agree from what V12man said that maybe the truck should have just waited a couple of seconds. I don't know as I was not there and actually am not 100% familiar with where the accident happened.

[Cava]

A faster group like that will pass slower riders all the time, so even riding single file, they would end up not being single file at every given moment. 

 

The cyclist was not riding in the middle of the road.That's where he ended up after clipping wheels with someone else during the group's attempt to go single file. 

 

This was a freak accident with a large number of factors contributing, all of which can be questioned, but none of which is the single cause. 

 

I get that you don't like road riding, but your criticism of road group riding is like saying a mountain biker that falls and breaks his neck should have known better than to ride on unstable terrain. 

 

 

 

Passing the blame much? Its never relevant when it suits the argument.

 

And no I am not kidding you. He was overtaking and in the process of overtaking the abreast riding and sudden braking caused a bunch of ill-disciplined riders to force a rider into the road. He was already on the other side of the road in the process of overtaking when it was safe to do so when this occurred.

 

Ask yourself this quick and take 5 min to actually think of what happened. If the group was riding 1 abreast and the leader of the group shouted stop before braking and causing a bunch to form would this accident have happened?

 

Stop blaming others for lack of discipline on the road.

[MTB-More]

A faster group like that will pass slower riders all the time, so even riding single file, they would end up not being single file at every given moment. 

 

The cyclist was not riding in the middle of the road.That's where he ended up after clipping wheels with someone else during the group's attempt to go single file. 

 

This was a freak accident with a large number of factors contributing, all of which can be questioned, but none of which is the single cause. 

 

I get that you don't like road riding, but your criticism of road group riding is like saying a mountain biker that falls and breaks his neck should have known better than to ride on unstable terrain. 

 

And that's not the truck drivers fault like V12man suggests. That was what I was saying.

 

And that's why we as cyclist need to follow the basic rules to ensure everyone safety. They were bunched as many have confirmed if you read everyone account of what happened.

 

And yes. If the MTB rider breaks his neck because he was riding a 5m drop with no experience in drops and jumps its obviously not the terrains fault?

 

All I was saying was that the driver of the truck is not at blame when someone magically appears in front of him and we as cyclist need to to just be more wary of our own safety by following our rules. 

 

That said everyone has their own view and opinion. This is just my view of this that if the easy rules were followed it could have been avoided.

[V12man]

Passing the blame much? Its never relevant when it suits the argument.

 

And no I am not kidding you. He was overtaking and in the process of overtaking the abreast riding and sudden braking caused a bunch of ill-disciplined riders to force a rider into the road. He was already on the other side of the road in the process of overtaking when it was safe to do so when this occurred and a rider was forced into the road in front of him.

 

Ask yourself this quick and take 5 min to actually think of what happened. If the group was riding 1 abreast and the leader of the group shouted stop before braking and causing a bunch to form would this accident have happened?

 

Stop blaming others for lack of discipline on the road.

 

Edit. Also not saying everyone is ill-disciplined but we need to get back to following the safety rules we have. Single file and action communication by means of shouting stop etc goes a long way to keeping everyone safe

Fact of the matter is that the truck driver is NOT allowed to overtake into oncoming traffic - doesn't matter if it's a car, truck or bicycle - the overtaking maneuver he executed is the cause of the accident.

 

I will grant that maybe if the cyclists had been illegally in the yellow line maybe it would have been avoided - but that's not the issue - what was the truck driver thinking to overtake into oncoming traffic? and what law allows him to do this?

 

No doubt about it - if the truck had not been on the wrong side of the road, it's unlikely the accident would have ever happened as it did - all the antics in the bunch are as a direct response to the truck being where it should not have been.

 

The root cause is simple - if the truck driver had not executed an UNSAFE passing maneuver there would have been no accident.

[MTB-More]

Fact of the matter is that the truck driver is NOT allowed to overtake into oncoming traffic - doesn't matter if it's a car, truck or bicycle - the overtaking maneuver he executed is the cause of the accident.

 

I will grant that maybe if the cyclists had been illegally in the yellow line maybe it would have been avoided - but that's not the issue - what was the truck driver thinking to overtake into oncoming traffic? and what law allows him to do this?

 

No doubt about it - if the truck had not been on the wrong side of the road, it's unlikely the accident would have ever happened as it did - all the antics in the bunch are as a direct response to the truck being where it should not have been.

 

The root cause is simple - if the truck driver had not executed an UNSAFE passing maneuver there would have been no accident.

 

hahaha... jirrr dude. Lees jy ooit wat jy skryf? Anyways. Lekker dag

 

Translated: What you are saying isn't logical. But sure

 

If they were single file the accident also would not have happened... what now? Wait lets blame the truck driver not the ill-disciplined group