Slave Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 Heard from a friend of mine that he drove past what looked to be another cyclist fatality on Heidelberg Raod yesterday afternoon. He came of second best in an accident with a truck. I do not have any of the details. Please people, be careful out there. Take care of yourselves and FFS obey the rules of the road. Seems to be that this timeof the year, there are going to be many out training for the 94.7. Wear visible clothing and be seen. Condolences to the family and friends.
Peanut Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 To the family of the rider that saddly lost his life yesterday, may you always have good memories and his love in your hearts!!R. I. P.
porky Posted September 16, 2009 Posted September 16, 2009 Heard from a friend of mine that he drove past what looked to be another cyclist fatality on Heidelberg Raod yesterday afternoon. He came of second best in an accident with a truck. I do not have any of the details. Please people' date=' be careful out there. Take care of yourselves and FFS obey the rules of the road. Seems to be that this timeof the year, there are going to be many out training for the 94.7. Wear visible clothing and be seen. Condolences to the family and friends.[/quote'] Where is Heidelberg road Slave? Is it the actual road to Heidelberg ( and is not a large part of the road to Heidelberg from Jhb a Highway?), or is it just a road named Heidelberg road? I remember there used to be a few races from Vereeniging, out on the actual Heidelberg road with a turn around, I did one and found it was so dangerous with all these huge trucks blasting down the road, I never did another.!
Frosty Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 Jhb south and the East Rand has 2 different sections of road that are both named "Heidelberg road" One runs from Electron (M2/Joe Slovo intersection - End street in Jhb) passing through City Deep, Steeldale and Alberton and ending close to Leondale. The other runs from Elsburg to Barry Marais road in Rondebult.
Captain Slow Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 Sad, sad news!! My condolences to Family & Friends!! RIP fellow cyclist!
Slave Posted September 17, 2009 Author Posted September 17, 2009 Heard from a friend of mine that he drove past what looked to be another cyclist fatality on Heidelberg Raod yesterday afternoon. He came of second best in an accident with a truck. I do not have any of the details. Please people' date=' be careful out there. Take care of yourselves and FFS obey the rules of the road. Seems to be that this timeof the year, there are going to be many out training for the 94.7. Wear visible clothing and be seen. Condolences to the family and friends.[/quote'] Where is Heidelberg road Slave? Is it the actual road to Heidelberg ( and is not a large part of the road to Heidelberg from Jhb a Highway?), or is it just a road named Heidelberg road? I remember there used to be a few races from Vereeniging, out on the actual Heidelberg road with a turn around, I did one and found it was so dangerous with all these huge trucks blasting down the road, I never did another.! This is the one runs from End Street, downtown JHB south, past the Market and City deep. Understand the accident happened closer to Steeldale.
Janet Oos Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 The Rider that was knocked over and killed is from Panda Cycles his name is Len Victor. My thoughts are with his family and friends. R.I.P. Len
porky Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 This is the one runs from End Street' date=' downtown JHB south, past the Market and City deep. Understand the accident happened closer to Steeldale. [/quote'] Hmmm, very busy road and a duel carriage way if I am not mistaken?. The container depot is also just off the road, so there are PLENTY of massive container trucks there as well, sad, but honestly, riding there is like playing "russian roulette," the only differance is you are using an 8kg bicycle and a 50 ton container truck as opposed to a .357 magnum. You may get away with it once or twice, but the inevitability remains.! porky2009-09-17 03:56:37
Sandro Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 My condolences to family and friends of his. I HATE hearing news like this I think its so sad that such an awesome sport so often leads to tragedies like this.
Slave Posted September 17, 2009 Author Posted September 17, 2009 Yeah Porky. It is a bit like Russian Roulette. Except insteadof only havingone bullet, you have only one empty chamber. That road is constantly busy with high volumes of fast moving traffic and heavy duty trucking. I don't want to trash the memory of anyone but apparently he was warned about that particular road. It is a problem with our sport that it is a high risk endeavour. Most stuff happens at speed.
porky Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 Yeah Porky. It is a bit like Russian Roulette. Except insteadof only havingone bullet' date=' you have only one empty chamber. That road is constantly busy with high volumes of fast moving traffic and heavy duty trucking. I don't want to trash the memory of anyone but apparently he was warned about that particular road. It is a problem with our sport that it is a high risk endeavour. Most stuff happens at speed. [/quote'] Sure, no doubt, but one needs to think things through as well, and limiting risk where at all possible is the first step. I am often up and down to the container depot, the trucks are so big that they encroach right up to the white line even when driving as close as possible to the road curb. I honestly find these drivers are very well trained, but the sheer mass of these trucks and their cargo of containers even makes me feel vulnerable in a 4 x 4 bakkie, how on earth anyone can expect to ride safely there is beyond me.
predictor Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 I used to be a traffic officer and in my books if the driver is so good he should have known that there would just not be enough space to overtake. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> The lawful thing to do is to then slow down and give right of way until it is safe to overtake. I believe that a court of law will look at this case in all its circumstances and then make a ruling based on all the evidence. In my humble opinion I believe that we should not only enforce the law but also report on the outcome of the actual cases that makes it to court. I say CSA should reserve page 5 of the Sunday papers and report hotspots as well as accidents like these and then also the court dates and outcomes. Only when we all see the devastation repeated every Sunday will we start to realize the problem and only if motorists see the jail time dished out will they start thinking about themselves and perhaps leave cyclists alone. Just a thought. Go and sit at any well lit STOP street and see how unlawful this country has become. I say enforce the law and report the consequences of the act. Sorry to hear about the loss of another cyclist may peace come to the family soon.
Slave Posted September 18, 2009 Author Posted September 18, 2009 FWIW, in my opinion the problem of lawlessness in SA is at current levels because the law is not enforced stringently enough and justice is not seen to be done. Driver (road user) attitudes aside, it is time for the cops to enforce the law. It needs to apply to everyone. When one sees a taxi getting away with something, the automatic thing is well, if they can do it , then so can I. Wrong but that is the general mentality. Only way to change that is to make some public examples of people who break the law. Your idea of publishing the outcomes of court cases is a good one. I like it. But how many people read the new paper?
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