The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

[jules21]

Just got to convert it from .mov to something else so I can edit it in movie maker. Journo from The Age wants to see it.

this should be good

[g-boaf]

malnar - can you post your being chased by a rabid dog video... and tell us, have you got yesterday's conversation on tape too? that would be pure gold to the authorities..... bwhahaha especially if the owners admit it chases riders....

Get got the lot on vid. Audio very clear.
- He acknowledges that it bit,
- you can see & hear the fact that they ignore his verbal commands
- he acknowledges that they are in breach of the council rule stating that dogs attracted to moving bicycle tyres cannot be off lead.
- I said it chased me for 500m & he corrects me by saying it was more like 800 (I have to agree with his estimate),
- he said he was yelling at me to stop, & if I had, nothing would have happened.
- There's even a complaint from the wife about cyclist scaring her as they pass.

The whole thing is gold, funny, farcical and sad.

Just got to convert it from .mov to something else so I can edit it in movie maker. Journo from The Age wants to see it.

Be careful giving it to them. Some journalists are a recipe for trouble - I don't think I've dealt with one that has not twisted the story or comments in a totally different way to how they were intended. I'll surprised if you don't come away from this looking like the bad guy and the dog (along with its owners) looking like the victims.

[fatdudeonabike]

I think you're thinking of Today Tonight dude.

Voice over: "Rex and Mary were out with their dog, Fido. But then tragedy struck"

Rex: "We were just out on our Sunday walk, and this cyclist came back at hundred miles an hour. He just had no regard for any of us."

Voice over: "You can see from the video here as the cyclist narrowly misses Fido. Fido chases to remonstrate, as Mary falls into shock."

Rex: "We couldn't do anything. Fido's upset because he nearly got run over. Mary's upset because the cyclist sped past only 5 metres away from where we were walking. The guy was a madman!"

Voice over: "Fido gave great chase, bravely going head to head with the cyclist that had tried to kill him."

Rex: "They're just good for nothing. They run over people walking on bike... I mean footpaths. They get themselves killed on the road. They should just ban the lot of them"

Naomi Robson: "It really does make you wonder, doesn't it? When will the Government outlaw bicycles?

[zero]

He is doing 55 (in your video - have to pedal hard to push 60+ there), you are doing 70.

outstanding!
apparently you can guesstimate someone's speed off a youtube clip versus my actually being there.

if you can do that i cannot disagree on anything you say anymore, based your superior powers of observation.

i bow down before you sir.

You are complaining about a reasonable speed estimate from someone who has ridden the hill hundreds of times, (and thus has a frame of reference for dealing with focal length effects of the camera) - whilst ignoring all the other points raised.

*parrawi has no safe approach from north sydney direction
*required to stop 6 lanes of traffic to access parrawi from the north sydney direction, and then do it AGAIN at the bottom of the hill to exit parrawi.
*parrawi is a 2 lane road, with driveways and parked cars where as that section of the spit rd is physically divided with no intersections or driveways after the turn which virtually removes oncoming traffic or driveway exiters as risk categories.
*it is almost reliable to observe overtaking cars attempting to split climbing bicycles and oncoming bicycles on parrawi, ie motorists persistently expose descending cyclists to 80 - 100km/hr closing speed risks. As there is much fewer attempts to overtake descenders, climbers have much smaller speed differentials in general to contend with - which is one reason I climb via parrawi (the other being so I don't hold up buses on Spit Rd).

Its an absurd waste of my and everybodies time to use it to descend. In a 30 second intersection changeover I would consume 6x10 or 60 car slots on spit rd doing that, and I would have to do it twice, and I would typically have to wait out 2 x 1 minute stretches to get the lights to chage. I would take 160 seconds to traverse the road directly, and I would "waste" a grand total of 13 car spaces on that road by slowing a lane, if and only if the traffic managed to do 60 before the turn, which it never does. In practice I use the same amount of time and roadspace as a single occupant motorist for the task, and therefore it matters not which lane I'm in.

[clydesmcdale]

I think you're thinking of Today Tonight dude.

Voice over: "Rex and Mary were out with their dog, Fido. But then tragedy struck"

Rex: "We were just out on our Sunday walk, and this cyclist came back at hundred miles an hour. He just had no regard for any of us."

Voice over: "You can see from the video here as the cyclist narrowly misses Fido. Fido chases to remonstrate, as Mary falls into shock."

Rex: "We couldn't do anything. Fido's upset because he nearly got run over. Mary's upset because the cyclist sped past only 5 metres away from where we were walking. The guy was a madman!"

Voice over: "Fido gave great chase, bravely going head to head with the cyclist that had tried to kill him."

Rex: "They're just good for nothing. They run over people walking on bike... I mean footpaths. They get themselves killed on the road. They should just ban the lot of them"

Naomi Robson: "It really does make you wonder, doesn't it? When will the Government outlaw bicycles?

7 internets to you. Excellent.

[ColinOldnCranky]

this guy went off-tap when i rode around him, while he crossed in front of me. he kept insisting i should have warned him by sounding my bell. i couldn't believe this and had to watch the video later to see if it was worse than i thought it was at the time, but i don't think so.

I don't think so either.

Your actions were just about perfect. Doing his best to no interfere with someone careless, not making a big issue after the bloke whinged and getting on with his ride. It is just a fact of life that there are people who fail to see the obvious.

In fairness to the guy, while he was wrong and unreasonable in his assessment at least he didn't seem to go off. Who knows, if he had a video of his own to review he may come to a different POV. There are worse fools out there.

To t hose advocating the use of the air zound I trust that you were just being flippant. Using an air zound in such a case just would just tell the world something about the user and what it says would not be nice.

[fatdudeonabike]

Driving up a busy 2 lane road in Canberra (Gungahlin Drive for locals) this afternoon... the road should be 3 lanes, and the 2 lanes they have aren't wide enough. ...

Which part of GD? The only narrow bit I can think of is the section at the first lights in Mitchell when heading North, but the morons in charge have FINALLY provided a slip lane up to the shared pathway when the on-road lane ends. Although getting back onto the road on the other side of the lights to get to the on-road lane that starts after the lights that easy.

No - cyclists don't have to use the shared pathway, but they *do* have to use an on-road lane if provided, unless "impractical", ie. you cut across lanes to turn at an intersection.

Its just after the sliplane that you're referring to - so its a stretch of quite a few hundred metres either side of that street between Franklin and Mitchell. The roads skinny, there just isnt enough room for a (considerate) bike rider when the "shared pathway" that isn't shared is right there.
When there is room, the bike line magically reappears again - although no one thought to build a path from the "shared pathway) back onto the road at the Palmerston end.

[jules21]

In fairness to the guy, while he was wrong and unreasonable in his assessment at least he didn't seem to go off.

thanks colin. actually, the mic doesn't pick up most of what he's saying. he wasn't abusive, but he was carrying on like a pork chop. he was really incredulous that i would just pass him like that. oh well

[Mozz]

Brisbane around 0745hrs Thursday 10 Jan, Indooroopilly end of the Jack Pesch bridge, stop go sign holding guy.... who was there to ensure that front end loader which was quickly traversing from one side to the other side of the path (railway side to military base side) could do so without killing or maiming cyclists or pedestrians.... myself I was riding inbound, with two cyclists riding outbound.. while stop go guy was head down on his "smart" phone paying zero attention to front end loader being very active on the railway line side or to the closing cyclists.... hey nothing happened ... this time....

[ColinOldnCranky]

malnar - can you post your being chased by a rabid dog video... and tell us, have you got yesterday's conversation on tape too? that would be pure gold to the authorities..... bwhahaha especially if the owners admit it chases riders....

Get got the lot on vid. Audio very clear.
- He acknowledges that it bit,
- you can see & hear the fact that they ignore his verbal commands
- he acknowledges that they are in breach of the council rule stating that dogs attracted to moving bicycle tyres cannot be off lead.
- I said it chased me for 500m & he corrects me by saying it was more like 800 (I have to agree with his estimate),
- he said he was yelling at me to stop, & if I had, nothing would have happened.
- There's even a complaint from the wife about cyclist scaring her as they pass.

The whole thing is gold, funny, farcical and sad.

Just got to convert it from .mov to something else so I can edit it in movie maker. Journo from The Age wants to see it.

No, do not edit the copies for the authorities or interfere with it in anyway. For obvious reasons. Give it to them untouched. They can do any editing themselves. Certainly keep an unedited copy on file.

If its an email size/transmission thing then use one of photoserving or data hosting serices like dropbox.

[outnabike]

In fairness to the guy, while he was wrong and unreasonable in his assessment at least he didn't seem to go off.

thanks colin. actually, the mic doesn't pick up most of what he's saying. he wasn't abusive, but he was carrying on like a pork chop. he was really incredulous that i would just pass him like that. oh well

Hi Jules,
You seem to have captured well on video what has happened to me,and I am sure, to many others very often. I too have had this occur and wondered at what a pedestrian was going to do next.
In my many instances I always wonder why I didn’t give them a bell warning in time, and the truth is I reacted too late and then was forced to verbally make them aware. All because I just didn’t expect them to come out at me or thought, they are on the phone, but are looking directly at me. But they were miles away.

You are damned whether you bell them or whether you don’t. Simply put all you have done is frighten them. A curt "Watch out!" though justified, seems to come out as an admonishment and gets an adverse reaction. A bell or judicial honk on a horn seems more appropriate in the instance that have occurred to me at any rate.

To mask their embarrassment or fright you get the blame anyway. I now warn more often as the day dreamer is going to be safer if I do it rather than not.
In the end the requirement is to use a warning device, and though it will not help make a friend, I may avoid the collision. Confrontations are harder to avoid.

[il padrone]

If they're that distracted, irresponsible or away with the fairies, just wait till you're about 3m away then give them a "DING" with the bell.

See johnny jump

[Mulger bill]

Got called out for an OT nightshift last night so had to take the smokebox
The number of Ninjas out at 2340 in Melbs is a bit of a worry. The Haymarket is no place to be in staelth mode!
If you were the bloke heading down Elizabeth towards Flinders near Franklin, rack on the back with a RHS pannier: Please remount the flasher off the seatpost, the rack was doing a great job of obscuring it.

[cp123]

CW/Adelaide Ave Southbound, Thursday afternoon last week. After a week of 38 degrees or so days and doing a couple of late shifts, I was dribbing home on Thursday evening. Now I'm not real quick anyway, and all the boy racers pass me every morning and every night, but I was probably even more cruisey this night. Anyway, Mr young subcontinent looking lad with the yellow shirt and long black tights on passes me just before the lights near the croquet club in canberra. Trouble is, our lights went red approximately 30 seconds before he got there, but he did a quick scan and took off through the red one anyway.

So i pulled up and waited my turn because i'm not one of "them". I did happen to notice that ever pedal left he swung his bike 45 degrees left and every pedal right was the same - so he was weaving significantly with every pedal stroke. So finally the lights changed and off i struggle up towards the parliament house tunnel. But as I was around near the Canberra Avenue exit I saw he hadn't actually really gotten too far away from me (I guess its road bike gearing vs Huffy or similar). anyway, so then the chase was on. Well, not really, but as i got to the downhill bit past the lodge i did start to gain on him. I crossed the killing zone at Hopetoun Circuit and was bearing down on him. he had just crossed the killing zone at the Kent street turn off and was still rocking his bike from side to side madly. But he was travelling right next to the left gutter which is at least a car width or so to the left of the killing zone. So I stayed straight in the green lane and thought beauty, here was the opportunity to pass and get away from him.

So I was approximately 4 foot on his right hand side and in the bike lane (just approaching the cotter road exit). Without so much as a turn of his head he decided to swing right and pull into the green lane so he could go straight over cotter road. in that last nanosecond before i thought i was toast he came in at me from 45 degrees left and i saw and heard loud music blaring from his earplugs. I roared LOOOOOOKOUT and he grabbed his brakes and by a bee's whisker i made it past him. i looked back and went "bloodyellareyoufriggingstupid" or something similar and just shook my head.

he was obviously off with the fairies or didn't think he needed to look. i honestly thought i was going down into the leftmost car lane. and it was seriously damn lucky that i didn't. I'll be more careful next time.

[gretaboy]

CW/Adelaide Ave Southbound, Thursday afternoon last week. After a week of 38 degrees or so days and doing a couple of late shifts, I was dribbing home on Thursday evening. Now I'm not real quick anyway, and all the boy racers pass me every morning and every night, but I was probably even more cruisey this night. Anyway, Mr young subcontinent looking lad with the yellow shirt and long black tights on passes me just before the lights near the croquet club in canberra. Trouble is, our lights went red approximately 30 seconds before he got there, but he did a quick scan and took off through the red one anyway.

So i pulled up and waited my turn because i'm not one of "them". I did happen to notice that ever pedal left he swung his bike 45 degrees left and every pedal right was the same - so he was weaving significantly with every pedal stroke. So finally the lights changed and off i struggle up towards the parliament house tunnel. But as I was around near the Canberra Avenue exit I saw he hadn't actually really gotten too far away from me (I guess its road bike gearing vs Huffy or similar). anyway, so then the chase was on. Well, not really, but as i got to the downhill bit past the lodge i did start to gain on him. I crossed the killing zone at Hopetoun Circuit and was bearing down on him. he had just crossed the killing zone at the Kent street turn off and was still rocking his bike from side to side madly. But he was travelling right next to the left gutter which is at least a car width or so to the left of the killing zone. So I stayed straight in the green lane and thought beauty, here was the opportunity to pass and get away from him.

So I was approximately 4 foot on his right hand side and in the bike lane (just approaching the cotter road exit). Without so much as a turn of his head he decided to swing right and pull into the green lane so he could go straight over cotter road. in that last nanosecond before i thought i was toast he came in at me from 45 degrees left and i saw and heard loud music blaring from his earplugs. I roared LOOOOOOKOUT and he grabbed his brakes and by a bee's whisker i made it past him. i looked back and went "bloodyellareyoufriggingstupid" or something similar and just shook my head.

he was obviously off with the fairies or didn't think he needed to look. i honestly thought i was going down into the leftmost car lane. and it was seriously damn lucky that i didn't. I'll be more careful next time.

On the upside...you got a CCR scalp

[Summernight]

The usual silly ped this morning - office worker with her absolutely-to-die-for coffee in hand looks the other way as she briskly steps off the pavement at a non-designated spot, through the Collins street bike path and crosses the road without even looking for cars coming her way, let along bikes (or trams for that matter). Luckily I knew she was going to be an idiot so no near miss, but I did ask her to look next time as I rode past (I've got it down to something manageable to shout ie. "Please look next time"). Although I don't think it got through.

There was also a blind man who stepped out onto the road in front of me at an intersection when the light had already turned green my way but I don't blame him for his mistake as it is probably very hard working out which ped light is making the 'go' sound if you're blind and using a cane. He then stopped in the middle of the lane in confusion (only one lane between the footpath and the centre tram stop). I went round him and the other pedestrians on the footpath herded him back to safety before the cars behind me could hit him.

And I saw a grandmother last week walking her toddler grandchild (he even had a leash!) across the road on the amber/red in Swanston St. The kid couldn't run, he could only waddle precariously whilst holding the woman's hand and here she is stepping out with him on an amber? Crazy. Not surprisingly the light turns green when she is only halfway across and she still proceeds to finish her crossing. Poor child.

[cp123]

[

On the upside...you got a CCR scalp

[fatdudeonabike]

I become more and more convinced that people should be forced to sit a common sense test before getting a bike.
Northborne Ave in Canberra is back to being a disaster this morning - plenty of bikes riding down the side of the road, and I felt good about my newfound consideration for cyclists.

Until one !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! riding a kmart bmx bike, without a helmet, starts ducking around buses, into traffic - eventually he gets jack of having to dodge buses. So just sits in the middle lane, because the traffic apparently doesnt suck enough already.
So he goes down merrily on his way - without a helmet - for a couple of blocks. Until he needs to turn left (towards the Braddon Maccas for locals) - and just cuts off the left lane, as well as the left-turning slip lane.
I wouldve loved to have gotten out and given him a beating... but there was nowhere to park. Severe lack of consideration for other road users, for other cyclists, and most of all for himself. Idiot.

[skull]

- eventually he gets jack of having to dodge buses. So just sits in the middle lane, because the traffic apparently doesnt suck enough already.

He must have been going slow to make a difference as the it is easy enough to keep pace with the sucky Northbourne Ave congestion in the morning.

[fatdudeonabike]

- eventually he gets jack of having to dodge buses. So just sits in the middle lane, because the traffic apparently doesnt suck enough already.

He must have been going slow to make a difference as the it is easy enough to keep pace with the sucky Northbourne Ave congestion in the morning.

He was ducking between cars, getting to the front of the queue, and then holding the lane up when the light went green. Absolute peanut.
You're 100% right of course - in peak hour traffic on Northbourne, the bike lane is faster than the traffic. Its a huge part of the reason that I bought a bike - because the powers that be considered it a brilliant idea to commence roadworks on the second of 3 major thoroughfares from the northern suburbs to the "inner southern" suburbs (anywhere north of Woden really), I've become really envious of those who are riding the 15-20kms to work and getting there quicker than I can drive.

[PB12IN]

Dumb cyclist = Me
Out riding with a friend on some country roads out the back of nowhere, he says to me, “Want to try my bike?” me riding a Giant Defy with Sora gears, him having a Lynsky with Ultegra Di2. Says to me “just don’t crash it” I get on and look down to see what is happening with the gears. And veer strait off the road on to the steep gravel shoulder. Thankfully I managed to get back up on the road without falling.
Umm Whoops…

[m@]

He must have been going slow to make a difference as the it is easy enough to keep pace with the sucky Northbourne Ave congestion in the morning.

He was ducking between cars, getting to the front of the queue, and then holding the lane up when the light went green. Absolute peanut.

Always guaranteed to see some Darwin Award contenders on Northbourne of a morning... it's almost a sport

[Howzat]

Dumb cyclist = Me
Out riding with a friend on some country roads out the back of nowhere, he says to me, “Want to try my bike?” me riding a Giant Defy with Sora gears, him having a Lynsky with Ultegra Di2. Says to me “just don’t crash it” I get on and look down to see what is happening with the gears. And veer strait off the road on to the steep gravel shoulder. Thankfully I managed to get back up on the road without falling.
Umm Whoops…

"...Geez do all titanium bikes have steering problems like that? No wonder they aren't popular. You could have warned me, I could have hurt myself!"

[find_bruce]

Dumb cyclist = my friend
Out riding with a friend on some country roads out the back of nowhere, he says to me, “Want to try my bike?” me riding a Giant Defy with Sora gears, him having a Lynsky with Ultegra Di2. Says to me “just don’t crash it” I get on and look down to see what is happening with the gears. And veer strait off the road on to the steep gravel shoulder. Thankfully I managed to get back up on the road without falling.
Umm Whoops…

Fixed that for you

[wexford]

Had a nasty near miss on a group ride this morning. It's been a windy day and a massive gust hit me broadside, nearly resulting in me taking out the guy on my right and potentially everyone behind us. I immediately decided it wasn't my day for fast group riding and dropped to/off the back then went to work (really) early instead.

So on the commute home, with it still blustery, I wasn't happy to discover an uninvited drafter behind me as I was doing around 30kph on a PSP with various peds and cyclists around, and that wind coming from the front/left and causing a few headaches. I'm giving all a wide berth and notice the drafter when I do a head check to make sure nobody's passing me, however unlikely it might be in those conditions. I wave him off and call out "can you back off please" and continue. Shortly after I see he's still there, so I call out "can you either pass me or back off, I don't want you on my wheel". 200m later and he's STILL there, so I pull over and brake. He comes up besides me and asks me what my problem is? What?!

Buddy, I'm not here to give you a free ride and put myself in danger by being unable to safely slow down or do an emergency stop under these conditions!

Damn I hate uninvited drafters...and this one was the worst.