Random Morning in the South

[Andreas_187]

How many times have car drivers been stuck behind a lousy Uber driver or a coach along the coastline, starting and stopping and then crawling at 20km/h. The following cars sit in a queue behind and say nothing. All hell breaks loose if they had to sit behind a cyclist who is cruising at 40km/h. 

That Facebook post is a great spot for the unhinged to tell everyone how they would love to kill a whole group of cyclists with their 4x4..

BTW, I didn't know people over the age of 12 still used Facebook 

Edited February 5 by Andreas_187

[Danger Dassie]

Give those riders a bell 😁 ….. https://quickdeal.today/products/super-bike-horn?fbclid=IwAR3b1gczmhE8VnqhXG9-2aBWgPEcg0QZLfqIV9LYGFPuxzspMiXHS2g6nZU_aem_ATl5kxXC-CXlFgIktd0jRjL6psnyoQDEPO85u1_fwB36h4tPnqwXsJvXK16LlO7ilvrHQGNXL0-9mSn2Nb0YSByr

[Jewbacca]

One thing I can note as a frequent user of that stretch of road is that the BIG groups are terrible. 

They don't stick together between the lights/stops because it's a race, so there lands up being lots of groups of 6 spread out, all in the road, but not far enough to ever overtake. 

The slow guys soft pedal while the front guys go hammer and tongs, stretch the group, then they re group at every stop.

It doesn't give anyone any chance to overtake safely ever. I'm talking groups of 20 plus people.

It also make spassing them on a bike difficult and dangerous through that stop start section, so the group swells and swells as nothing can pass them.

I do get that we/they are road users but it IS hogging the road and being inconsiderate to other road users. The bin guys even pull over every few minutes to let the cars pass on that stretch.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

That's a really silly post by Chris and rather unexpected from him. All it does is give drivers a chance to validate their own reckless behavior on the road. Any one of us can sit at any intersection, any day of the week and take photos of drivers of cars & taxi's doing stupid **** as well.

We need to be teaching tolerance rather than laying blame on individual parties. We're all to blame, including local and provincial government for our poor infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

[Mook]

15 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

That's a really silly post by Chris and rather unexpected from him. All it does is give drivers a chance to validate their own reckless behavior on the road. Any one of us can sit at any intersection, any day of the week and take photos of drivers of cars & taxi's doing stupid **** as well.

We need to be teaching tolerance rather than laying blame on individual parties. We're all to blame, including local and provincial government for our poor infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

Agreed 🤙

Kudo's to the taxi driver for not attempting to dislodge the rear mech's on some of those bikes in the centre of the lane ..............................

There is hope for us all 🙏

[Shebeen]

16 hours ago, Andreas_187 said:

Who was the Karen that wasted his whole day taking photos of cyclists for the sole purpose of posting them and a moan on social media. 

It's funny that MOST of the photos show cyclists with NO cars behind.

 

NB: most cyclists are dicks on the road!

It was actually a Sunday. 

And if you actually read the opening post you would know exactly who the Karen is. And if you are a local cyclist you would know exactly who the Karen is and what he does. 

 

He is well qualified to comment here. 

[wattnow]

46 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

That's a really silly post by Chris and rather unexpected from him. All it does is give drivers a chance to validate their own reckless behavior on the road. Any one of us can sit at any intersection, any day of the week and take photos of drivers of cars & taxi's doing stupid **** as well.

We need to be teaching tolerance rather than laying blame on individual parties. We're all to blame, including local and provincial government for our poor infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

Infrastructure not to blame... any given day in the Cradle, a dedicated 2m wide cycle lane and yet you will get even solo riders not using the lane provided. 2 abreast fit easily in the lane but unfortunately cyclists refuse to follow simple common sense and logic. Not to mention when they jump all the red lights and seem surprised when someone gets hit.

Mindsets need to change and for the people that have family and kids waiting for your return, you should feel ashamed when you ride like a chop. 

We need to call each other out, cyclist to cyclist. Remembering when a car breaks the rules of the road there is a good chance the driver will survive (there of course are a lot of fatal accidents) but as a cyclist, you break a simple rule of the road and you going to land up dead. Pretty simple.

Ride safe all and please use day time running lights. Decrease your risks out there and get home to your families in one piece. 

P.S sorry if it sounds like a lecture.

[Jewbacca]

4 minutes ago, wattnow said:

Infrastructure not to blame... any given day in the Cradle, a dedicated 2m wide cycle lane and yet you will get even solo riders not using the lane provided. 2 abreast fit easily in the lane but unfortunately cyclists refuse to follow simple common sense and logic. Not to mention when they jump all the red lights and seem surprised when someone gets hit.

Mindsets need to change and for the people that have family and kids waiting for your return, you should feel ashamed when you ride like a chop. 

We need to call each other out, cyclist to cyclist. Remembering when a car breaks the rules of the road there is a good chance the driver will survive (there of course are a lot of fatal accidents) but as a cyclist, you break a simple rule of the road and you going to land up dead. Pretty simple.

Ride safe all and please use day time running lights. Decrease your risks out there and get home to your families in one piece. 

P.S sorry if it sounds like a lecture.

Well the DRIVER might survive, but if the 3 ton death machine breaks the rules of the road and pedestrians/cyclists/bystanders etc are involved they die. 

The onus is on people realising this. Drivers realising they are driving a big powerful killing machine and vulnerable road users not living in fear, but responsibly sharing the road.

In this country stationary cars in free, allocated storage spots have more importance than vulnerable road users. Drivers do whatever they like. 

ALL parties have a responsibility, but it seems that currently the responsibility lies with the vulnerable road users not to be responsible for dying, simply by using the road. 

Chris isn't helping the narrative by posting what he posted how he posted it. But as I said in an earlier post, no one here is without sin. if you've ridden on the road and driven a car, you have been guilty of being a douchepole at some point

[ChrisF]

Just came back from a work trip the South.  Narrow inner city roads.

 

Mommy in her big bus idelling along 10km below the speed limit ....

 

Most us just trying to get to our destinations, and sticking to the speed limits.

 

The young racers living out their Fast&Furious dreams weaving through the traffic ....

 

 

If anything, I am surprised how few motor vehicle accidents there are.

 

Anybody applying rational thought in these conditions are heading for a rude awakening.

 

 

It is not about being right ..... it is about getting home safely.  (both on 2 wheels and in 4 wheels)

 

Be safe out there, please  (both on your bikes and in your cars)

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Well the DRIVER might survive, but if the 3 ton death machine breaks the rules of the road and pedestrians/cyclists/bystanders etc are involved they die. 

The onus is on people realising this. Drivers realising they are driving a big powerful killing machine and vulnerable road users not living in fear, but responsibly sharing the road.

In this country stationary cars in free, allocated storage spots have more importance than vulnerable road users. Drivers do whatever they like. 

ALL parties have a responsibility, but it seems that currently the responsibility lies with the vulnerable road users not to be responsible for dying, simply by using the road. 

Chris isn't helping the narrative by posting what he posted how he posted it. But as I said in an earlier post, no one here is without sin. if you've ridden on the road and driven a car, you have been guilty of being a douchepole at some point

I think he posted it because his audience is mainly athletes.  Cyclists, swimmers, runners, triathletes. All people who ride bikes or are sympathetic to the biking cause. Not for motor bikers, soccer moms, bakkieboets and all other drivers who hate non tax paying cyclists on their tarmac. 

His message was that as cyclists, we need to do better as a community. 

Maybe he is here to explain further,  @ChrisH?

[Jewbacca]

43 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

I think he posted it because his audience is mainly athletes.  Cyclists, swimmers, runners, triathletes. All people who ride bikes or are sympathetic to the biking cause. Not for motor bikers, soccer moms, bakkieboets and all other drivers who hate non tax paying cyclists on their tarmac. 

His message was that as cyclists, we need to do better as a community. 

Maybe he is here to explain further,  @ChrisH?

Sure, I get that, but many of the photo's just show people enjoying themselves quite innocently and not holding up any traffic. 

The guy taking a picture of his flossie is as harmless as it gets. No cars in sight. 

I read through the comments and most of it is just token backslapping but there are definitely elements of deserved hurt and baddyness.

It is a lot like one of those 'out of context' skits. It 'MAY' hold water in some cases (taxi over the solid line, big group across the whole lane etc) but in others it is just content to support a narrative that, in this case, is putting the onus on vulnerable road users. 

I don't disagree we all need to be better, but he could have also taken some videos of the cars being naughty to suggest it's a 'two way street' for all road users.

 

[Headshot]

I am embarrassed to be even a temporary road cyclist . If the outfits aren't bad enough you get to be lumped with a bunch of riders who get into a group and start behaving as if they own the road. Sunday a group from CY  - about 40 riders with a support bakkie following them took over Chappies for a while. They weren't the only ones. I cringe in my lycra when I see that. That said, the vehicles on the road were well behaved and just sat there until they could pass. 

[ChrisH]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

I think he posted it because his audience is mainly athletes.  Cyclists, swimmers, runners, triathletes. All people who ride bikes or are sympathetic to the biking cause. Not for motor bikers, soccer moms, bakkieboets and all other drivers who hate non tax paying cyclists on their tarmac. 

His message was that as cyclists, we need to do better as a community. 

Maybe he is here to explain further,  @ChrisH?

Just hanging out in the back row eating my popcorn. My initial observation is that the level of confirmation bias around here is pretty much the same as it was back in 2006 when I first joined 'the hub'.

For context, on Sunday I was down there photographing runners, the cyclists were just a scary sideshow that I had to watch and suffer all the way from Wynberg to Simonstown. I didn't go there to try to make them look bad. They did that themselves.

[ChrisH]

22 hours ago, Danger Dassie said:

 it also can’t be tied to road fatalities as some kind of justification/rationale. 

I have to disagree with you. The amount of drunk drivers out early on a Sunday morning is staggering, and riding 3 or 5 abreast on a stretch of road where people invariably speed is asking to get rear ended.

Edited February 6 by ChrisH

[Shebeen]

24 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Sure, I get that, but many of the photo's just show people enjoying themselves quite innocently and not holding up any traffic. 

The guy taking a picture of his flossie is as harmless as it gets. No cars in sight. 

I read through the comments and most of it is just token backslapping but there are definitely elements of deserved hurt and baddyness.

It is a lot like one of those 'out of context' skits. It 'MAY' hold water in some cases (taxi over the solid line, big group across the whole lane etc) but in others it is just content to support a narrative that, in this case, is putting the onus on vulnerable road users. 

I don't disagree we all need to be better, but he could have also taken some videos of the cars being naughty to suggest it's a 'two way street' for all road users.

 

We all know south Africans are crap drivers,  no one needs to prove that. We could link to a recent thread with the video of a cyclist getting mowed down on this stretch of road.

It would appear to me that the whole point of this exercise was to point out to cyclists what it looks like during peak Argus. The way this thread is going, most of the cyclists are on the defensive instead of acknowledging the behavior. 

[ChrisH]

29 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

 

I don't disagree we all need to be better, but he could have also taken some videos of the cars being naughty to suggest it's a 'two way street' for all road users.

 

I agree, and if I'd seen any I would have done. they were all remarkably well behaved, even the taxi's.