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| Thread ID: 103511 | 2009-09-26 06:46:00 | Just in case anyone was wondering... | johcar (6283) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 814159 | 2010-02-18 18:54:00 | Driving down the road to the beach yesterday we came up behind two cyclists riding side by side. The one on the outside was right in the middle of our side of the narrow road, even when coming up to an island. It was only when the horn was used that he moved out of the way so that we could pass. A lot of cyclists really ask for it sometimes. :mad: Too right.! |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 814160 | 2010-02-18 21:43:00 | I think every motorist can cite examples of bad cyclist behaviour. Unfortunately, this is but one example of bad road user habits. If any motorist thought about it, I bet they could reel off 10 times as many examples of bad driving by other motorists ('cos everyone thinks they themselves a good driver ;)). The reasons cyclists stand out are: They are wearing (usually) brightly coloured lycra or hi-vis vests (if they're not they're idiots - not that it seems to make much difference to a motorist actually seeing them). Cyclists cannot react to a motorist approaching from behind as quick as another car might - the vehicle they are riding is inherently unstable and must be carefully maneouvred, especially the righthand-most rider when riding two abreast (and I reiterate that this practice is legal). Many motorists have either never been or haven't been on a bike for years, so don't understand the dangers cyclists face in today's traffic (or the crap on the road surface) or how fast a cyclist can travel. Motorists (maybe subconconsciously) recognise the potential consequences of that cyclist being hit and are fearful for that cyclist themselves - this feeling of fear often exhibits itself in anger. The reality is that there are bad road manners exhibited by all parties (pedestrians, motorcycles, truck and buses included). The issue is how do we address the problem and change everyone's attitude to any and all other road users (for the better!)? I don't have any hard answer to that, other than my suggestion to make the least vulnerable road user involved in an accident automatically at fault and perhaps ensure restorative justice is in place so the circumstances of the victim are not materially worse than prior to the accident. If this means confiscation of property in reparation or requiring the guilty party to go into debt, then so be it. It's about time we learned to take responsibility for our own actions. |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 814161 | 2010-02-19 04:08:00 | Sorry johcar you and I both know that you can't educate the dumb car drivers and it seems there are one or two on this forum | gary67 (56) | ||
| 814162 | 2010-02-19 05:32:00 | Sorry johcar you and I both know that you can't educate the dumb car drivers and it seems there are one or two on this forum Please see my signature. :D |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 814163 | 2010-02-19 10:23:00 | It's clear that the cyclists here are going to defend their behavior whether it's right or wrong. The fact of the matter is, every single day on Tamaki Drive ( I drive it every day) I & countless others will see cyclists owning the road. I've seen columns of them riding through the red lights on Quay street heading toward the docks, making trucks have to avoid them when they want to head into the wharf. The day before yesterday I saw 3 separate lots of cyclists (2 groups city bound, 1 the other way) riding side by side holding up a queue of traffic & this was only between the wharf lights & the boat sheds, making no attempt to change to single file & let traffic flow. I see them regulary riding into Mission Bay side by side, holding up a long queue of motorised vehicles, just to look good in front of the coffee crowd at the cafe's. The list goes on & on & I've no doubt many others have lists too. The problem is that it's not only a few cyclists causing this, it's nearly all of them. The person riding his bike to work, or the average school kid have really good road manners. They are not the problem & nor are the mountain bike riders out on their training rides. It's the lycra tuggers that cause 99.9% of the bad feeling that exists. The roads are too busy & are nowhere near big enough (plus the condition of them is terrible) to support pushbikes riding side by side. If the law says you can ride side by side providing there is enough room & traffic is not held up, then most of you riders are breaking the law every day & should be ticketed for it. I'm sure you'd prefer that to being squashed. We've all seen the Tour de France & yes it's very interesting to watch, tactics etc. But those roads are closed. Ride single file, or ride when the roads are not busy, ie early evenings & the roads will be a happier place for all. I've said my bit, now you can slag me off |
Phil B (648) | ||
| 814164 | 2010-02-19 10:55:00 | Sorry johcar you and I both know that you can't educate the dumb car drivers and it seems there are one or two on this forum Right, we'll get the cars off the roads and the pedestrians off the footpath, that should go part way to satisfying the cyclists. The cars and pedestrians being safely off the roads, the gun enthusiasts and the cyclists can sort out who has the right of way. On the third day the council can announce a winning team, deport the survivors to anywhere that'll have them, then let the regular people can use the roads and footpaths for the purpose they were put there in the first place. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 814165 | 2010-02-19 16:02:00 | I hate cyclists because when you pass them you have to give them heaps of room but then you stop at the lights and they just shoot straight past you almost scratching your car to the front of the lights, then you have to pass them really wide again. These bikers probably did this to the driver which is why she hit them when they tried to get in front of her at the stop sign. She should be given a reward of 1 grand per cyclist, not have to pay for each one she managed to hit. |
roddy_boy (4115) | ||
| 814166 | 2010-02-19 17:43:00 | It's clear that the cyclists here are going to defend their behavior whether it's right or wrong. The fact of the matter is, every single day on Tamaki Drive ( I drive it every day) I & countless others will see cyclists owning the road. I've seen columns of them riding through the red lights on Quay street heading toward the docks, making trucks have to avoid them when they want to head into the wharf. The day before yesterday I saw 3 separate lots of cyclists (2 groups city bound, 1 the other way) riding side by side holding up a queue of traffic & this was only between the wharf lights & the boat sheds, making no attempt to change to single file & let traffic flow. I see them regulary riding into Mission Bay side by side, holding up a long queue of motorised vehicles, just to look good in front of the coffee crowd at the cafe's. The list goes on & on & I've no doubt many others have lists too. The problem is that it's not only a few cyclists causing this, it's nearly all of them. The person riding his bike to work, or the average school kid have really good road manners. They are not the problem & nor are the mountain bike riders out on their training rides. It's the lycra tuggers that cause 99.9% of the bad feeling that exists. The roads are too busy & are nowhere near big enough (plus the condition of them is terrible) to support pushbikes riding side by side. If the law says you can ride side by side providing there is enough room & traffic is not held up, then most of you riders are breaking the law every day & should be ticketed for it. I'm sure you'd prefer that to being squashed. We've all seen the Tour de France & yes it's very interesting to watch, tactics etc. But those roads are closed. Ride single file, or ride when the roads are not busy, ie early evenings & the roads will be a happier place for all. I've said my bit, now you can slag me off Some of this is true I grant you yet everyday I see here in Nelson cars driving in the cycle lane, cars parked in the cycle lanes, cars cutting up single bicyclists on the road, buses and trucks getting so close to cyclists on a 2 lane road with the outer lane empty (go figure that one) and I'm talking about commuter cyclists not racers when I see these things. Oh and typical dumb comment from Roddy Girl as usual |
gary67 (56) | ||
| 814167 | 2010-02-19 18:51:00 | It's clear that the cyclists here are going to defend their behavior whether it's right or wrong. The fact of the matter is, every single day on Tamaki Drive ( I drive it every day) I & countless others will see cyclists owning the road. I've seen columns of them riding through the red lights on Quay street heading toward the docks, making trucks have to avoid them when they want to head into the wharf. The day before yesterday I saw 3 separate lots of cyclists (2 groups city bound, 1 the other way) riding side by side holding up a queue of traffic & this was only between the wharf lights & the boat sheds, making no attempt to change to single file & let traffic flow. I see them regulary riding into Mission Bay side by side, holding up a long queue of motorised vehicles, just to look good in front of the coffee crowd at the cafe's. The list goes on & on & I've no doubt many others have lists too. The problem is that it's not only a few cyclists causing this, it's nearly all of them. The person riding his bike to work, or the average school kid have really good road manners. They are not the problem & nor are the mountain bike riders out on their training rides. It's the lycra tuggers that cause 99.9% of the bad feeling that exists. The roads are too busy & are nowhere near big enough (plus the condition of them is terrible) to support pushbikes riding side by side. If the law says you can ride side by side providing there is enough room & traffic is not held up, then most of you riders are breaking the law every day & should be ticketed for it. I'm sure you'd prefer that to being squashed. We've all seen the Tour de France & yes it's very interesting to watch, tactics etc. But those roads are closed. Ride single file, or ride when the roads are not busy, ie early evenings & the roads will be a happier place for all. I've said my bit, now you can slag me off This is a much better quality post - thank you Phil_B for taking the time to write it. I agree with much of what you say here. As I have said before there are a lot of idiots on bikes. But the same can be said for cars (and trucks, and buses). One of the suggestions that came out of the Tamaki Drive Safety Forum was to require cyclists to ride single file on Tamaki Drive, something I personally don't have a problem with (since our group tries to do this early every Saturday morning when we ride here), however it would be very difficult to enforce. However that suggestion has the potential to cause other issues if the size of the group is more than say 10 bikes - a line of riders in single file travelling with half a metre between them makes a line 30 or more metres long. It's worse if there are more riders. Still difficult for a motorist to get past still, especialy if they want to turn at an intersection, and very difficult for pedestrians to cross the road. And before the suggestion is made, it is impossible to manage the size of the groups, the same as it would be impossible to stop cars bunching up on the open highway. And it may come as a surprise to some - cyclists don't wear the lycra primarily "just to look good in front of the coffee crowd at the cafe's" (sic). The lycra is a practical piece of clothing for a road cyclist. It is close fitting to prevent chafing and breatheable to prevent overheating. It does however have very little in the way of protective qualities. I also do not have a problem with idiot cyclists being ticketed by the Police (I just wish they had the resources to spare). You break the law, you get punished - take responsibility for your own actions. I will not defend the illegal actions of cyclists on Tamaki Drive, however I will defend their right to ride there safely, without the fear of being hit by idiots/bigots in motor vehicles - or anywhere on New Zealand's roads. There's an interesting article in today's Herald which details the consequences of our guys being hit last September: www.nzherald.co.nz I will treat roddy_boy's comment with the contempt it deserves. |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 814168 | 2010-02-20 04:06:00 | This is a much better quality post - thank you Phil_B for taking the time to write it . I agree with much of what you say here . As I have said before there are a lot of idiots on bikes . But the same can be said for cars (and trucks, and buses) . One of the suggestions that came out of the Tamaki Drive Safety Forum was to require cyclists to ride single file on Tamaki Drive, something I personally don't have a problem with (since our group tries to do this early every Saturday morning when we ride here), however it would be very difficult to enforce . However that suggestion has the potential to cause other issues if the size of the group is more than say 10 bikes - a line of riders in single file travelling with half a metre between them makes a line 30 or more metres long . It's worse if there are more riders . Still difficult for a motorist to get past still, especialy if they want to turn at an intersection, and very difficult for pedestrians to cross the road . And before the suggestion is made, it is impossible to manage the size of the groups, the same as it would be impossible to stop cars bunching up on the open highway . And it may come as a surprise to some - cyclists don't wear the lycra primarily "just to look good in front of the coffee crowd at the cafe's" (sic) . The lycra is a practical piece of clothing for a road cyclist . It is close fitting to prevent chafing and breatheable to prevent overheating . It does however have very little in the way of protective qualities . I also do not have a problem with idiot cyclists being ticketed by the Police (I just wish they had the resources to spare) . You break the law, you get punished - take responsibility for your own actions . I will not defend the illegal actions of cyclists on Tamaki Drive, however I will defend their right to ride there safely, without the fear of being hit by idiots/bigots in motor vehicles - or anywhere on New Zealand's roads . There's an interesting article in today's Herald which details the consequences of our guys being hit last September: . nzherald . co . nz/nz/news/article . cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10627375" target="_blank">www . nzherald . co . nz I will treat roddy_boy's comment with the contempt it deserves . Did the guy take part in the emotional harm reparation process . meet the perpetrator and see what she had to say? If he didn't have the balls to do that he should drop whinging about the process and the outcome . Victims have their chance to participate in the setting of reparation, if he declined to do so then boo hoo . |
Twelvevolts (5457) | ||
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