Moron Motorists #3

[LinzOC]

The GCCC boast about the hundreds of Km's of bike lanes they have created, when in reality they are just wasting my rates painting roads.

+1, IMO that worthless green paint makes the roads MORE dangerous for me as a cyclist, not less so.

can you please explain that? as far as I can tell it highlights a bike lane for other road users, how is that a bad thing?

I haven't used them; but generally painted surfaces with water on them are bloody slippery; I'd be loathe to ride on a wet, green path in a road bike or at speed.

[Mulger bill]

Because it creates the expectation that riders MUST be there.

There's a bikelane outside a school in Phillip Drv Sunbury that provides wonderfully safe double parking for mums

[jasonc]

The GCCC boast about the hundreds of Km's of bike lanes they have created, when in reality they are just wasting my rates painting roads.

+1, IMO that worthless green paint makes the roads MORE dangerous for me as a cyclist, not less so.

can you please explain that? as far as I can tell it highlights a bike lane for other road users, how is that a bad thing?

e.g. the video above
2. door zones. the "bike lanes" are normally made up of 80% car parking area. to ride out of the door zone you're riding on the white line

[trailgumby]

+1, IMO that worthless green paint makes the roads MORE dangerous for me as a cyclist, not less so.

can you please explain that? as far as I can tell it highlights a bike lane for other road users, how is that a bad thing?

e.g. the video above
2. door zones. the "bike lanes" are normally made up of 80% car parking area. to ride out of the door zone you're riding on the white line

jasonc: You're absolutely on the money.

Additionally, motorists expect us to ride in the door zone cycle lane, and I've had them get aggressive when we choose to prioritise our safety ahead of their convenience and ignore it.

[duncanm]

- some idiot passenger that yelled "F - you" out the window as they drove past me on Friday night.

I gave chase so hard I was going 35-40km/h up the 5% grade.. had him worried, as he cut a couple of people off in order to make the lights at the top of the hill.

The idiot was driving a very distinctive car, I won't be surprised if I come across him again some time. Might have a quiet chat to him about his choice of friends.

[ldrcycles]

Because it creates the expectation that riders MUST be there.

There's a bikelane outside a school in Phillip Drv Sunbury that provides wonderfully safe double parking for mums

What he (and others) said. It just reinforces the incorrect view that cyclists don't belong on the road. What makes it even worse is that at least here in Noosa, 99% of these "bike lanes" are NOT bike lanes at all, they have none of the signage required under the road rules so they are nothing more than council applied graffiti. If you were to stay in the "bike lane", it makes negotiating a roundabout significantly more dangerous.

Add the fact that they are usually full of gravel, broken glass and idiots parking in them, there is little choice but to claim the lane. So drivers then get angry that "our rates are being spent on these bike lanes and the cyclists don't use them!!!!!"

I haven't used them; but generally painted surfaces with water on them are bloody slippery; I'd be loathe to ride on a wet, green path in a road bike or at speed.

The paint is supposed to give better grip in the wet, I can't say for sure one way or another but I haven't noticed it being any more or less slippery than unpainted bitumen.

[jindydiver]

Police allegdly speeding and not giving way to children on a pedestrian crossing

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... 2o6jw.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The facts are far from clear. The statement by the parents makes out that Mum was parked adjacent to the crossing when it happened, something we see all the time around Canberra schools and something that will result in a kid getting hit occasionally.

[zero]

Police allegdly speeding and not giving way to children on a pedestrian crossing

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... 2o6jw.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The facts are far from clear. The statement by the parents makes out that Mum was parked adjacent to the crossing when it happened, something we see all the time around Canberra schools and something that will result in a kid getting hit occasionally.

nevertheless if you happen to be driving responsibly near such an intersection at 8:30 in the morning, you will recognise the extensive flagging and signage of the crossing during operation hours and the potential obscuring effect of other vehicles and set your speed accordingly, which could and probably should be as low as walking pace in the last couple of m before the crossing if parts of the crossing or approaches are obscured.

[zero]

Because it creates the expectation that riders MUST be there.

There's a bikelane outside a school in Phillip Drv Sunbury that provides wonderfully safe double parking for mums

What he (and others) said. It just reinforces the incorrect view that cyclists don't belong on the road. What makes it even worse is that at least here in Noosa, 99% of these "bike lanes" are NOT bike lanes at all, they have none of the signage required under the road rules so they are nothing more than council applied graffiti. If you were to stay in the "bike lane", it makes negotiating a roundabout significantly more dangerous.

Add the fact that they are usually full of gravel, broken glass and idiots parking in them, there is little choice but to claim the lane. So drivers then get angry that "our rates are being spent on these bike lanes and the cyclists don't use them!!!!!"

I haven't used them; but generally painted surfaces with water on them are bloody slippery; I'd be loathe to ride on a wet, green path in a road bike or at speed.

The paint is supposed to give better grip in the wet, I can't say for sure one way or another but I haven't noticed it being any more or less slippery than unpainted bitumen.

I have yet to see the green paint (we have more than enough of it in Sydney), offer more grip than hotmix under any weather condition, and particularly so once worn. You wear hotmix, you still have hotmix, you wear paint and the abrasion stuff they put in it, wears first, leaving you with just the paint.

The optimal solution is and always has been to use colored hotmix.

[ldrcycles]

The optimal solution is and always has been to get it into moron motorist's heads that bikes belong on the road

At least that's my take on it .

[bychosis]

The optimal solution is and always has been to get it into moron motorist's heads that bikes belong on the road

At least that's my take on it .

Agree. Beside for the price of coloured hot mix you don't get far. Normal stuff plus paint is probably 1/4 the price.

[ShogunHy]

Had a bloke pull out of a side street today and slam on the anchors as i think his wife saw me coming down the hill - had a hi viz fluro yellow jacket and a 1w Planet Blaze on flash - reckon it saved me from near disaster though I reckon I could have stopped just in time

[Summernight]

First ever video, On the way to school.
You go pro guys probably cringe at the quality of my $6 spy camera.

Watching that footage I'm going "where's my peripheral vision?". I know the camera I have doesn't have the full human field of view, but I felt blinkered watching that and was wanting to peer around the side of the screen.

(I have nothing against a $6 spy camera - where'd you get it BTW?)

[gobsec]

Because it creates the expectation that riders MUST be there.

There's a bikelane outside a school in Phillip Drv Sunbury that provides wonderfully safe double parking for mums

What he (and others) said. It just reinforces the incorrect view that cyclists don't belong on the road. What makes it even worse is that at least here in Noosa, 99% of these "bike lanes" are NOT bike lanes at all, they have none of the signage required under the road rules so they are nothing more than council applied graffiti. If you were to stay in the "bike lane", it makes negotiating a roundabout significantly more dangerous.

Add the fact that they are usually full of gravel, broken glass and idiots parking in them, there is little choice but to claim the lane. So drivers then get angry that "our rates are being spent on these bike lanes and the cyclists don't use them!!!!!"

I haven't used them; but generally painted surfaces with water on them are bloody slippery; I'd be loathe to ride on a wet, green path in a road bike or at speed.

The paint is supposed to give better grip in the wet, I can't say for sure one way or another but I haven't noticed it being any more or less slippery than unpainted bitumen.

i had thought that vicroads here in victoria, as the authority responsible for on-road cycling infrastructure, was the organisation singularly unsuited to the creation of bicycling infrastructure, due to its seeming adherence to the hegemony of the car and the organisations's apparent lack of knowledge about how to create safe cycling infrastructure.

indeed it seems that what vicroads is best at is taking roads previously safe for cyclists and, through its creation of "cycling infrastructure" making them unsafe for cyclists. however doing that does at least allow vicroads to boast about how much they have done for cyclists.

however, it seems from your post that maybe vicroads is not alone in that.

if you would like to read an exercise in futility in my trying to persuade vicroads to turn what was once a safe road back into one by removing their "cycling infrastructure", go to https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/forum ... =5&t=24900" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

[jasonc]

if you would like to read an exercise in futility in my trying to persuade vicroads to turn what was once a safe road back into one by removing their "cycling infrastructure", go to https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/forum ... =5&t=24900" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

gobsec - just read that and was disheartened. I suggest using BV, facebook, twitter and whatever other means to start annoying them.

[elantra]

that is what irks me the most.
I'm well aware that the cars are legally allowed to be parked where they are.
The GCCC boast about the hundreds of Km's of bike lanes they have created, when in reality they are just wasting my rates painting roads.
Its the same situation on Christine Ave in front of the Outrigger canoe club. It's a very popular route for both commuters and bunch riders and for most of the daylight hours there are cars parked in the bike lane.

Just as an aside, i was down the Coast over the weekend.
It occured to me that instead of putting the bike-hire scheme in Brisbane it might have worked better on the Gold Coast.
It has not achieved much in Brisbane where there is not the infrastructure to support it.
It might have been more successful on the Gold Coast, where the roads are flatter and the traffic jams just as long as they are in Brisbane.

[mattwilkinson]

(I have nothing against a $6 spy camera - where'd you get it BTW?)

Fleebay,
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/310571044434 ... 1439.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Summernight]

(I have nothing against a $6 spy camera - where'd you get it BTW?)

Fleebay,
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/310571044434 ... 1439.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ahh! The Jumbo 808!
I have the #16 with fish lens. Haven't tried it out yet though (it is on my to-do list to waterproof it and then attach it to the bike).

[TailWind]

Good ride until less than 1km from home.
The scenario:

A ute is standing in a right only lane on Plenty Rd, waiting to turn across oncoming traffic and into the residential area.
Seemingly in no hurry, he passes up a couple of opportunities to turn through gaps in the traffic, whereas I turn as I spot a gap, check behind me to see if he follows, but he doesn't as he chooses to wait out the next wave of oncoming cars.
It's a short downhill (80m or so) to a traffic circle, so I initially stick to the left as I accelerate, then ride wider as I approach the entry into the circle.
I hear a car accelerating hard somewhere behind me at this point.
All clear to my right (and the rest of the circle), so I take the traffic circle at speed, exiting hard left at the first exit. I'm faster through there than the cars, and I keep up the speed for the next 40m to a speed hump, when the ute suddenly appears to my right. I clear the hump at speed about a meter off the gutter and continue - the ute doesn't overtake but paces me to my right now. 30m on there is a ~90 degree right, followed by a ~90 degree left turn. The lanes are separated by speed calming devices/kerbs approaching and through part of the turns.
The ute straddles these middle kerbs and pulls in towards me. The passenger window is wound down, I can see it's a young guy, and there's a P Plate in the window. I yell "what are you doing??" he yells at me "why are you riding in the middle of the road?". I retort that I am fully entitled to. He keeps on pulling in on me and we come to a stop, with him still straddling the traffic calming device, partially in the oncoming lane.
I point out that I have a camera and will report him, at which point he throws a glance at my handlebars, his face drops in shock, he guns the ute, bumps over the middle kerb, mounts the pavement on the other side and wheel-spins down a little residential lane - I hear him hooning along for a few seconds as he speeds away.

What was his motivation for deliberately chasing me down and menacing me with his vehicle? I speculate that his warped ego couldn't handle a cyclist making the turn across Plenty Rd before him, and he felt he needed to impart some sort of vehicular superiority lesson.

Now I want to stress that this is a quiet residential area, there are lots of young kids in the neighbourhood cycling around the nearby park, visiting their friends etc, and this guy presents a real menace to everyone - had there been oncoming traffic, it would have been a disaster - so I will take this up with the police this afternoon.

Edit: Language warning for the last few seconds of the clip.
The video:

[g-boaf]

You are a bike rider, probably don't have rego for the bike and probably run the red lights. That's enough for them. They don't know that you do this, they assume it - and they have the backing of the powerful Murdoch media. Which you don't have.

So until we get some tough vulnerable road user laws to protect against this, it'll continue to happen.

[Gerry.M]

Good ride until less than 1km from home.
The scenario:

A ute is standing in a right only lane on Plenty Rd, waiting to turn across oncoming traffic and into the residential area..........

What an absolute D'Head.
I had a similar thing happen in Auburn Rd whereby a car roared past me with his horn at full noise. When I caught up to him at the next set of lights and asked him what the problem was, he said "Well, you were taking up the whole lane...."

We don't need better laws for this kind of stuff, we need better education for these morons to get them to understand that bikes have a right to be on the road, not just in the gutter.

[g-boaf]

Laws are the education. "Soft" education doesn't do a thing. We've had certain advocacy groups pushing this soft approach and it doesn't work.

The big stick approach is needed. When their actions start affecting their wallet, or indeed, result in loss of drivers license - then we might have some change of behaviour.

[zero]

What was his motivation for deliberately chasing me down and menacing me with his vehicle? I speculate that his warped ego couldn't handle a cyclist making the turn across Plenty Rd before him, and he felt he needed to impart some sort of vehicular superiority lesson.

Police have to sort that guy out. I wouldn't worry about what he thinks.

[mattwilkinson]

What was his motivation for deliberately chasing me down and menacing me with his vehicle? I speculate that his warped ego couldn't handle a cyclist making the turn across Plenty Rd before him, and he felt he needed to impart some sort of vehicular superiority lesson.

Police have to sort that guy out. I wouldn't worry about what he thinks.

UNP-132
Black Nissan Navara

Take it to the cops!

[g-boaf]

What was his motivation for deliberately chasing me down and menacing me with his vehicle? I speculate that his warped ego couldn't handle a cyclist making the turn across Plenty Rd before him, and he felt he needed to impart some sort of vehicular superiority lesson.

Police have to sort that guy out. I wouldn't worry about what he thinks.

UNP-132
Black Nissan Navara

Take it to the cops!

Just watched the video. Those guys are finished when the Police get hold of that footage... What about sending it to Today Tonight or A Current Affair? I don't think the likes of Ian Luff will be able to find anything critical to say of TailWind's riding.