The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

[Gordonhooker]

No brakes and trying to get a free tow by a 10 ton piece of metal never ends well.

Hipster. Nuff said.

Someone has to come from the shallow end of the gene pool. lol

[TheWall]

A candidate here on the Sunny Coast for a Darwin Award methinks! Tonight on the way home at 630pm I drove past a chap on his mountain bike riding onto the Sunshine Coast Motorway, Crazy as it stands but when I add that he had no front or rear lights nor even a reflector it gets worse doesn't it? And I am sure you will never guess the colour of his helmet and the clothing....?

Completely insane really.

[Wakatuki]

A candidate here on the Sunny Coast for a Darwin Award methinks! Tonight on the way home at 630pm I drove past a chap on his mountain bike riding onto the Sunshine Coast Motorway, Crazy as it stands but when I add that he had no front or rear lights nor even a reflector it gets worse doesn't it? And I am sure you will never guess the colour of his helmet and the clothing....?

Completely insane really.

I've seen him too. I ride that island when I commute, it's bad enough with the traffic let alone against it. I saw him stood on the north bound lane separator (for traffic heading to Nambour off the slip road) when driving home, dressed as you describe on a old 26er and thought surely not, please don't salmon the island, but I think that was his intentions. I get normally there about 6:15~20, so yup a darwin candidate indeed.

[herzog]

Heavy crash on tram tracks.

Infrastructure partly to blame here.

[Robinho]

Love the kid waving to the camera

[rangersac]

That guy would hate riding in Melbourne!

[jasonc]

I disagree re infrastructure being to blame. he hit a wet tram track at a less than 75 degree angle. if he hit a grate in a similar angle, the result would have been the same.

[herzog]

I realise that riders need to be conscious of tram tracks, and cross them at as close as possible to 90 degrees.

And therein lies the infrastructure fail. The cycleway spits cyclists out towards the tram tracks in the worst possible direction: coming at the tram tracks just off parallel. In addition they haven't provided the flangeway fillers that you normally find on tram tracks in Europe.

Still, I posted it in the dumb cyclists thread, so I think the rider could have avoided it. It was wet, he's riding a skinny road bike with slicks, and was going pretty quick when he hit the tracks.

As the guy who posted the video says in the description:

I spent many of my formative years in Brussels crossing tram tracks on a bike without incident, only Edinburgh could design them so badly that they ran out of money to put the usual safety fillers in.

[jasonc]

Still, I posted it in the dumb cyclists thread, so I think the rider could have avoided it. It was wet, he's riding a skinny road bike with slicks, and was going pretty quick when he hit the tracks.

agree with this

[tekapo]

Had a drink at the water fountain by the Capital City trail and Gardiner Creek trail. Saw around 6-7 empty gel packs littered on the ground by the fountain. Guess the those Mighty Road Warriors really needed to save every single gram on their bike.

[jasonc]

had an argument with a pedestrian this arvo. she walked across a red pedestrian crossing. she was on her phone. didn't look. as i'm approaching I asked her if her time was more valuable than mine. her response "yes"
from now on i think i'll just squirt them with my water bottle

[herzog]

You should have just said "you're lucky I'm not a bus"

[jasonc]

You should have just said "you're lucky I'm not a bus"

nah. i need to spend some time getting my airzound working. i could have then followed her along the footpath and interrupted her phonecall.

[Bentnose]

Saw a guy belting down Latrobe street in the city (Melbourne) without a helmet, on the wrong side of the road. Its bad enough with pedestrians on this road as it is without coming from a direction they don't expect. A pedestrian moron on the same road was walking towards the bike lane with his partner holding hands, he looked at me, made eye contact, didn't stop and didn't tell his partner she was about to get run over, she didn't look at all, which is common on this road particularly on the weekends.

[Myrtone]

had an argument with a pedestrian this arvo. she walked across a red pedestrian crossing. she was on her phone. didn't look. as i'm approaching I asked her if her time was more valuable than mine. her response "yes"
from now on i think i'll just squirt them with my water bottle

Were you turning?

[Myrtone]

I'm not saying it is acceptable to step in front of a bike, but tell me where it says those who cross against the red are required to give way to other road users. I've heard otherwise. While pedestrians crossing against the ped signal and vehicles, including bicycles running red lights are both selfish, a motorist running a red light is a higher risk to third parties. It seems the chances of a pedestrian getting a green ped signal at a light controlled intersection are less that the chances of a vehicle getting a green on approach to the same intersection, because of a discrepency in the pedestrian signal phasing.
At most intersections, the ped signal is red when the vehicle signal is also red, but only turns green with the vehicle light if the button is pushed before the green phase. If the button isn't pushed, the ped light says red througout the green vehicle phase, not allowing pedestrians to cross even though the vehicle light is green, yet if they do cross anyway and need to take evasive action to avoid the turning vehicle, then the vehicle is apparently still failing to give way.
This would hardly be an issue if the ped signal automatically went with the vehicle lights regardless. I believe that light controlled intersections didn't used to have separate ped signals, the vehicle lights serving dual purpose.

[jasonc]

i was heading outbound from the brisbane law courts onto the tank st bike path. there is a specific bicycle crossing (with lights). said pedestrian was walking down george st. ignoring the red pedestrian (and traffic lights). She pissed me off. Her attitude is the problem. Yes people break laws all the time. Some apologise. Some think it's their god given right.

[Gordonhooker]

Heavy crash on tram tracks.

Infrastructure partly to blame here.

No infrastructure is not to blame it the way the rider tried to cross the tram track that was the problem. Train and tram tracks with 2 wheel vehicles don't mix and extra care is required when putting the two together. That rider was traveling at speed and tried to cross the track at too fine an angle.

[Summernight]

Every silly pedestrian who keeps crossing at the tram stops on Elizabeth Street when the oncoming traffic lights have gone green and oncoming vehicles are approaching. This morning I was tempted to reach out and touch the lady's backpack as she crossed the road on the red without looking and I had to go around her.

And without fail the pedestrians on Collins Street at the corner of Swanston will do the same thing and think that a red pedestrian light that has stopped flashing means 'continue to saunter across the road'. At the moment it isn't so bad because they've moved the tram stop 30 metres down the road to fix the superstop somehow so the volume of peds is reduced, but the peds still do it. They need boom gates on some pedestrian crossings in the city. Preferably electrified.

Oh, and the bike courier two days ago at lunchtime riding the wrong way down Little Bourke Street with three oncoming cars (and not a lot of room). The courier had no brakes, was riding a fixie and did those skid to slow down things. Then he proceeded to go through the intersection at Elizabeth St against the lights, cross the tram stop to turn right and head off into the distance. I just shook my head at all the trust he was placing in everyone else (vehicles and peds) regarding his own life and limb.

[Leaf T]

Heavy crash on tram tracks.

Infrastructure partly to blame here.

As much as I like to whinge about dumb peds this reminded me of how helpful most pedestrians are when a cyclist comes off.

[tron07]

It was wet and windy, I could have run this fella down... just came out of no where and I wasnt completely stop yet.

[Gordonhooker]

From the video it looked like he was riding on the foot path beside you. You also looked to be close to dead stop when he rode out.

[Myrtone]

Is cycling on those tram tracks allowed?

[herzog]

Is cycling on those tram tracks allowed?

It appears so - the painted bike lane appears to funnel cyclists straight onto those tracks. At an awful angle.

[antigee]

It appears so - the painted bike lane appears to funnel cyclists straight onto those tracks. At an awful angle.

Correct - My memory says there was a lot of criticism of the layout when it was proposed but the input of cyclists was ignored - used to live in Sheffield in the UK where quite a few cycle routes and tram tracks merged at angles and there was a regular toll of accidents in the rain

Most cities with trams (like Melbourne and those European cities I've visited) have them in the middle of the road away from cyclists and the only points where you cross the tracks are at right angles

Edinburgh Council issued some useful guidelines - the punch line would get no laughs at the comedy "Fringe"
"Know your limits - depending on the situation and your cycling experience, you may prefer to get off your bike at a safe point on the road to continue your journey."

more from Road CC here
http://road.cc/content/news/111910-vide ... ars-remain" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;