close passes again and again

[daveno7]

Will there every be a road bike ride where we are not a "victim" of a close pass or in todays case ,about three separate instances....? 

Went on a nice ride around Worcester and the plan was to end with a few intended hill repeats up Slanghoek from the Rawsonville side.

Into Worcester nearly knocked off by a little beaten-up Nissan that was driven at silly speeds and I was nearly smelling the arm-pits of the occupants.A few choice  words were exchanged into the morning wind here...

But oddly enough passed by two Porsche 911GT3s....and obeying the speed limits...and lets give credit to the lorry driver as well who hung back so I could clear a few bends in the road as well...you see there are good drivers out there...

All well and good then..

Slanghoek...the narrow road it can be....no run-off area for a road bike and a bit windy.There we have two sets of Sunday racers...the Audi with a Mercedes Van in one race and then race two was a five cars passing each other  so closely..the two Honda Civics were noticeable.They just had to pass a lone bike to get down the hill..

How close did these "racers"go ? Too close...its now becoming more dangerous every time you use certain roads because of the impatience of some drivers.

This is in marked contrast with the perfect behaviour of others who display care and consideration of a bike rider.I am now getting to the stage of not riding on a weekend or certain roads because of this impatient behaviour which is " lets speed up because i see a bike and i need to pass him just as another car is passing as well"..

I personally don't want to give up road bike riding but how can we change this impatient behaviour? 

[Dirkitech]

Doesn't the WC have a 1.2 or 1.5 by-law? Get the plates with maybe some video evidence, get a kickstarter going amongst concerned citizens and cyclists and get the law/gov/carte blance etc involved. Something along those lines may get somewhere.
Someone shared an article later last year regarding a court ruling of someone getting hurt around DBN because a truck or something passed too closely. It may have set the precedent for follow up cases such as this.

[sluiper]

Doesn't the WC have a 1.2 or 1.5 by-law? Get the plates with maybe some video evidence, get a kickstarter going amongst concerned citizens and cyclists and get the law/gov/carte blance etc involved. Something along those lines may get somewhere.

Someone shared an article later last year regarding a court ruling of someone getting hurt around DBN because a truck or something passed too closely. It may have set the precedent for follow up cases such as this.

 

Going up Constantia Neck from the M3 side and was brushed by a delivery truck. Had video running at the time. I contacted Donald Grant and was told to contact SAPS and lay a charge. I never did it but assume that's the way to go.

Image shows how close the truck was. Anyone who has gone up that road knows how terrifying it is.

[BaGearA]

Two questions you need to ask yourself

 

Who is harder you or a car

 

 

And

 

Is it worth it

 

 

Sucks I know and it's wrong I know but we have to adapt to where we live, it's been almost two years since I've been on open roads with my bike

[porqui]

.

I personally don't want to give up road bike riding but how can we change this impatient behaviour? 

 

Unfortunately you are not going to change this behaviour that's just reality so it is a case of adapt or die.

 

There are certain roads that I do not ride - full stop.

There are certain times I don't ride some roads.

 

I do not want to give up road riding either but attitudes, muggings and hijackings are on the increase.

[Dirkitech]

Going up Constantia Neck from the M3 side and was brushed by a delivery truck. Had video running at the time. I contacted Donald Grant and was told to contact SAPS and lay a charge. I never did it but assume that's the way to go.

Image shows how close the truck was. Anyone who has gone up that road knows how terrifying it is.

I've had similar experiences, more than I can remember, but I never had evidence like you seem to have. Would be good if you could make the case and see what happens - maybe after 5 cases of reckless driving on a nr plate, something will get done, hopefully.

 

Two questions you need to ask yourself

 

Who is harder you or a car

 

 

And

 

Is it worth it

 

 

Sucks I know and it's wrong I know but we have to adapt to where we live, it's been almost two years since I've been on open roads with my bike

The relative hardness doesn't matter - the only relevant question is "do you want change/improvement?" and if the answer is yes, we do something about it, including complaining to everyone we see (not facetious, seriously, upsetting people will get things done eventually), but if the answer is no, then there's no point and no contribution in replying here.

[Quagga]

Going up Constantia Neck from the M3 side and was brushed by a delivery truck. Had video running at the time. I contacted Donald Grant and was told to contact SAPS and lay a charge. I never did it but assume that's the way to go.

Image shows how close the truck was. Anyone who has gone up that road knows how terrifying it is.

Is Donald Grant the owner of the company? Name and shame company please...or at least send it to PPA 

[Quagga]

Doesn't the WC have a 1.2 or 1.5 by-law? Get the plates with maybe some video evidence, get a kickstarter going amongst concerned citizens and cyclists and get the law/gov/carte blance etc involved. Something along those lines may get somewhere.

Someone shared an article later last year regarding a court ruling of someone getting hurt around DBN because a truck or something passed too closely. It may have set the precedent for follow up cases such as this.

Not just Western Cape but national law now is 1.2M

[GaryvdM]

Not just Western Cape but national law now is 1.2M

 

I thought that was still in the proposal stage. Has that been enacted?

 

 

[babse]

Is Donald Grant the owner of the company? Name and shame company please...or at least send it to PPA 

Donald Grant in the MEC for transport and public works in WC

['Dale]

Choose your routes carefully

I only roll narrow roads when it’s quiet or early or, at the worst, off-peak.

 

Spending tons of time in the saddle on the black stuff, those I am most cautious of are delivery vans, mothers multitasking in their SUVs and the young drivers thinking they’re in a Need For Speed movie.

[Dirkitech]

Not just Western Cape but national law now is 1.2M

Like GaryvdM mentioned, I was also under the impression its still in proposal stages. You say its been confirmed as law nation wide? Thank you for sharing, thats amazing! Would've been safer getting 1.5, but its an amazing start   Do you by any chance have links to news of the institution thereof?

 

Edit: Just wondering, is/was WC not 1.5 bylaw? If yes, has it been reduced to 1.2 in WC?

Edited January 7, 2019 by Dirkitech

[Robbie Stewart]

I did a solo ride to Noordhoek and back from the Waterfront on Saturday. All was dandy, with curteous driving all round. Queue my return section along Beach Road, Sea Point...all of a sudden the non-CA/CY/WP registration numbers no longer veer aside as they pass, and one particular CA VW minibus passes me so close I thought my wide 780mm bars were going to be made narrower between it and the car I nearly scraped into to avoid said Volksie bus...

 

I was reminded again why I ride MTB trails mostly.

[Jewbacca]

This is just stuck record stuff unfortunately.

 

The culture in SA is just all wrong whether it's cars vs cars, cars vs bikes, cars vs motorbikes, cars vs people AND vice versa.

 

The level of entitlement, impatience and absolute narcissism on the road (which is creaping into every day life) is startling and only getting worse unfortunately.

 

Like 'Dale says, pick your routes, go early and don't be surprised when you get 'buzzed'.

 

Very few people actually care about anyone but themselves out there. When they kill someone they will run. If they are caught they will try to blame the dead person or some rubbish and when that doesn't work they will get a rap on the knuckles due to their lawyer pointing out several technicalities.

 

There is very little consequence in SA and it shows.

 

I'm all doom and gloom today. Sorry

[Skubarra]

 

 

The relative hardness doesn't matter - the only relevant question is "do you want change/improvement?" and if the answer is yes, we do something about it, including complaining to everyone we see (not facetious, seriously, upsetting people will get things done eventually), but if the answer is no, then there's no point and no contribution in replying here.

 

I'm very conflicted about this - avoiding the narrow roads at peak times keeps you alive but at the same time it reinforces the perceptions of all road users that cyclists shouldn't be there in the first place so we won't see improvement. Next step is the "victim blaming" from cyclists/motorists in "the name of common sense" of the poor bugger that gets taken out on a road that he had every right to be on because he "should have known better".

[Quagga]

Like GaryvdM mentioned, I was also under the impression its still in proposal stages. You say its been confirmed as law nation wide? Thank you for sharing, thats amazing! Would've been safer getting 1.5, but its an amazing start   Do you by any chance have links to news of the institution thereof?

 

Edit: Just wondering, is/was WC not 1.5 bylaw? If yes, has it been reduced to 1.2 in WC?

WC asked for 1.5m, but 1m was  made law. For some reason I can not find when the 1.2m became law, maybe I misread (read what I wanted to read) :-(