Moron Motorists #3

[Shifter]

Here's the MM who overtook me into oncoming traffic on yesterday morning:



It would have cost him 5 seconds to wait for the oncoming car to pass.

Is that Rutland ave North of Vic park train station? I used to take that route to and from work. One thing that always bothered me were the MGIFs - the road is a 50kph zone and I'd regularly top that heading downhill, but every single car MGIF, regardless of how wide I rode.

[RedlandSteve]

From today.

I even managed to speak with the driver. He was having his lunch at the time and by the body language and response I got from him. I'm putting it in the SMIDGAF file.
Told him to search his rego on you tube later today, although I very much doubt he will.

Yikes I suspect that motorbike rider needed to change his pants! Sounded like the truckie was hard on the throttle to get around you before the oncoming motorbike. SMIDGAFMGIF. Well done for informing the boss.

[Scott_C]

Is that Rutland ave North of Vic park train station? I used to take that route to and from work. One thing that always bothered me were the MGIFs - the road is a 50kph zone and I'd regularly top that heading downhill, but every single car MGIF, regardless of how wide I rode.

Yes, it's Rutland Ave. I was just rolling down the hill but was still doing ~36kph. My commute takes me along Rutland between GE Highway & Welshpool Road and I haven't had too much trouble with MGIF's, I do seem to attract a fair few SMIDSY's at the T-junctions when Southbound though. I had one yesterday afternoon that came 2/3rds the way across the lane before seeing me and stopping. I'm 6'4", 110kg and was wearing the orange jersey from the freeway bike hike, it's not like I'm hard to see.

[RedlandSteve]

Emailed this note to a plumbing company just now from this morning's ride. I'll post back if/when I receive a response.

That was way too close! Only about 1.5 seconds saved from the driver's travel time, about the same the driver was delayed behind, net result NIL. Worth killing for?

[Boognoss]

Emailed this note to a plumbing company just now from this morning's ride. I'll post back if/when I receive a response.

That was way too close! Only about 1.5 seconds saved from the driver's travel time, about the same the driver was delayed behind, net result NIL. Worth killing for?

Totally too close. Just received an email from the company which I think is a great result.



Dear Simon,

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to make management at Goldman Plumbing aware of our employees irresponsible actions.
We’ve successfully identified the employee responsible and as such will take appropriate action to ensure they operate their motor vehicle in a safe manner and obey road rules and posted speed limits.
Goldman Plumbing Services don’t tolerate this type of behavior and as such will be taking appropriate action against the employee responsible.
Thank you again for making us aware of this incident and please accept my apology on behalf of our irresponsible employee.

Yours Sincerely

Luke Gratland
Project Manager
Goldman Plumbing Services
1/10 Anella Ave
Castle Hill NSW 2154

[biker jk]

Kills two people due to inattention, sentenced to 18 months gaol and appeals severity of sentence. I await the decision of the appeal with interest.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-15/k ... tenews_nsw

[jules21]

Kills two people due to inattention, sentenced to 18 months gaol and appeals severity of sentence. I await the decision of the appeal with interest.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-15/k ... tenews_nsw

there's a part of me that wonders if jailing someone for what is clearly an error is justified. while there is a clear need for the courts to demonstrate a deterrent against negligent driving, i wonder if a lengthy or even permanent license suspension would be better? it's weird how courts are reluctant to take driver's licences away - on the grounds of hardship and people's need to drive - but will consider jailing them. i think that speaks volumes about our society's attitudes towards driving.

[human909]

It is a vexed question. Jailing otherwise law abiding citizens with a clean record is problematic. Not having strong deterrents is also problematic. I don't have a clear answer or opinion.

I think the best deterrent is to drastically increase the punishment for small incidents. Remember for every cyclist who dies there are probably 50-100 injuries. Imagine if it was a MINIMUM of 1 months license suspension for ANY motorist who hits a cyclist unless it can be shown that the cyclist was reckless.

1 month loss of license is not onerous but is certainly strong enough be a deterrent. Publicise it. Advertise it. Make it known that you hit a pedestrian or cyclists with your car then you lose your license for at least a month. You might find that grabs people's attention.


I haven't been hit but I was present when a friend was hit. I damn well hope that the lady got a ticket for failing to give way. I believe she did. However did that teach to her look out for cyclists? I doubt it. Did her friends-family-colleagues learn that they need to watch out for cyclists? I doubt it. But we all know you shouldn't drink and drive and largely most people obey.

[Robinho]

Kills two people due to inattention, sentenced to 18 months gaol and appeals severity of sentence. I await the decision of the appeal with interest.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-15/k ... tenews_nsw

there's a part of me that wonders if jailing someone for what is clearly an error is justified. while there is a clear need for the courts to demonstrate a deterrent against negligent driving, i wonder if a lengthy or even permanent license suspension would be better? it's weird how courts are reluctant to take driver's licences away - on the grounds of hardship and people's need to drive - but will consider jailing them. i think that speaks volumes about our society's attitudes towards driving.

Interesting parallels with this case
http://m.perthnow.com.au/news/western-a ... 7091491418" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In which an inattentive driver killed 2 on a motorcycle, found guilty, but got a 27 month suspended sentence and 4 years driving ban. Not a great deal of consistency between states where one guy goes down for 18months and one walks free.

[Dragster1]

1 month loss of license is not onerous but is certainly strong enough be a deterrent. Publicise it. Advertise it. Make it known that you hit a pedestrian or cyclists with your car then you lose your license for at least a month. You might find that grabs people's attention.

Is that all they get for harming or killing someone I had a 3 month licence suspension twenty-three years ago for no seat belt and 10kms over a 60 zone

[jules21]

Interesting parallels with this case
http://m.perthnow.com.au/news/western-a ... 7091491418" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In which an inattentive driver killed 2 on a motorcycle, found guilty, but got a 27 month suspended sentence and 4 years driving ban. Not a great deal of consistency between states where one guy goes down for 18months and one walks free.

there are mitigating circumstances there though - no lights on bike after sunset. a court will be reluctant to throw the book at the driver in that case. in the other case - there were no mitigating circumstances. the driver clearly was not watching where he was going. that likely involved some level of culpability (choosing not to pay attention).

i'm with you Human - don't wait until people get killed. nail the risk before it manifests to a fatality or serious injury. there is reluctance to do that - people don't want to be held accountable for their driving. the courts have a duty to reflect public values in sentencing - it seems including when those values are questionable!

[human909]

Is that all they get for harming or killing someone I had a 3 month licence suspension twenty-three years ago for no seat belt and 10kms over a 60 zone

No. Nor did I suggest that. I said 1 month "MINIMUM" for any "HIT". (Though any injury might the better determining factor.)

So many motorist have a nonchalant attitude to collisions. Our insurance advertisements sometimes event emphasis this. No wonder we have drivers who have only 10% attention on the road.

[queequeg]

Kills two people due to inattention, sentenced to 18 months gaol and appeals severity of sentence. I await the decision of the appeal with interest.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-15/k ... tenews_nsw

Sarah Frazer is the cousin of a school friend of mine. I doubt their family would agree with the argument put forward by the defence.

[softy]

This is a complex issue, we don't know all the fact, media filter them.

In general I do believe sentences are to soft, people are being killed just standing on the side of the road, many drivers tailgate, which I believe is a big cause.

Then they are very sorry when things go wrong. Licence suspensions seem a joke when you here stories, police capture driver for third time without a licence?? Why did it get to a third time.

When someones dead they are dead! No levels or serverity of being dead!

[find_bruce]

Met a lady with very odd priorities on the way home - apparently very concerned that my son was asleep and his head was wobbling about while he was strapped into his weehoo. Thanks lady, but he is asleep & does that, pretty much the same as when he is strapped into the car seat, no need to drive along behind me for 300 meters to tell me about it. That's not why she belongs in this thread.

No that would be because she drove through a T intersection, putting her 2 tonne bully bus of death 3/4 of the way out into the road in front of me before finally deciding to stop to let me pass - there was no way I was riding in front of her - it was obvious that she was a moron from the moment she appeared in the side street.

blissful disregard as to whether or not she runs over a cyclist, followed by major concern about a non-issue

[jules21]

blissful disregard as to whether or not she runs over a cyclist, followed by major concern about a non-issue

you mean she chose to overlook your decision to place your child and your own safety at risk by riding on the road near her vehicle

[myforwik]

Well I saw a guy cycling today down a 70km/hr road in QLD that is 3 lanes.

everyone was moving completely out of the lane he was in to go around him, I was think hey that 1.5m passing rule actually works.Then all of a sudden some P plater bursts up between the cyclist and the car in the next lane leaving a gap of what would not have been 15cm.

What I also don't understand is why the QLD government are currently running an add campaign telling cyclists not to ride two abreast (Even though its legal) and telling motorists to wait until its safe to pass, yet saying nothing about the 1/1.5m passing rule.... fail.

[Lukeyboy]

It's moreso a courtesy campaign. Just because it's legal it doesn't mean that cyclists have to ride 2 abreast everywhere. There's a time and place for single file riding. There's no harm in going single file to let some traffic past and then resume your 2 abreast riding. I happen to do that quite frequently. No different than riding 2 abreast on a shared pathway and then going single file past walkers or other slower cyclists..... or letting other faster cyclists past which I can say I've never really had to do before It's similar to Queensland Rails quiet carriages. The posters and advertisements tell you to refrain from loud conversations, talking on mobiles or using mp3 devices. Legally there is no punishment and there is no legal enforcement preventing you from abiding by those courtesy requests. Reminds me of a bloke who got a call or made a call while on one of the quiet carriages on the train when it was first trialed. I can't remember what it was about but it was involving family/what time he was going to be at the station so he wasn't talking loudly. Anyway some bitter passenger who had a crap day at work walked over and told him not to use the phone so he politely told whoever was on the phone to hold for a second, stood up and walked a couple meters at the most and stood on the otherside of the divide between the carriages. On the newer trains in Queensland there are no doors between carriages so you can walk from one end of the train to another. So now he starts talking louder, politely insulted the person who told him to hang up his phone, mentioned how the train had just left South Bank was now running express to Beenleigh (Brisbane Airport to Gold Coast train) before asking whoever was on the other end to put his kids on as he wanted to talk to them. This is when he puts it on speaker phone and all you hear are kids yelling "DADDDYYY DADDDDDYY DADDYY!!!!". Man you should have seen the looks and the amount of people laughing on the train. Anyway that's way off topic haha but yeah, its just a courtesy campaign for all road users.

[wellington_street]

2 abreast.is illegal on paths i WA and i thought Australia-wide?

[Lukeyboy]

No law regarding that in Queensland. Its also legal to ride bicycles on footpaths here too

[Roubaix Noir]

I got clipped by a wing mirror yesterday - scared the hell out of me.

Left lane merging into right, I took the whole left lane. Silver Peugeot shot through from behind splitting the narrow gap between me and the traffic in the right lane.

Their left wing mirror gave my knuckles a good whack as they went through. I kept the bike upright ... and shouted a lot.

Went straight to the cops, but not much they can do. Said they'd call the driver.

Rego: YUF 214

[Gordonhooker]

Well I saw a guy cycling today down a 70km/hr road in QLD that is 3 lanes.

everyone was moving completely out of the lane he was in to go around him, I was think hey that 1.5m passing rule actually works.Then all of a sudden some P plater bursts up between the cyclist and the car in the next lane leaving a gap of what would not have been 15cm.

What I also don't understand is why the QLD government are currently running an add campaign telling cyclists not to ride two abreast (Even though its legal) and telling motorists to wait until its safe to pass, yet saying nothing about the 1/1.5m passing rule.... fail.

Actually the QLD government isn't running a campaign tell cyclists not to ride two abreast, the campaign is saying to cyclist to do the right thing and move to single file to allow traffic to pass them safely, and then return to two abreast.

[find_bruce]

blissful disregard as to whether or not she runs over a cyclist, followed by major concern about a non-issue

you mean she chose to overlook your decision to place your child and your own safety at risk by riding on the road near her vehicle

Of course - how silly of me not to realise that I should have asked permission to use her road

[find_bruce]

I got clipped by a wing mirror yesterday - scared the hell out of me.

Left lane merging into right, I took the whole left lane. Silver Peugeot shot through from behind splitting the narrow gap between me and the traffic in the right lane.

Their left wing mirror gave my knuckles a good whack as they went through. I kept the bike upright ... and shouted a lot.

Went straight to the cops, but not much they can do. Said they'd call the driver.

Rego: YUF 214

You were very lucky - a clip by a wing mirror was all it took to send Craig Cowled to the emergency ward.

You have the rego, does this mean you have video of the incident or just a good memory ? If it is the former, there is plenty the cops can do. Whether they do or not is an entirely different question.

[Roubaix Noir]

You were very lucky - a clip by a wing mirror was all it took to send Craig Cowled to the emergency ward.

You have the rego, does this mean you have video of the incident or just a good memory ? If it is the former, there is plenty the cops can do. Whether they do or not is an entirely different question.

Yeah, I can't quite believe how close it was, they were going pretty fast too.

I just memorised the rego and rode straight into the police station which was only a couple of blocks away.

I used to use a Mobius camera but I found it gave off a lot of electromagnetic interference which upset my GPS reception. I've got it wrapped up in copper tape now, which seems to cut out most of the interference, but I've fallen out of the habit of using it.