Safety: Cycling on National Roads (N7)

[Martin Albrecht]

2 minutes ago, Zebra said:

When driving in towards the N1, on the N7, before you hit the N1, i guess THREE offramps before the N1, is T-H-E 'freeway' sign, which generally means road excluded to foot traffic and cyclists. It is placed very prominently, to CLEARLY identify a 'freeway' precinct...

Please dont shoot the messenger - SIMPLY pointing out, that, in law, certain near-identical portions of road can be identified as a 'Freeway', and there you have it!

 

See HERE:

The portion of the road within Cape Town is a freeway, but it loses limited-access freeway status shortly after exiting the urban limits at the M12 interchange (Malibongwe Drive). From here, it remains a dual-carriageway and gains limited-access freeway status again at the Melkbosstrand M19 interchange. It remains a limited-access freeway until just after Malmesbury at the R45 intersection. Thereafter, the N7 is a single-carriageway highway with wide paved shoulders to Piekenierskloof Pass and through the Olifants River valley until Clanwilliam.^[1]

Okay, interesting. I have never ridden a bike on the N7 (this side of Clanwilliam) before, never had the desire, but just from driving it, it never struck me as a “limited access freeway”.

 

like I said in my previous post, if you want to head that way by bike, the R27 “West Coast Road” makes far more sense. It’s got cycle lane all the way to Melkbos, and is a lot quieter, and you don’t need to go past Dunoon. 

[NotSoBigBen]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

 

Encountering this more frequently ... me cycling the "correct way", then have near head-on situations with cyclists on the wrong side of the road ....

 

DANGEROUS !!

I see that pretty often on my normal training routes, in my case they are all commuters .... they are generally pretty attentive and often give me ample space to pass. In a lot of cases, like with some runners as well, they will in fact give space so that I pass on the left away from the cars. 

I understand their reasoning, for them it's not a leisure activity ... it's their only option to get to and from work and they do it as safely as they feel possible... by seeing the oncoming traffic in this case

All cyclists ride bikes .... everyone who rides a bike is not necessarily a cyclist!

Edited February 3 by NotSoBigBen

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, NotSoBigBen said:

I see that pretty often on my normal training routes, in my case they are all commuters .... they are generally pretty attentive and often give me ample space to pass. In a lot of cases, like with some runners as well, they will in fact give space so that I pass on the left away from the cars. 

I understand their reasoning, for them it's not a leisure activity ... it's their only option to get to and from work and they do it as safely as they feel possible... by seeing the oncoming traffic in this case

All cyclists ride bikes .... everyone who rides a bike is not necessarily a cyclist!

 

Yes, most interesting to see the difference in "commuters" vs "cyclists" ....

 

Commuters typically are a very chilled group, except when they get it in their head to dice you ... 

 

SOME, not all, some cyclists are head down and full speed .... and oblivious to the impending head-on collision.  Jip, yes, a good few cyclists are now doing the wrong side of the road thing around here .... I pull up, put my ffo on the pavement and wait for them to get past safely.

[NotSoBigBen]

18 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Yes, most interesting to see the difference in "commuters" vs "cyclists" ....

 

Commuters typically are a very chilled group, except when they get it in their head to dice you ... 

 

SOME, not all, some cyclists are head down and full speed .... and oblivious to the impending head-on collision.  Jip, yes, a good few cyclists are now doing the wrong side of the road thing around here .... I pull up, put my ffo on the pavement and wait for them to get past safely.

Jeez man I've been in a few of those commuter races .... lost many a time 🫣

[Shebeen]

6 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

And this morning I saw two cyclists who, in their infinite wisdom thought it okay to cycle on the M5 - direction town.

Nogal in club kit as well.

I used to commute from muizenberg to obs (and later green point) 2/3 times a week. 

Also used to think okes on the M5 in peak traffic were total nuts.......

...until I joined them.

Got chatting guys been doing it for years, many in groups who ride together and never had issues, traffic cops tolerated it too.

Massive shoulder, often going past stationary cars - you do need to keep your wits on you at intersections, but if the worst happpens you just keep going up on an ramp and down the other side.

 

Illegal - technically YES.

safer than the only other viable option (M4/main road) - you betcha!

 

 

finally, after a long slog of work, getting on your bike knowing that the forecasted south easter has pulled in is a commute session of note

 

[DJR]

20 hours ago, Mamil said:

All I hear from official channels and in the "we our own worst enemy" responses here in the hub is "I saw a cyclist behaving badly on the road".

I have a 2km commute to work - here's the "I saw...." list from the two morning commutes so far this week

1. Suburban street with school children walking, me on a bike, cars parked on the side of the road a courier van doing about 80kmph hard braking for the speedbump

2. Same street - student in a polo rolling through the stop street on her phone

3. Cnr liesbeek and durban robot - taxi turning right from middle lane cutting across legitimate right turners.

4. Same intersection - three cars accelerating through after the green arrow has gone pushing through a throng of school kids 

5. Next to Rondebosch common - city electrical department vehicle close passes me into the traffic circle and hoots as he does so - because he saw me but couldn't be @rsed to slow down for the one second it would take me to get out of his way.

6. Queue of cars waiting while parents turn right into Rustenburg grounds - two cars without looking try sneaking around and block the cycle lane - a frequent one this - some of the cars have had me slap them on the fender and tell the driver "sorry man did you git a cyclist?"

7. Same road - I'm turning right on my bike into premises with cars released from the snarfu at Rustenburg accelerating towards me - I'm signalling right turn - parent in SUV accelerates to close the gap so I can't turn (she didn't see me - how many times we heard that one? No darling you weren't looking) three cars do the same until someone lets me through despite the fact they must stop 30 meters further on.

8. One bishops kid on a bike possibly with parental instruction to ride on the jogging path not the road, another old man on his bike hugging the cycle lane while cars whizz past, a racer with a backpack sprinting hard to keep pace with the traffic, breathing in lungfuls of diesel particulate and skillfully anticipating the traffic movement.

 

Ja cyclists should ride well on the road but this "take responsibility for your safety" stuff is bizarre to me as an endlessly repeated mantra.

What I think motivates this argument that "we need to be better" is two main factors.

1. The absurdity of the normality that the motor car dominates our public space so much and the taken for granted idea that this is usual, normal and that there isn't another viable option. I see this is a profound lack of imagination and political will. The "cyclists do better" argument legitimates the lack of political will to protect the human and natural environment from cars.

2. The psychological difficulty of understanding that as a cyclist, we have very little control over what happens. Short of staying off the road. To get on the bike is to put our lives in the hands of the general f$#kwittery out there. It is reassuring then to say that we can do something to keep ourselves safe (stop at robots, wear bright clothing, yada yada yada) because to hold the idea that we have so little protection and so little control is terrifying.

Ja my radar light and secondary flare light make a difference but much of that is as a talisman - reassurance of my fear. 

How many of the deaths we report and mark with sad emojis and ghost bikes are due to cyclist behaviour other than "he was riding his/her bike and a speeding / drunk / inattentive driver hit him?" I can think of one only - a young woman who did a U turn without checking in 2023 I think it was?

I can guarantee that if every cyclists stopped at every robot, always rode single file, was festooned in lights and bright colours ... the carnage would continue unabated.

 

 

 

Very good post Mamil. Sadly, I agree.

My own conclusion, after way too many close encounters, daily seeing the crazy dangerous driver behaviour and one very-near-to-final crash, is that the risks of road cycling in and around the City of Cape Town, now outweighs the benefits for me personally. The volume of traffic and the general level of skill as well as the extremely aggressive attitude, does not favour cyclists.

If it sounds like I have lost my nerve, then maybe that is, at least partly, true.

I should really sell my road bikes and ride off into the sunset on a mountain bike.