Recent High Court judgment on duties of motorists when overtaking cyclists

[Dirkitech]

With this judgement in mind, should cyclists continue to cycle WITH traffic or AGAINST traffic?

 

What is practical seeing that people dont give s*** about us?

 

When I cycle against traffic, motorists complain about my light being too bright despite me tilting it down at an angle. I want them to SEE me.

I think the answer is plain and simple - whether it is personal preference to cycle against traffic, comes the day an accident happens, you (not you specific, but the cyclist in context) should be perfectly aware that they are probably going to be just as liable, if not completely liable. Being a road user and sharing the same rights and separate rules for riding that road goes both ways, of course.

 

Which begs the question what does it matter if you cycle with or against traffic if a car kills you? I can only think of family getting life insurance or not.

 

Also, you cycling against traffic and upsetting motorists doesn't bode well for other cyclists. For example, when I drove to work during the winter mornings and get blinded by 15 super bright and strobing LED's... makes me furious towards cyclists, in spite of being one myself!

As for wanting to be SEEN but interfering with a motorist's ability to safely and effectively see where they are driving, is negligent too. When in the car, be courteous towards other road users within the law. When on the bicycle, be courteous towards other road users within the law. I think this is pretty absolute and makes no space for suggesting gray areas.

[WP12]

Cyclists would have to obey the rules of the road and therefore cycle with traffic. However, if exceptional circumstances exist and you need to cycle against traffic for your personal safety it is unlikely that a court will find negligence on your part.

 

Thanks for fixing the rotation of the extracts I posted and for posting the links to the full judgment.

 

As you may realise from reading the full judgment, the law in this regard is not new and indeed provides for equal rights of use of the road. Unfortunately, as many mentioned in comments and as we experience when riding, the public either does not know or understand the law, or simply does not care.

[Me rida my bicycle]

Everything these days needs to have a warning label or safety sign or a law 20-30 years ago we just used common sense and nobody died.

And with every law you need someone to dumb it down so that they can understand. If people just went back to using their f... Ing heads and think this would be a great country.

Sorry rant over I am on the road a lot and people don't care about any traffic rules without people to enforce the law rules/law is useless.

[Gambithunt]

I’d say about 99% of the SA population aren’t going to understand at least 20 words in the first sentance of point one. Good luck with those rules on our roads.

[Guest Ratchet road]

Mtb is the way

[sunchaser]

It could have been worst for the cyclist, he was caught off guard, by the "wind of truck", as there was no contact. 

 

Judge must be a cyclist...cheers!

[DieselnDust]

Exactly. The amount of idiots I see talking on their phones while driving is crazy. As I commute so much I see it more than when I am driving and it is a scary amount. If they can't obey the simple rules, how will they obey this

 

 

The care of duty laid out in the ruling illustrates that basic driver education is inadequate in South Africa. Its not even a matter of it being policed, its about understanding physics. This is a bridge too far for 98% of South African's.

Many transport companies entrust a R4million asset in the hands of someone who may have a Primary school diploma. This is unheard of in all other industries. The basic requirement for a commercial drivers license is that you are 18yrs old.

 

Then in the passenger car fleet in SA, how many people ditch physics at the endof grade 10?

The common bitch slap of the stupid is "why must you be so technical??!!" 

or my favourite pearler......."I can't feel the wind so there isn't any wind...!"

!!!

What is the PPA planning to do about driver education since the national government isn't very interested in doing anything accept take photo booth pics of your car on a highway somewhere

[The Ouzo]

 

 

Then in the passenger car fleet in SA, how many people ditch physics at the endof grade 10?

 

^^^^^^^

This!

 

We over look the approach to Giloolys Interchange from Van Buuren.

At least once a week there is an accident in front of us on the highway. 99% of the time is a light vehicle being pushed by a large truck. I can almost guarantee that the cause of the accident was the light vehicle pulling in in front of the truck and expecting the truck to be able to stop in time to not hit it.

 

Also drivers seem to think that if the car has electronic safety nets that the laws of physics do not apply.

 

I think when you're drivers license expires you should be required to do a short renewal test before a new license is issued.

 

Then again, having a license does not mean you can drive. Seen it many times at the previous place I worked. A requirement for a test drive was a copy of your drivers license, on more than one occasion I've had to pull the handbrake on the car to stop and accident from happening.

[Dirkitech]

^^^^^^^

This!

 

We over look the approach to Giloolys Interchange from Van Buuren.

At least once a week there is an accident in front of us on the highway. 99% of the time is a light vehicle being pushed by a large truck. I can almost guarantee that the cause of the accident was the light vehicle pulling in in front of the truck and expecting the truck to be able to stop in time to not hit it.

 

Also drivers seem to think that if the car has electronic safety nets that the laws of physics do not apply.

 

I think when you're drivers license expires you should be required to do a short renewal test before a new license is issued.

 

Then again, having a license does not mean you can drive. Seen it many times at the previous place I worked. A requirement for a test drive was a copy of your drivers license, on more than one occasion I've had to pull the handbrake on the car to stop and accident from happening.

I recently read the same sentiment when a police station from a snowy country posted something along the lines of "it is 4 wheel DRIVE, not 4 wheel STOP" - classic, I love it!

[Quagga]

Exactly. The amount of idiots I see talking on their phones while driving is crazy. As I commute so much I see it more than when I am driving and it is a scary amount. If they can't obey the simple rules, how will they obey this.

And many are cyclists themselfs, and you can see that by the bike rack on the roof or the 1.5m sticker on the back

[DieselnDust]

What about all the Instagram cyclists and drivers?

The hey look at me crowd shortly before the accident.

[Monkwe]

BRILLIANT!!!