CSA Press conference

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I thought he had a valid point. You cannot showcase South Africa without including Johannesburg's rich heritage if your goals are to promote South Africa. No doubt it was more challenging than they anticipated. Next year give the metro cops doughnuts and make sure they are at the intersections to ensure road closure. It will make a BIG difference!

 

Pehaps they should have followed the Tour of Oman's planning, they showcased the country so well I have this incredible urge to visit, and the races only started in the cities and finished mostly on the city outskirts. However they cut TV segments in on the cultural heritage of the country, obviously filmed before hand, with interviews, tours and vistas of magnificient hot beaches and ocean footage.

 

I learned more about Oman from watching that tour than I would have from Discovery channel, and the entire race was held in the absolutely empty, barren and safe desert countryside.

[epoh]

Pehaps they should have followed the Tour of Oman's planning, they showcased the country so well I have this incredible urge to visit, and the races only started in the cities and finished mostly on the city outskirts. However they cut TV segments in on the cultural heritage of the country, obviously filmed before hand, with interviews, tours and vistas of magnificient hot beaches and ocean footage.

 

I learned more about Oman from watching that tour than I would have from Discovery channel, and the entire race was held in the absolutely empty, barren and safe desert countryside.

 

True, Oman's history is not in their cities.

[Guest Big H]

Thats totally uncalled for kosmonooit.

 

Thanx I wanted to say the same but also did not want to change the course of the debate.

[Puxi]

Is this not a point...I live in PE and have not read or heard anything about tomorrow, I know about it because I have been looking as CSA website. But the general public of PE know NOTHING...NOTHING...

 

How can it be a success then....PLANNING is missing!!!

[kosmonooit]

Thats totally uncalled for kosmonooit.

 

Sorry to stoke but its true - I have to deal with them on a daily basis, they are overflowing to Rosebank now. For instance, they pitch up in the fancy cars and wagons and demand to park in the disabled parking in front of the centre (and our offices), and wont take no for an answer from the parking staff. It's the newly and unjustly enriched, who's arrogance is only surpassed by their lack of taste. Please keep them in Sandton.

Edited February 21, 2011 by kosmonooit

[scotty]

Thats totally uncalled for kosmonooit.

 

This is a strong perception. I recall when the D2D and the Monte Casino were were run through Sandton/Randburg the drivers were extremely aggressive. The Monte is no longer held and the D2D has moved to the outskirts.

 

In contrast the Emperors held on the East rand crosses over North rand rd which is the busiest road in the east rand, this road was impacted for about 6 hours yet we did not have incidents such as was seen yesterday.

[Guest Big H]

Sorry to stoke but its true - I have to deal with them on a daily basis, they are overflowing to Rosebank now. For instance, they pitch up in the fancy cars and wagons and demand to park in the disabled parking in front of the centre (and our offices), and wont take no for an answer from the parking staff. It's the newly and unjustly enriched, who's arrogance is only surpassed by their lack of taste. Please keep them in Sandton.

 

Oh you are talking about the rat runners and pavement kugels...... the use of the capital letter "God" confused me and I thought you were being blasphemous.

[kosmonooit]

Oops sorry should be 'god' & 'goddess' complexes - generally comes with wealth, ie Berlusconi

Edited February 21, 2011 by kosmonooit

[Seeker911]

Around lunch time on Sundays there is a mad panic to get to lunch dates on time, its a very dangerous time on the roads of Jhb (not that there is any safe time) And around Sandton it's worse with the hordes of nouveau riche suffering from God / Goddess complexes. Yes people here drive like selfish idiots most of the time, habits are bad and standards are low. Thats why I stick to back roads and pavements as much as possible though another great danger is rat runners (generally in SUV's yacking on cell phones)

 

I say we as cyclist should do a mass protest in Sandton or somewhere here in Jhb: all meet at a major intersection at a given time and do a sit down / blockade / protest (at least for an hour)

 

I do a 4am to 6h30am tour de Randburg and Sandton most week days and can honestly say the local residents are all pretty ok. The only issues i've seen have involved buses and taxi's driving at excessive speeds and skipping red robots. If anything I have seen many cyclists who's behaviour and road manners can be called in question.

[mallo]

The joys of watching a mother of all ****-ups then we BLAME THE MOTORIST WHEN race organizers failed all and sundry.

 

NOT ENOUGH ADVERTISING DONE ABOUT THE RACE OR WARNING TO THE PUBLIC ESPECIALLY AREAS WHERE THERE NORMALLY IS HEAVY TRAFFIC FLOW.

 

The few marshals on the route had black tops on no reflective jackets or flags to warn motorists

 

Where were the traffic wardens or Metro cops(Like to know what bill was submitted from JMPD) were they officially requested for the day. I know they had around 12 Metro bikes on the route

 

Who done the sweep to check on marshals and cops at their points before the race came down the route etc

 

On the same morning down the road we ran the Pirates 21km race and had they had a Outsurance points-man at every major intersection. makes you think.( Cutting corners to save costs????????????)

[pezulu]

I see a lot of finger pointing at different people and yet nothing constructive coming from it.

The facts are that:

1. CSA seem to have requested that JMPD be in attendance, as the JMPD were present in the first part of the day. The JMPD were however not present through the entire day.

2. Vehicles ignored traffic officers and marshalls, some reports of drivers even spitting at/on marshalls and traffic officers. Reports also indicate that vehicles even drove onto pavements to carry on with their business.

3. I only knew about the event from reading about it here on the hub. I listen to Talk Radio 702, and can't remember once hearing an advertising blurb for the event. It was never discussed while I was listening, which is normally from about 8am t 4pm.

4. CSA may have been overly ambitious to attempt to use some of the major roadways of Johannesburg, without giving proper warning in advance to motorists regarding road closures, rolling closures, or the event in itself.

 

I can only hope that the recent events in PE have given the powers-that-be a sufficient warning on what to expect, and what to do to prevent any further unfortunate events occuring again.

If the members of CSA are to blame, they should shoulder the repsonsibility and act accordingly. Whether this included their resignations is debatable.

If JHMP were at fault for not attending to the entire days' event, they should accept that they are also responsible, and make ammends to ensure that this type of incident does not occur on their watch again.

If the motorists of Sandton/Rosebank/Johannesburg in general are to blame, I hope that they realise that they acted like hooligans and have scarred the image that we were trying to convey to the rest of the world that South Africa is a great cycling destination.

 

Let's learn from the mistakes, accidental or otherwise, and move forward, if the world will allow us, and irrepairable has not already been done.

[Zeps]

BigH, just wondering, why are you on this forum? You don't like cyclists, criticize them at every opportunity and by my observation don't spend much time on a bike .... just saying

[ewep]

Sorry to stoke but its true - I have to deal with them on a daily basis, they are overflowing to Rosebank now. For instance, they pitch up in the fancy cars and wagons and demand to park in the disabled parking in front of the centre (and our offices), and wont take no for an answer from the parking staff. It's the newly and unjustly enriched, who's arrogance is only surpassed by their lack of taste. Please keep them in Sandton.

 

Unfortunately VERY VERY true! I work in Rosebank as well and some of these fancy fancies have tried to intimidate our security to let them park on the company grounds. And yes, the stereo typical 4x4 SUV driver.

 

 

This is a strong perception. I recall when the D2D and the Monte Casino were were run through Sandton/Randburg the drivers were extremely aggressive. The Monte is no longer held and the D2D has moved to the outskirts.

 

In contrast the Emperors held on the East rand crosses over North rand rd which is the busiest road in the east rand, this road was impacted for about 6 hours yet we did not have incidents such as was seen yesterday.

 

Scotty, found this on the bike as well. East Rand people are more tolerant.

[Tumbleweed]

Scotty, found this on the bike as well. East Rand people are more tolerant.

 

 

Up to a point…

[Punt]

I absolutely cannot see how warning people about a 5 minute rolling road closure would have made any difference. They weren't delayed for half an hour, they didn't have to take an alternate route, they just had to sit in their cars at the intersection for 3 changes of the robot instead of 1. There's no excuse.

[Parks cycling]

The sad part is that the early part of Stage 2 (yesterday) seemed so organised? I was watching with a fairly big crowd at the first KOM point at the top of Christiaan de Wet. There were plenty of cops and marshalls ahead of the riders. Traffic was under control and crowd support was great. I was ready to watch the finish at Monte Casino and then the stuff ups came! Poor planning at the end of the day? And add a few more years before any of the big teams will even think about coming. Pity.