Mugging on N1, 1 December 2024 6am

[Shebeen]

On 1/10/2025 at 12:08 PM, Jbr said:

whatever bru, someone is trying to do something peaceful to solve a problem for all of us, doesn't need random people behind their keyboard to tell them it's useless. That kind of attitude is the reason why nothing's being done about anything

As the random person behind his keyboard you will n o doubt be disappointed to hear that I am incredibly overjoyed to see how well this went. I'm sorry you thought I have the wrong type of attitude and was being negative on the subject and my opinion was not welcome here. If nothing else it kept the topic active and top of mind.

I dropped in the little easter egg of critical mass rides 15+ years ago, you missed it. 

 

[The Ouzo]

11 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

As the random person behind his keyboard you will n o doubt be disappointed to hear that I am incredibly overjoyed to see how well this went. I'm sorry you thought I have the wrong type of attitude and was being negative on the subject and my opinion was not welcome here. If nothing else it kept the topic active and top of mind.

I dropped in the little easter egg of critical mass rides 15+ years ago, you missed it. 

 

there was another small get together of cyclists to raise awareness some 45 odd years ago that some how evolved over the years into the largest timed cycling event in the world.

[Shebeen]

12 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

there was another small get together of cyclists to raise awareness some 45 odd years ago that some how evolved over the years into the largest timed cycling event in the world.

I know, I've done over half of them. The disappointing thing is that the Argeeees was started to get better bike infrastructure in the city. Despite growing into the monster event it is(was?) unfortunately I don't think it has achieved much on that front.

[Wannabe]

Come on guys, put your egos in your pockets. An attempt is being made to make cycling a bit safer. Either support it, or zip it.

Your bickering does not improve the situation any.

 

[MORNE]

Thanks to all involved so far. It was always going to be important that traction is maintained over the holiday period. That's job done. Hopefully the powers that be can tackle this with some of that new year vigour now. 

[Wannabe]

Yesterday's meeting was a success, with the various role players committing to tackle the problem with vigor. COCT committed to cleaning up/repairing the Woodstock section of the bike trail, and more engagement with Dept of Transport (Minister Barbara Creecy) to get the shack dwellers evicted. Unfortunately housing them then becomes COCT problem, but they are working on securing proper housing for the shack dwellers. We just need to continue sending mails to her office, complaining about the risk posed by the shack dwellers to us as cyclists, as well as to the damage they cause to the infrastructure of COCT, as it is her departments responsibility to apply for the eviction notice, not COCT.

Any and all incidents must be reported to SAPS to get the case number, and this then must be forwarded to Pedal Power (which was conspicuous in their absence on Sunday) for them to compile a data base. Also report the incident on the Pedal Power website on their heatmap.

SP also had a radio interview with Lester Kiewiets this morning, which was a positive encounter, and spread the message a bit further.

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:41 AM by Wannabe
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[Jbr]

21 minutes ago, Wannabe said:

Yesterday's meeting was a success, with the various role players committing to tackle the problem with vigor. COCT committed to cleaning up/repairing the Woodstock section of the bike trail, and more engagement with Dept of Transport (Minister Barbara Creecy) to get the shack dwellers evicted. Unfortunately housing them then becomes COCT problem, but they are working on securing proper housing for the shack dwellers. We just need to continue sending mails to her office, complaining about the risk posed by the shack dwellers to us as cyclists, as well as to the damage they cause to the infrastructure of COCT, as it is her departments responsibility to apply for the eviction notice, not COCT.

Any and all incidents must be reported to SAPS to get the case number, and this then must be forwarded to Pedal Power (which was conspicuous in their absence on Sunday) for them to compile a data base. Also report the incident on the Pedal Power website on their heatmap.

SP also had a radio interview with Lester Kiewiets this morning, which was a positive encounter, and spread the message a bit further.

 

Thanks man,  is there any short term action to make the risk of attack drop a bit ? Or should we keep avoiding the area as much as we can until the mid/long term actions are put in place ?

Do we even know who put the guards that some of us have seen on a few occasions watching the area ? They looked like private ?

[Wannabe]

14 minutes ago, Jbr said:

Thanks man,  is there any short term action to make the risk of attack drop a bit ? Or should we keep avoiding the area as much as we can until the mid/long term actions are put in place ?

Do we even know who put the guards that some of us have seen on a few occasions watching the area ? They looked like private ?

They are going to establish two daily Law Enforcement deployments along the corridor during "peak hour" in the mornings (06h00-09h00) and afternoons. Unfortunately, only from 20 Jan. So until then, the N1 is the safer bet. It has also been confirmed that it is within the law to cycle that section of the N1.

I'll try a bit later to link the communication I received regarding this.

I think those guards are private postings by businesses trying to protect their assets, doubt if you will receive any assistance from them in an emergency, as I'm sure it's not within their mandate/scope of work.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 07:17 AM by Wannabe
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[Spinnaroonie]

Seeing the state of the path along that section was a real eye-opener. The infrastructure is heavily compromised at multiple points, and there are far more shacks that cannot be seen from the N1. When we stopped at the hot spot, two potential perps (one had a bicycle pump in hand??) were high-tailing out there and there were still more grim figures lurking at the on-ramp. They are thriving! 

We definitely took them by surprise and put them on watch but that entire section doesn't seem safe to ride at this point.  The 20th is only a week away.
 

[Wannabe]

As per SP:

"Once again, thanks for all the support with the Mass Ride yesterday. We met with all Westen Cape Gov, COCT, SAPS, CPF and Active Mobility forum. It’s been documented that an urgent cleanup and repairs to the Bike Lane will be implemented as soon as possible. Active policing from SAPS and Law Enforcement will be made available and more visible from 6am to 9am and again in the afternoon. An urgent request has again been sent to Transnet and Prasa to evict all those shack dwellers we saw yesterday. Western Cape Gov gave feedback that Transnet have escalated it to the high court, but COCT now need to find land for them, as 80% of them were recently evicted from the Castle and surrounds in the Cape Town Precinct. (Hence the sharp escalation in attacks) Over the next few days, I should be able to get more feedback on timelines. As for the Harbour access like we did years ago, Rob Quintas is going to try again with Ports Authority. But it’s a key access point for SA and the likelihood of that access being granted is "

 

Meeting Minutes Inter-governmental Cycling Lane Safety Milnteron to CBD_ Recorded_13_01_25_public.pdf

Edited Tuesday at 09:25 AM by Wannabe
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[RossTopher]

Maybe worth sharing this video that @Ingo0815 filmed early last year with the relevant parties that have suddenly woken up. there seems to be a view from their responses, that this is a new issue that needs resolution, rather than a longstanding public service failure that doesnt only affect locals, but negatively impacts much needed tourism

Edited Wednesday at 06:27 AM by RossTopher
grammar

[OVERDRIVE]

Alls well that ends well. Hope the criminals find a buried landmine with a hammer one day. 

[mikkelz]

16 hours ago, RossTopher said:

Maybe worth sharing this video that @Ingo0815 filmed early last year, with the relevant parties that have suddenly woken up. there seems to be a view from their repsonses, that this is a new issue that needs resolution, rather than a longstanding public service failure that doesnt only affect locals, but negatively impacts much needed tourism

Yeah, good point.

The fact that cyclists are using a highway to avoid a cycle path which became unsafe 10 (?) years ago is shocking. Specifically referring to the route from Lagoon Beach through Paarden Eiland and into Cape Town behind the Toyota garage.

[keagsface]

On 12/3/2024 at 9:45 AM, Robbie Grant said:

"Sadly after this I have no respect for their race of people." - Sorry for your experience but WOW that is straight up racist.

 

[cadenceblur]

Chanced the bridge this morning…

Saw a few individuals whose body language looked suspicious as we were ascending the bridge coming from town side. At this point we stopped and as we also saw a cyclist walking from the same side but other side of road. 
We then witnessed an attempted grab on a lady ascending from the southern suburbs side, she was oblivious to the attempt! 
We then approached another larger group of cyclists that were congregating nearby due to a mechanical and we warned them and opted to take a detour back into town and through Woodstock, this was around 10:30. The brazenness is outrageous. We were definitely being watched and we ensured that we let them know that we were aware of that. Had we continued I am sure there would have been some form of confrontation. 

[Mamil]

3 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

Chanced the bridge this morning…

Saw a few individuals whose body language looked suspicious as we were ascending the bridge coming from town side. At this point we stopped and as we also saw a cyclist walking from the same side but other side of road. 
We then witnessed an attempted grab on a lady ascending from the southern suburbs side, she was oblivious to the attempt! 
We then approached another larger group of cyclists that were congregating nearby due to a mechanical and we warned them and opted to take a detour back into town and through Woodstock, this was around 10:30. The brazenness is outrageous. We were definitely being watched and we ensured that we let them know that we were aware of that. Had we continued I am sure there would have been some form of confrontation. 

Thanks for the update