Moron Motorists #3

[London Boy]

Still a MM...would have had plenty of time to see Jason and at worse was going to be held up for just a few seconds..or gawd forbid, just needed to change lanes! Two wrongs and all that...

I reckon not. The 'close pass' happened almost as soon as he had entered the road. The motorist would have been, "Surely not ... Bugger, he did".

[Mulger bill]

I literally cannot work out how anyone can think that it is OK to do this. What sort of thought processes is that guy having? How do they get through life in general?

Agreed. This guy, and also the guy who ran down the pedestrian the other day because he had "nowhere else to go". Absolutely totally mentally incompetent to be driving a car!

And btw, with that recent pedestrian case, I couldn't believe how blatant that was until I looked at the screen grabs. This is where the car was several seconds before hitting him. About 60 metres away in a 50k zone, and the ped had already cleared his lane!

Can you imagine translating this scenario into a cyclist instead of a pedestrian. There is literally no place on the road that you could possibly ever be safe with this moron. I'm just so angry that he's only going to get a fine and a few demerits over this and allowed straight back on the roads.

Have a look between those caps with a very critical eye on the angles of the front wheels

I'm definitely NOT saying old mate went hunting here...

[trailgumby]

If that wasn't deliberate, he is so mind-bogglingly incompetent he should never be allowed to hold a driver's license. Worst case of target fixation I've ever seen. Unfortunately there is a major hole in our laws, allowing people like this behind the wheel.

Perhaps a more permanent arrangement might be to have someone of appropriate agility run across his path on a 100km/hr country road, and hide behind a tree. A big tree.

[dmwill]

This twit try and squeeze into the middle of a 30-strong bunch approaching a roundabout/pinch point.

Hard to see in the shadows, but the marked cycle lane ends just about where the car is, half the bunch are ahead of the car. I might check flyby later and see what bunch it was...someone might want the footage.

[jasonc]

need audio

[uart]

If that wasn't deliberate, he is so mind-bogglingly incompetent he should never be allowed to hold a driver's license

TBH I think that it's some crazy kind of MGIF gone wrong. I think that for whatever reason (known only to his small moronic mind) he decided that he didn't want to let that guy "get away" with crossing ahead of him. So he steered left to try and block the guy's path, in effect to try and force the guy to wait and cross behind him. All outrageously mismanaged of course, but yes, I believe that this was in some sense deliberate.

I think that as cyclists we can often get "into the mind" of morons like this more readily than the general population, for the simple but unfortunate reason that we get so much bloody exposure to them.

I actually had an incident somewhat like this happen to me about 12 months ago. I was crossing on the pedestrian part at a set of traffic lights to join up with a shared path on the other side of the road, and a guy in a 4WD (oh why is it always a 4WD) coming the other way wanted to turn right across my path. Apparently he had a red arrow for the first little while, due to the pedestrian lights being green, so he waited as he should. But after a few seconds his red arrow went away (no green arrow here I should mention, just the red turns off after a while), and immediately I hear this engine absolutely roar! Like crazy fast, this guy is on a serious mission to get to the centre of the road and cut me off on the crossing. Basically he wants to make sure he passes ahead of me on the crossing instead of behind me, and presumably (in his small mind) to teach me a lesson in the progress. The problem was that I was almost across (to the centre median strip) by then, so no matter how fast he took off he really couldn't cut me off. It didn't stop him though, he had to go over the median strip and come within about a cm of taking out the traffic lights to do it, but this genius managed to cut me off and nearly run into me. Frickin' unbelievable!

[trailgumby]

Interested in peoples thoughts on this one. Let's get this one out of the way first, though: yes, it was a poor choice to take this route.

*** NSFW LANGUAGE ALERT ***

[Thoglette]

thoughts

Thoughts? As usual, 99% of people do the right thing and but one moron decides not to.

[feral grasshopper]

Interested in peoples thoughts on this one. Let's get this one out of the way first, though: yes, it was a poor choice to take this route.

*** NSFW LANGUAGE ALERT ***

Can’t comment on whether it was a poor choice of route or not but none of he other cars had the slightest difficulty in safely passing you. In my opinion, the actions of the van driver were deliberate and premeditated.

[familyguy]

I've mentioned that stretch before TG

That said, nothing you did deserved that, moron just didn't want to wait for the blue hatch to get past for him to half-lane it. Worth submitting, definitely.

Jim

[bychosis]

Interested in peoples thoughts on this one. Let's get this one out of the way first, though: yes, it was a poor choice to take this route.

*** NSFW LANGUAGE ALERT ***

Submit it. Everyone else was able to pass safely, including the car immediately in front of him. He should also have been able to see over it to see a cyclist. You should also be able to get lane measurements easily enough.

[trailgumby]

Cool, thanks. Being the day before Oz Day, it was included in the double demerit points period in NSW. Hopefully that won't influence the traffic sergeant to let it go.

@Jim, yeah, I know. I would not have gone that way but thought I spotted a MTBer I knew riding over one of the hospital bridges, so followed. Turned out not to be her, so I just carried on. It was a mistake.

[Scott_C]

Interested in peoples thoughts on this one.

Obvious that the close pass was unnecessary as there was plenty of room to move into the next lane if he had slowed for 1 car length and definitely worth a report.

While I avoid riding as a single rider on 3 lane roads (which is much easier in WA due to not having that many 3 lane roads) I do make sure that when I am on multi-lane roads if the lane isn't wide enough for a safe in-lane pass that I ride far enough to the right to make it clear that an in-lane pass isn't possible. In this case I would probably be all the way over in the right wheel track as the centre of the lane seems to have a build up of oil/diesel stains and construction run-off.

I'd accept that it might not have been safe to move much further right than you have due to the debris though, I can't see everything on a video that you see IRL and you definitely don't want to hit an oil spot and drop yourself in the middle of the lane.

[trailgumby]

I'd accept that it might not have been safe to move much further right than you have due to the debris though, I can't see everything on a video that you see IRL and you definitely don't want to hit an oil spot and drop yourself in the middle of the lane.

I was deliberately sideswiped along this stretch in 2009, going the other direction, and hospitalised for four days. It was touch and go whether they could put my fifth metacarpal back together. My nickname might have become "nine fingers".

I was "taking the lane" at that time. The Magnamail executive thought it would be a good idea to teach me a lesson.

[adam0bmx0]

Got it. Sorry to be harsh but it looks like you just didn't give way. You had a green pedestrian to cross Cornwall St, not to enter Annerley Rd!

I have to agree. Pedestrian crossing is footpath to footpath. Once you veered right and entered Annerley Rd you technically should have been stopped like all the other cars coming up from Fairfield Rd. I think this should perhaps be moved to the Dumb cyclists & pedestrians thread. To make matters worse, your helmet mounted camera proves that you didn't even look to your right when entering the road. Sorry to be such a downer but them's the rules.

Thanks guys. Going to really my medicine with this one

Jase, I think cyclists at this light are supposed to carry over onto the footpath opposite (signage does clearly show its a shared path), and then continue past the bus stop until you get to the dropped kerb and green cycle-lane to join into Annerley/Gladstone Road?

[Thoglette]

I was "taking the lane" at that time. The Magnamail executive thought it would be a good idea to teach me a lesson.

And back then you probably got a wagged-finger from the attending officer. Presuming they thought it worth attending.

[Scott_C]

I'd accept that it might not have been safe to move much further right than you have due to the debris though, I can't see everything on a video that you see IRL and you definitely don't want to hit an oil spot and drop yourself in the middle of the lane.

I was deliberately sideswiped along this stretch in 2009, going the other direction, and hospitalised for four days. It was touch and go whether they could put my fifth metacarpal back together. My nickname might have become "nine fingers".

I was "taking the lane" at that time. The Magnamail executive thought it would be a good idea to teach me a lesson.

That's a very good reason to not take the lane and I accept that it can be a balance between increasing the risk of someone "teaching you a lesson" against decreasing the risk of someone thinking, "I can squeeze past." My personal experience is that there are more incompetent "I can squeeze past" drivers than there are malicious drivers but your personal experience and local driver population could be different to mine.

[jasonc]

I have to agree. Pedestrian crossing is footpath to footpath. Once you veered right and entered Annerley Rd you technically should have been stopped like all the other cars coming up from Fairfield Rd. I think this should perhaps be moved to the Dumb cyclists & pedestrians thread. To make matters worse, your helmet mounted camera proves that you didn't even look to your right when entering the road. Sorry to be such a downer but them's the rules.

Thanks guys. Going to really my medicine with this one

Jase, I think cyclists at this light are supposed to carry over onto the footpath opposite (signage does clearly show its a shared path), and then continue past the bus stop until you get to the dropped kerb and green cycle-lane to join into Annerley/Gladstone Road?

I think next time I'll take the foot path til after the next intersection

[uart]

I was "taking the lane" at that time. The Magnamail executive thought it would be a good idea to teach me a lesson.

Let me guess, the police still treated it as just an unfortunate "accident". Am I correct?

[jasonc]

TG - Great video. Report that

[mikesbytes]

If that wasn't deliberate, he is so mind-bogglingly incompetent he should never be allowed to hold a driver's license

TBH I think that it's some crazy kind of MGIF gone wrong. I think that for whatever reason (known only to his small moronic mind) he decided that he didn't want to let that guy "get away" with crossing ahead of him. So he steered left to try and block the guy's path, in effect to try and force the guy to wait and cross behind him. All outrageously mismanaged of course, but yes, I believe that this was in some sense deliberate.

I think that as cyclists we can often get "into the mind" of morons like this more readily than the general population, for the simple but unfortunate reason that we get so much bloody exposure to them.

I actually had an incident somewhat like this happen to me about 12 months ago. I was crossing on the pedestrian part at a set of traffic lights to join up with a shared path on the other side of the road, and a guy in a 4WD (oh why is it always a 4WD) coming the other way wanted to turn right across my path. Apparently he had a red arrow for the first little while, due to the pedestrian lights being green, so he waited as he should. But after a few seconds his red arrow went away (no green arrow here I should mention, just the red turns off after a while), and immediately I hear this engine absolutely roar! Like crazy fast, this guy is on a serious mission to get to the centre of the road and cut me off on the crossing. Basically he wants to make sure he passes ahead of me on the crossing instead of behind me, and presumably (in his small mind) to teach me a lesson in the progress. The problem was that I was almost across (to the centre median strip) by then, so no matter how fast he took off he really couldn't cut me off. It didn't stop him though, he had to go over the median strip and come within about a cm of taking out the traffic lights to do it, but this genius managed to cut me off and nearly run into me. Frickin' unbelievable!

Interesting theory and it also fits with the attitude afterwards + your own experience. Could we coin it another version of MGIF? or some kind of MGIF + Punishment Pass (PP)

I had a theory that his mind set said to turn left to go past and instead of changing that avoidance as the pedestrian moved over, his mind set continued with the left solution. Yours is a better analysis.

[Mulger bill]

Can’t comment on whether it was a poor choice of route or not but none of he other cars had the slightest difficulty in safely passing you. In my opinion, the actions of the van driver were deliberate and premeditated.

THIS! A hundred times, in letters ten foot high!

Submit just as shown here, let plod see that it wasn't anyone else bar that one twatwaffle.

[trailgumby]

I was "taking the lane" at that time. The Magnamail executive thought it would be a good idea to teach me a lesson.

Let me guess, the police still treated it as just an unfortunate "accident". Am I correct?

Yes, you are. The guy did a runner but was caught by an off-duty cop who saw it unfold.

Unfortunately he tagged it as him having hit me while leaving the lane. 3 points for neg driving and 3 points for fail to stop and render insurance particulars.

The reality was he pulled up really close (like 30cm close) and then swerved left into me. I'll spare you the gory details of how the split second afterwards unfolded but I'll just say the paint on my bar end plus the guy's admission he saw me go down (in other words he was watching me the whole frigging time as he pulled the stunt) wasn't enough to join the dots that it was done with intent.

I don't use bar ends any more. I don't recommend anyone else does either.

[uart]

The reality was he pulled up really close (like 30cm close) and then swerved left into me.

I'd love to see a law introduced where say, if on the balance of probability that it was a punishment pass or a deliberate action where a cyclist or ped was injured, then it would be treated as assault with a deadly weapon. Wishful thinking I know.

[biker jk]

I'm glad she was gaoled.

Widow gets 16 months for hit-run after long lunch at Peninsula winery

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/widow ... 4yzai.html