'How can you drive into cyclists?'

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12/01/2009 08:22  - (SA)   <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

 

 

 

Hilda Fourie, Beeld

<?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Pretoria - A cyclist has described how he heard screeching brakes and then felt a knock, as a police car drove into him.

Frans Potgieter, 50, of Wonderboom in the north of Pretoria, was participating in a cycle race organised by the Vissershoek Primary School on Saturday morning.

He and a group of six cyclists were on

Brits Avenue

in the north of Pretoria, when the accident happened. Three cyclists were riding in front of Potgieter and two were behind him. Potgieter said he was riding a little more into the road than the others.

"I heard the screeching brakes and then felt the knock," he said.

"A policeman from Hartbeespoort had driven into me from behind and pushed me along.

"I thought he was going to drive right over me.

"As he knocked me forward, I bumped into the rider in front of me, who in turn knocked into the one in front of her. My back wheel broke. My bike collapsed and I landed on the road on my backside.

"The police vehicle came to a standstill about a metre from my head."

Hospitalised

Potgieter and the two women riders in front of him were taken to hospital.

He had injured his back and bottom. One of the women had broken her right foot and little toe, had to get stitches in her right arm and had injured her ribs. The other woman had severe grazes.

Al three were discharged later on Saturday.

Potgieter said the damage to the bicycles amounted to hundreds of rand.

"It shows you people don't watch the road when they drive," Potgieter said.

"You don't even drive that close to a car. Why would you drive that close to a bicycle?"

Complaint

Jakkie Louw, organiser of the cycle race, said they were going to lodge a complaint with the Independent Complaints Directorate.

Louw said the policeman had told him he hadn't noticed the cyclists on the road.

"Before the accident, he passed about 50 cyclists, so he knew there were cyclists on the road," Louw said.

"How can you just drive into a bunch of cyclists? How is it that you don't see others on the road?"

Police spokesperson Inspector Dikatso Thebe confirmed the accident.

- Beeld

[pastapouch]

the same way as a bus plunges into a dam, or jump from a bridge, or an embankment...

[TNT1]

Well, before stating the obvious, you really should search, and not post a thrice posted topic...

 

But the obvious part is that motorists drive into other cars all the time, so naturally the will have no problem in hitting cyclists, motorbikes, pedestrians, any old thing, really...

 

[intern]

 

Cops are useless criminals with badges. Yesterday I saw a Metro doing a U turn and driving away at a robot which some filthy animal (probably tow truck driver) had turned. Could this stupid retard not contribute to protecting people by fixing the robot??

 

On that subject, has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a spate of robots being twisted to cause confusion and crashes? Usually with a tow truck sitting nearby...what can you do about it?? I have always thought that if you try fix it, you might be accused of being the person to have interfered with it in the first place...

 

intern2009-01-12 02:56:15

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Sorry TNT1, i obviously do not spend as much time as you on the hub to watch all toppics all the time

[TNT1]

Don't apologise to me... The next time the hub goes all slow and starts crashing due to lack of bandwidth, apologise to admin and the users wot complain...

[Joe Low]

'How can you drive into cyclists?'

 

I'm not sure why you would want to but in the interests of being helpful my top tip is as follows:

 

You often need to draw the single cyclist out from the far left side of the road so as to get a good shot at them.  The best way to do this is to hoot when you are 50-100mtrs away (depending on your speed).  Most cyclists will then look over their right shoulder causing the bike to veer more into your path.

 

If you have a Mercedes you'll find that the bonnet badge acts as a gunsight so you can fine tune your approach to hit dead-centre.  If you don't drive a Mercedes you can still buy a badge and fix it on.

 

Hope that's useful - but it is a strange request.

 

[scotty]

On that subject' date=' has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a spate of robots being twisted to cause confusion and crashes? Usually with a tow truck sitting nearby...what can you do about it?? I have always thought that if you try fix it, you might be accused of being the person to have interfered with it in the first place...
[/quote']

 

Happens quite regulary on Malibongwe offramp, with a tow truck vulture waiting.

[2 X 2]

Don't apologise to me... The next time the hub goes all slow and starts crashing due to lack of bandwidth' date=' apologise to admin and the users wot complain... [/quote']

 

Ok, TNT1, I found it.  Sorry fellow hubbers for using up bandwidth

 

https://www.bikehub.co.za/forum_posts.asp?TID=40462

 

 

 

[Bateleur1]

'How can you drive into cyclists?'

 

I'm not sure why you would want to but in the interests of being helpful my top tip is as follows:

 

You often need to draw the single cyclist out from the far left side of the road so as to get a good shot at them.  The best way to do this is to hoot when you are 50-100mtrs away (depending on your speed).  Most cyclists will then look over their right shoulder causing the bike to veer more into your path.

 

If you have a Mercedes you'll find that the bonnet badge acts as a gunsight so you can fine tune your approach to hit dead-centre.  If you don't drive a Mercedes you can still buy a badge and fix it on.

 

Hope that's useful - but it is a strange request.

 

 

[Team SL]

Hi All

Yes this was not nice to have cyclists get knocked down by a Police Van on our 1st race that we presented.

 

We are busy with the relevant authorities and will keep you informed as we proceed.

 

Thanks

 

Clive Hardy

Organiser

[mapep]

i find the best way to protect yourself on the roads these days, whether you're in your vehicle or riding your bike, is to assume that every other road user is clueless about road sense / safety, almost to expect the unexpected.

However i do contradict myself a bit because when riding / racing in a bunch u definetly do put a lot of faith in the person that is only a split second in front of you !

Hopefully we'll see less cycling accidents this year.