Moron Motorists #3

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DavidS
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby DavidS » Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:26 am

herzog wrote:Ok, my story is from a couple of weeks ago, but it now appears to have played out well, so here goes:


Riding to work, in a busy part of the Sydney CBD, a MM is being an absolute git behind me.

Tailgating, revving, and honking the horn. All because he had a cyclist in front of him. It's not like I was holding him up, there was one red light after another.

Anyway I get to near my office and the road opens up a bit. He screams past, yelling idiotic garbage out the window.

As I'm dismounting to go into the office, I notice him parking a hundred metres or so down the road.

He gets out of the car, looks around in both directions to see if anyone's watching, then flicks something on the dashboard. Then locks up the car and walks off.

I check out the car - he's chucked Granny's handicap permit on the dashboard, so he can park all day long in the CBD for free.

Next step, I ring the Mobility Cheats Hotline (yes it's a thing). Give all the details to the lady, including the permit number, etc and a description of the driver (30's male, clearly non handicapped). She says this sounds nothing like the permit holder and will forward for enforcement action.

The car is parked in a similar spot on the street each day for the next 3 or 4 days, so he's clearly a repeat offender. Then I'm guessing a letter arrived from the Police - he hasn't been back since. And I suspect granny is pretty cranky with him too...

KARMA


Mobility Cheats Hotline is on:

1300 884 899

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/newsevents/20 ... tline.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good work there, I can't stand people who use disabled parking spots when they aren't disabled.

I don't think it applies in this case which was obvious, but a word of warning. My father once got told off for parking in a disabled spot. He has an artificial leg and it isn't obvious at all. Just make sure you are right when doing this.

DS
Allegro T1, Auren Swift :)

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jaseyjase
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby jaseyjase » Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:28 am

herzog, i applaud you sir!

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hiflange
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby hiflange » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:55 am

This evening on my way home I was left hooked by ..
wait for it..
an ambulance. Not an ambulance on an emergency life saving mission, just an ambulance.

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London Boy
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby London Boy » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:00 am

DavidS wrote:I don't think it applies in this case which was obvious, but a word of warning. My father once got told off for parking in a disabled spot. He has an artificial leg and it isn't obvious at all. Just make sure you are right when doing this.
I always go looking for the disabled parking permit, and then for the driver. Legally, it doesn't matter whether you are disabled or not, if you park in a disabled bay without displaying the permit that's a breach. The purpose of the parking must then also be for the benefit of the disabled person named on the permit.

Did once have someone call me out when I parked in a disabled bay and got out of the driving seat, all able bodied and all. They shut up when I pulled the wheelchair out of the boot... I thanked them anyway, because most other occasions they'd have been right to call it.

That said, way too many people are given permits. My wife is entitled to one because she hasn't been able to walk in 40 years, because of a spinal injury. My brother would get one if he applied, but he (in his own opinion) doesn't need one, despite the fact he's only got one leg. And you'd be in no doubt, since he doesn't tend to cover his prosthesis. He used to have problems with a bleeding stump, but that was years ago. Back then he might have thought it necessary to have a permit but, regardless, he never applied.

myforwik
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby myforwik » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:19 am

I used to work at a market carpark on weekends.

The number of people who abused the disabled parking permits were sickening. And not to be stero typical - but almost all of them were asians with those dodgy 'red' passes.

We originally had a police officer for traffic control, but he ended up being full time just ticketing people for parking in disabled area.

I was also stunned when a car pulled up with a child who was in a wheel chair, and they said they were not able to get a disabled permit... Say What.

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biker jk
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby biker jk » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:29 am

DavidS wrote:
herzog wrote:Ok, my story is from a couple of weeks ago, but it now appears to have played out well, so here goes:


Riding to work, in a busy part of the Sydney CBD, a MM is being an absolute git behind me.

Tailgating, revving, and honking the horn. All because he had a cyclist in front of him. It's not like I was holding him up, there was one red light after another.

Anyway I get to near my office and the road opens up a bit. He screams past, yelling idiotic garbage out the window.

As I'm dismounting to go into the office, I notice him parking a hundred metres or so down the road.

He gets out of the car, looks around in both directions to see if anyone's watching, then flicks something on the dashboard. Then locks up the car and walks off.

I check out the car - he's chucked Granny's handicap permit on the dashboard, so he can park all day long in the CBD for free.

Next step, I ring the Mobility Cheats Hotline (yes it's a thing). Give all the details to the lady, including the permit number, etc and a description of the driver (30's male, clearly non handicapped). She says this sounds nothing like the permit holder and will forward for enforcement action.

The car is parked in a similar spot on the street each day for the next 3 or 4 days, so he's clearly a repeat offender. Then I'm guessing a letter arrived from the Police - he hasn't been back since. And I suspect granny is pretty cranky with him too...

KARMA


Mobility Cheats Hotline is on:

1300 884 899

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/newsevents/20 ... tline.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good work there, I can't stand people who use disabled parking spots when they aren't disabled.

I don't think it applies in this case which was obvious, but a word of warning. My father once got told off for parking in a disabled spot. He has an artificial leg and it isn't obvious at all. Just make sure you are right when doing this.

DS
Just to be clear those with Mobility Parking Scheme permits can park anywhere not just in disabled spots. Why they are allowed to park all day makes no sense at all. So when I worked in the Sydney CBD a walk along say Kent St would see one in three cars with MPS permits, nearly all dodgy. I once emailed the RMS and asked why there were 500,000 MPS permits issued in NSW when they were 700,000 people on the disability pension in the whole of Australia. Suffice to say their answer wasn't very convincing.

Scarfy96
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Scarfy96 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:08 am

Aushiker wrote:If you are bored ... you can vote on whether Summerknight was in the wrong or not at this car website ... I am sure they would appreciate the interest :)

Andrew
Out of interest I see it is now 45% (490) passengers fault, 32% (353) cyclists fault with a trickle of others.

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ComradeSpear
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby ComradeSpear » Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:17 am

DavidS wrote:
herzog wrote:Ok, my story is from a couple of weeks ago, but it now appears to have played out well, so here goes:


Riding to work, in a busy part of the Sydney CBD, a MM is being an absolute git behind me.

Tailgating, revving, and honking the horn. All because he had a cyclist in front of him. It's not like I was holding him up, there was one red light after another.

Anyway I get to near my office and the road opens up a bit. He screams past, yelling idiotic garbage out the window.

As I'm dismounting to go into the office, I notice him parking a hundred metres or so down the road.

He gets out of the car, looks around in both directions to see if anyone's watching, then flicks something on the dashboard. Then locks up the car and walks off.

I check out the car - he's chucked Granny's handicap permit on the dashboard, so he can park all day long in the CBD for free.

Next step, I ring the Mobility Cheats Hotline (yes it's a thing). Give all the details to the lady, including the permit number, etc and a description of the driver (30's male, clearly non handicapped). She says this sounds nothing like the permit holder and will forward for enforcement action.

The car is parked in a similar spot on the street each day for the next 3 or 4 days, so he's clearly a repeat offender. Then I'm guessing a letter arrived from the Police - he hasn't been back since. And I suspect granny is pretty cranky with him too...

KARMA


Mobility Cheats Hotline is on:

1300 884 899

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/newsevents/20 ... tline.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good work there, I can't stand people who use disabled parking spots when they aren't disabled.

I don't think it applies in this case which was obvious, but a word of warning. My father once got told off for parking in a disabled spot. He has an artificial leg and it isn't obvious at all. Just make sure you are right when doing this.

DS


:D :D

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find_bruce
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby find_bruce » Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:16 pm

biker jk wrote:Just to be clear those with Mobility Parking Scheme permits can park anywhere not just in disabled spots. Why they are allowed to park all day makes no sense at all. So when I worked in the Sydney CBD a walk along say Kent St would see one in three cars with MPS permits, nearly all dodgy. I once emailed the RMS and asked why there were 500,000 MPS permits issued in NSW when they were 700,000 people on the disability pension in the whole of Australia. Suffice to say their answer wasn't very convincing.
Not arguing with you about the level of cheats, but eligibility for a disability pension is not the same as eligibility for an MPS permit. Eg my dad met the criteria for a MPS permit - he had emphysema & so was well over the time to walk 100 m. He was not however eligible for any kind of pension. Similarly there are plenty of people who need to use a wheelchair, but they have full time jobs & are not on a pension.

Scarfy96
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Scarfy96 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:22 pm

find_bruce wrote:
biker jk wrote:Just to be clear those with Mobility Parking Scheme permits can park anywhere not just in disabled spots. Why they are allowed to park all day makes no sense at all. So when I worked in the Sydney CBD a walk along say Kent St would see one in three cars with MPS permits, nearly all dodgy. I once emailed the RMS and asked why there were 500,000 MPS permits issued in NSW when they were 700,000 people on the disability pension in the whole of Australia. Suffice to say their answer wasn't very convincing.
Not arguing with you about the level of cheats, but eligibility for a disability pension is not the same as eligibility for an MPS permit. Eg my dad met the criteria for a MPS permit - he had emphysema & so was well over the time to walk 100 m. He was not however eligible for any kind of pension. Similarly there are plenty of people who need to use a wheelchair, but they have full time jobs & are not on a pension.
^^ This.

My father had a knee replacement op a few years back. He was eligible for a MPS permit for a period of time (6 months I think) after the op. Then he lost the option of it. I think he took it up "just in case" but never used it.

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Xplora
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Xplora » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:36 pm

Call em all out when it comes to disability parking. When someone clearly needs it, but you couldn't tell they needed it, when they show you the proof you can simply say "I really hate it when people take spots away from the people that need them, like you. Hope you have a good day!"

Society sucks when people don't have the guts to enforce the social contract of respect and dignity for strangers.

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Aushiker
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Aushiker » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:51 pm

Scarfy96 wrote:
Aushiker wrote:If you are bored ... you can vote on whether Summerknight was in the wrong or not at this car website ... I am sure they would appreciate the interest :)

Andrew
Out of interest I see it is now 45% (490) passengers fault, 32% (353) cyclists fault with a trickle of others.
Good to see social media campaigns at work :)

Andrew

wellington_street
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby wellington_street » Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:11 pm

Had an MM overtake me on a city centre street using a short turn lane (illegal and impatient but beats a close shave?) only to have a bus turn right in front of him as he was on the wrong side of the road at this point. Karma :lol:

geebee
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby geebee » Wed Apr 02, 2014 5:40 pm

Xplora wrote:Call em all out when it comes to disability parking. When someone clearly needs it, but you couldn't tell they needed it, when they show you the proof you can simply say "I really hate it when people take spots away from the people that need them, like you. Hope you have a good day!"

Society sucks when people don't have the guts to enforce the social contract of respect and dignity for strangers.
I agree that people that abuse the privilege need stopping, having said that I would qualify if I wanted a pass but look fit and healthy, if a stranger fronted me about it I would most likely tell them to p...s off why should I have to justify needing a pass to some random or discuss my medical condition?

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herzog
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby herzog » Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:24 pm

geebee wrote: I agree that people that abuse the privilege need stopping, having said that I would qualify if I wanted a pass but look fit and healthy, if a stranger fronted me about it I would most likely tell them to p...s off why should I have to justify needing a pass to some random or discuss my medical condition?
Sure, but there's no doubt there's widespread abuse going on.

In addition to the MM I mentioned earlier, I've seen handicapped stickers used by:

Surfers - to park free at the beach,
Tradies - to park near a building site,
I've even seen courier drivers using them in the CBD

Personally, I think where it's a clear case of abuse, decent members of society need to call them out. If good people do nothing, the whole thing just gets worse until public confidence in the scheme totally evaporates.

WarbyD
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby WarbyD » Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:43 pm

herzog wrote:
geebee wrote: I agree that people that abuse the privilege need stopping, having said that I would qualify if I wanted a pass but look fit and healthy, if a stranger fronted me about it I would most likely tell them to p...s off why should I have to justify needing a pass to some random or discuss my medical condition?
Sure, but there's no doubt there's widespread abuse going on.

In addition to the MM I mentioned earlier, I've seen handicapped stickers used by:

Surfers - to park free at the beach,
Tradies - to park near a building site,
I've even seen courier drivers using them in the CBD

Personally, I think where it's a clear case of abuse, decent members of society need to call them out. If good people do nothing, the whole thing just gets worse until public confidence in the scheme totally evaporates.
And what is it that makes you qualified to determine if those surfers, tradies or couriers are entitled to the pass or not? If you believe the person using the pass may not be entitled to it then pass the details onto the relevant authority to investigate. It's not your job, nor is it your right to "call out" anyone you don't think looks like they should have it.

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herzog
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby herzog » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:03 pm

WarbyD wrote:And what is it that makes you qualified to determine if those surfers, tradies or couriers are entitled to the pass or not? If you believe the person using the pass may not be entitled to it then pass the details onto the relevant authority to investigate. It's not your job, nor is it your right to "call out" anyone you don't think looks like they should have it.
Sometimes things just don't pass the "smell test", bull****-meter etc. I guess some of us weren't born yesterday.

Seeing a surfer pull up, park in a 1 hour meter spot, flick a handicap sticker on the dash, then run down the beach and paddle out into 8 foot surf is a pretty clear sign that something is awry!

Similar goes for the tradie working on the site down the road who is up and down ladders and carrying bags of cement all day.

Another dead give away is the situation I observed with the MM I mentioned earlier - they do the "look around to see if anyone's watching" before surreptitiously flicking the pass onto the dash. Body language is a dead giveaway.

If this sort of thing isn't happening, why do they have the cheats hotline?

Criteria is here - you have to be someone who cannot comfortably walk 100m (at most) or cannot walk without a cane, etc.

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/usingroads/mo ... ility.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Lukeyboy
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Lukeyboy » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:15 pm

Not really a moron. More... stupid and... annoying than anything. Kudos to the Commodore driver for blocking the bike lane for the entire 33 seconds before this snapshot was taken. Considering traffic was already backed up before this point who knows how long you were there before I had you in my visual sights.

Image

Tomca74
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Tomca74 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 9:21 pm

Shenanigans aplenty this morning......sigh

http://youtu.be/fS3MsR6-vMY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scarfy96
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Scarfy96 » Thu Apr 03, 2014 2:05 pm

Tomca74 - and again I say TAKE THE LANE on approach to a round about. Any other option has high chance of ending in tears (and they will always be the cyclists tears)

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herzog
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby herzog » Thu Apr 03, 2014 4:17 pm

Yep

WarbyD
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby WarbyD » Thu Apr 03, 2014 4:32 pm

agreed.. always claim the lane into a roundabout. If for some reason I haven't been able to claim the lane on approach with traffic around (ie I've misjudged traffic or similar and ended up in a position where I'd consider it too late to move across safely) then I stop(safely) and wait.. Not interested at all in sharing a lane within a roundabout.

At the start of that video, did you come up on the left of all of those vehicles waiting to enter the roundabout and then cut across in front of the vehicle at front to enter the roundabout? The light isn't great so it's a little hard IMO to effectively gauge the situation, but IMO if that's what you did then I don't think you're in any position to be complaining about an impatient motorist..

edit: On further viewing.. When that ute came up past you, Say What did you continue trying to ride that line for? Contact there was inevitable and I am baffled as to why you wouldn't get on the anchors rather than trying to force your way forward in a no win scenario. Yes, the ute driver was a tool for squeezing past but I reckon you need to seriously look at the way you're riding amongst traffic..

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Ross
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Ross » Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:43 pm

Drunk driver leads police on 150km/h chase around Parliament House

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... 361bo.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pity the newspaper hasn't allowed comments for this article so all the ignoramuses can post excuses as to why this guy was driving like this and somehow turn it around to be a cyclists' fault...

Tomca74
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Tomca74 » Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:35 pm

Scarfy96 wrote:Tomca74 - and again I say TAKE THE LANE on approach to a round about. Any other option has high chance of ending in tears (and they will always be the cyclists tears)
The first one at the roundabout was just to show a fool. The queue of cars at the roundabout want the right lane to crawl onto the motorway, the left lane goes to a dead end or loops back to the roundabout. Plenty of room to move up the left of the stationary traffic, I was bemused by the white car blocking traffic going straight so she could push in.

The last one, love the experts! Look closely, I hit the picks hard as he hooked hard left. This Llane is wide enough for B-doubles to get around there (and some) If I slowed every time a car come up on me I might as well walk. I kept wide enough for an escape, but unfortunately, you can't anticipate how bad someone can drive in every instance. He was about 3 metres wide of me then went full retard. My sppeed went from 15ish to nothing in that instant.

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Lukeyboy
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Re: Moron Motorists #3

Postby Lukeyboy » Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:02 pm

Ross wrote:Drunk driver leads police on 150km/h chase around Parliament House

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... 361bo.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pity the newspaper hasn't allowed comments for this article so all the ignoramuses can post excuses as to why this guy was driving like this and somehow turn it around to be a cyclists' fault...
Can't blame the bloke for trying to set the fastest lap time for the Canberra street circuit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra_400" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Too bad he set the slowest lap time :P

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