Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Cowcorner wrote:Four-ways dumb cyclist this evening.... Adult riding on footpath, sans helmet, talking on his mobile phone and (wait for it) walking his dog - all at the same time. Not a small dog either - Airedale or something similar. Obviously the guy believes in multi-tasking.

!!!!

I've seen someone walking the dog while on the bike, but never all of that at once!

Yesterday the group of "bike riders" who decided they should stop for their talk/rest all the way across the track, blocking the way for pedestrians and everyone else. Apart from that not much else - my riding has been uneventful recently.

jasonc wrote:seems appropriate to post this here
language warning
Mod Edit-Serious Youtube Language Warning

Not safe for work, the kiddies or your Nana.

Love it. I couldn't resist, I had to click the like button.

And great that (so far) no one seems to have taken offense to it. It is what it is - witty and quite well done.

Pedestrian running out without looking. How many times have we seen that before.

As a pedestrian, even if you've got a green signal to cross the road, you look and cross carefully. Running at full speed is a big no-no. If this pedestrian wasn't running, he wouldn't have been involved in this accident.

I'm confused as to why there is an orange as well as a green light showing as the cyclist approaches the intersection.

Any ideas?

jules21 wrote:

I ride this bit daily.
The 2x incidents highlighted on your vid didn’t even result in you changing your lane, so I wouldn’t regard them as bad really. This would be compared to what can be possible with avoiding other path users.
Being a shared path, there would be the expectation that a common speed would be experienced there, so that may well mean that bikes might need to slow when approaching peds & later speed up again. A lot of this stop & double take peds do is when bikes ‘come out of nowhere’, which results from peds travelling at walking pace & regarding their surroundings in a similar vein., when a bike approaches at twice or perhaps three times this speed.

greyhoundtom wrote:I'm confused as to why there is an orange as well as a green light showing as the cyclist approaches the intersection.

Any ideas?

No right turn signal.

Marx wrote: The 2x incidents highlighted on your vid didn’t even result in you changing your lane, so I wouldn’t regard them as bad really. This would be compared to what can be possible with avoiding other path users.

running down the middle leaves very little room for others. if he has to alter his line slightly, there's nowhere for me to go. yes, i can slow down, but that won't make the path wider.

the 2nd one with the ladies was bad - she just didn't look at all, despite the fact i was approaching her and in plain view. she realised her 'mistake' and apologised as i went past. legally it would be my fault if i hit her, but honestly - there's a limit to what's practicable for me to avoid, i wasn't going fast.

Marx wrote: Being a shared path..bikes might need to slow when approaching peds & later speed up again.

i'm pretty careful. i don't split pedestrians (like the runner did, but i see cyclists doing it) and happily slow down where necessary. i ring my bell when approaching from behind and give max. room and/or slow down. but as i said, with the utterly careless behaviour of some other path users, sometimes you feel like you're shouldering all the burden.

To an extent, a cyclist on a shared path is shouldering most of the burden of responsibility. This comes mostly from the greater complexity of actually riding a bicycle compared to running, walking or just standing still. There is more for the rider to do & also to ‘lose’ when things go wrong, due to the slightly high speed & additional coordination required to stop/swerve.

i disagree with your justification Marx. road (and to my knowledge, all types of) safety laws have a primary objective of reducing risk to all relevant persons. the measures which are most practicable (i.e. staying at home would be safest, but isn't practicable) and would most effectively reduce risk should be adopted. imposing no substantial obligations on pedestrians using shared paths would appear to fail that test. this reduces safety on shared paths. it's done as cyclists are unspoken 2nd class citizens. note what degree and types of negligence motorists - whose capacity to kill and maim far outweighs any other road user type - can get away with only a slap on the wrist. there is no logic to it other than the one i mentioned.

jules21 wrote:the 2nd one with the ladies was bad - she just didn't look at all, despite the fact i was approaching her and in plain view. she realised her 'mistake' and apologised as i went past. legally it would be my fault if i hit her, but honestly - there's a limit to what's practicable for me to avoid, i wasn't going fast.

Pretty sure this applies...

236. Pedestrians not to cause a traffic hazard or obstruction
(1) A pedestrian must not cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver.
(2) A pedestrian must not unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver or another pedestrian.

Looks like a fair whack of contributory negligence could be claimed if things went pear shaped. Not like you were hooning along head down bum up...
Jogger spends his spare time undoing nuts and hitting nails with his face

Mulger bill wrote: Pretty sure this applies...

236. Pedestrians not to cause a traffic hazard or obstruction
(1) A pedestrian must not cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver.
(2) A pedestrian must not unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver or another pedestrian.

ta Shaun. i keep getting caught out by that whole driver is a rider thing. scratch my last post!

Okay - a bike rider (on some sort of flat-bar bike) in long shorts and baggy singlet top, precariously balancing with the left arm on the top of the left handle-bar a quite enormous looking esky! I couldn't determine if it had a full load of beer in it.

Unbelievable!

I saw a bloke stuggling along on his MTB with a child perched on the top bar and also hanging onto a 12" bike somehow while riding. Not sure if dumb or clever? (both wearing helmets)

Riding on a shared path in a designated off-lead area, got bitten by a dog this morning (the dumb party is the owner). After it bit me it continued to chase me for a good 500m. Got footage of the dog on rear-facing video.

One 2mm deep puncture wound on my calf. Got a tetanus shot & antibiotics this morning...

malnar wrote:Riding on a shared path in a designated off-lead area, got bitten by a dog this morning (the dumb party is the owner). After it bit me it continued to chase me for a good 500m. Got footage of the dog on rear-facing video.

One 2mm deep puncture wound on my calf. Got a tetanus shot & antibiotics this morning...

hope you'll be chasing them for costs.

A big +1 to that.

According to Hume Council: My colouring...

dogs must be kept under control by means of a chain, cord or leash, which is no more than three metres in length
dogs should be on a leash at all times in public places, except in certain parks and reserves that are off leash areas (listed above)
dogs are not permitted within ten metres of playgrounds, barbecues or picnic areas
your dog should not harass people or other animals. Even when dogs are in off-leash areas, they must still be under effective voice control and in sight of their owner
dogs must be on a leash within five metres of shared footpaths and bicycle paths.

I'd be very surprised if this wasn't pretty much the norm in most council areas. Pity it's never enforced

Darwin award nominee.

Lidless cheapo MTB rider, holding a box of some sort in one hand down to the side, riding on the road, against the traffic, with guard rail beside, along the shoulder of a roundabout where vehicles that make a left turn regularly damage the drain pit on the bend.

Alternative for said rider to use the layback in the kerb and ride behind the guardrail section along a formed (but dirt) track and to the layback in the kerb at the other end of the guardrail.

Mulger bill wrote:A big +1 to that.

According to Hume Council: My colouring...

dogs must be kept under control by means of a chain, cord or leash, which is no more than three metres in length
dogs should be on a leash at all times in public places, except in certain parks and reserves that are off leash areas (listed above)
dogs are not permitted within ten metres of playgrounds, barbecues or picnic areas
your dog should not harass people or other animals. Even when dogs are in off-leash areas, they must still be under effective voice control and in sight of their owner
dogs must be on a leash within five metres of shared footpaths and bicycle paths.

I'd be very surprised if this wasn't pretty much the norm in most council areas. Pity it's never enforced

Wyndham doesn't have that rule but the rules do include(much edited):
- when another person approaches the handler must recall their dog and effectively restrain it and
- the handler must not have their dog off lead if it's known to be person aggressive or attracted to objects in motion such as bicycle tyres.


If the owner didn't know about his dogs' social issues he surely does now.

I don't like the look of these dogs (there were 3 of them). Some kind of pit bull I think. They seemed young & full of beans. When I decided to ride off I guess I was doing low 30s kph & two of them were with me for 100s of meters.

I carry the rules in my backpack. If I see him again I'll show him. $16.50 out of pocket for the antibiotics.

malnar wrote:Riding on a shared path in a designated off-lead area, got bitten by a dog this morning (the dumb party is the owner). After it bit me it continued to chase me for a good 500m. Got footage of the dog on rear-facing video.

One 2mm deep puncture wound on my calf. Got a tetanus shot & antibiotics this morning...

Go after them not only for costs, but a dog like that is a menace. As much as I hate the thought of an animal being euthanased, you do wonder what it might have done had you been stationary or went down and were enable to get away. This is also quite a lot of the owner's fault too for not training their dog properly or restraining it. Hope you recover okay from the bite.

that sucks malnar. it's really important to address these problem owners before their dog rips some kid's head off.

On the way howm last night I woundup assisting a young woman who had just bought a second hand bike.

Details:

• She had bought the bike shortly before, second hand with cobwebs included
• She was on her way to work due in around twenty minutes.
• She had received, apparently, no assistance or advice from the ex-owner. I say apparently as she was in too much of hurry for most of what I was offering, maybe that was the story where she bought it
• the seller had jammed the bike through the boot somehow - flat tyres helped
• She expected to ride it tomorrow to work (I dunno why the imperative)

Anyway I came across her trying to pump it up at a garage pump with the bike still jammed in the boot as she could not get it out. She lost what air she may have had in it in the first place.

I took it out after releasing the front wheel (quick release) and hand-pumped it (my pump, she had nix).

She had no idea of the quick release, nor of how to release the brakes. And again she was really in too much of hurry to want to know about either.

I told her it had a broken spoke. I said she could not ride it until it was fixed. I have the distinct impression that she thinks she will anyway.

The seat post had rotated which alarmed her. I suggested it was easy to attend to and that she needed to know how as she would have to adjust it to her liking anyway. Not much interest there either and still not time.

She really wanted me to put the wheel back on in preference to understanding how to take the wheel off and refit.

She had no idea where to get it repaired. I determined that Churchill Cycles would be convenient and suggested that she have them replace the spoke and to then ask them to go thru the removal and refitting of the wheel, adjusting the seat.

So Dumb? Yep. Didn't know what she had bought, didn't know the first thing about anything, didn't see any requirement to change that, thought she would be able to some how ride it "tomorrow" regardless. Will forever happily somehow jam the bike through the boot opening of a perfectly good car in defiance of immovable physical limitations, ...

I have zero expectation that this woman will be riding it ever. I suppose therefore that if she never rides it then she may not qualifiy as a dumb cyclist. Just DUMB. Period.

nice story Rob (Pirsig)

I was riding on an on-road a couple of weeks back, and a girl walked to the edge of the road with her large floppy-eared basset-hound looking thing, I went right to the edge of the lane and it still nearly got me when it tried to leap at me, barely restrained by the leash... just as I was being passed by a car. I should have gone back and strangled both her and the dog with the leash.

Today, on-road lane, caught up with "Mr Roadie" just before a set of lights, and just as we came up behind "Mr Commuter" (panniers, flouro vest). I stop at the stop line, but Mr Commuter rolls over the stop line to the end of the traffic island and Mr Roadie rolls up next to him then crosses the intersection through the red using the ped crossing. He was halfway across the road when the light turns green, so I take off, My Commuter stays left and lets me pass. In the meantime, Mr Roadie hasn't seen the green light and is now using the ped zebra crossing on the other side of the intersection, and turns off it to rejoin the on-road lane on the side road which has a dashed "give way" line before joining the on-road lane we all started on.

Can you see where this is going? Yes... Mr Roadie doesn't look and rode straight across the give way line just as I passed him. I'm sure the cars were impressed by the inability of cyclists to follow the road rules, yet again.