Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

chuckchunder wrote:as an oncoming vehicle passed me the other day I noticed the driver had a newspaper open across the steering wheel to read on his way to work..........

Unfortunately, this tool is likely to have some innocents alongside when he collects his Darwin Award

chuckchunder wrote:as an oncoming vehicle passed me the other day I noticed the driver had a newspaper open across the steering wheel to read on his way to work..........

Was most likely firmly engrossed in an article about renegade cyclists flaunting road rules and riding in an unsafe manner.

...

Mulger bill wrote:...

Why hide the plate? This tool deserves to be outed.

I gave the toolette in question the WTH look and a not so sotto voce "Yergoddabejokin'!" as I walked past and was treated with total ignore.
Was kinda hoping the local Plod would cruise by...

Whisky
Charlie
Echo
Niner
Fower
Tree

Mulger bill wrote:...

Candidate for a thickshake poured over the windscreen & bonnet and left to dry for a couple of hours. Sheer laziness with that park.

Was coming up to this this intersection today: http://goo.gl/maps/thKvy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and am wondering how you guys would have acted.

I notice there's a big Merc 4wd and another car coming beyond me. The road is coarsely paved but there's a bit of bitumen on the left side (~50m long) that I move to to let these cars easily overtake should they choose too. I'm going about 45 km/h at this stage up to turn left. The Merc chooses not to overtake me and the extra bit of bitumen is ending so I signal that I'm going to move back into the side of the lane. A few cars are moving out of the intersection as I'm about to turn left when I realise the Merc has decided to floor it, just to overtake me at the last minute. Really dangerous move.

I had two choices. Slam on the breaks and smash into his rear (dangerous because if I fell, I'd be under his wheel as he decides to turn left) or swerve onto the grass and hope to stick the landing. I decide to swerve onto the grass and manage to clip out just in time before falling into a creek. Was insanely lucky.

Moments like these makes me wish I had a gopro. It really just bothers me that I'm capable of riding 8 kilo's of metal on two wheels safer than someone inside two and half tonnes of german engineering, sitting on four wheels.

Big_Red wrote:Candidate for a thickshake poured over the windscreen & bonnet and left to dry for a couple of hours. Sheer laziness with that park.

I would disagree with that one, that isn't just someone who is lazy, they have parked dead centre between 2 poles over 2 parks so no one can park beside them, they have done it so noone can open a door into them or something.
It is bloody inconsiderate though.

Big_Red wrote:

Mulger bill wrote:...

Candidate for a thickshake poured over the windscreen & bonnet and left to dry for a couple of hours. Sheer laziness with that park.

Nah, egg.
ruins the paintwork when it dries if left long enough

hannos wrote:Nah, egg.
ruins the paintwork when it dries if left long enough

actually, I'd look at doing something like this:

PB12IN wrote:

Big_Red wrote:Candidate for a thickshake poured over the windscreen & bonnet and left to dry for a couple of hours. Sheer laziness with that park.

I would disagree with that one, that isn't just someone who is lazy, they have parked dead centre between 2 poles over 2 parks so no one can park beside them, they have done it so noone can open a door into them or something.
It is bloody inconsiderate though.

Perhaps they had a very good reason for parking like that, but to even contemplate that would mean assigning basic human qualities to a motorist and that would never do would it.

I simply cannot find words that would be acceptable on this forum to respond to those who advocate damaging the car.

I simply cannot find words that would be acceptable on this forum to respond to those who advocate damaging the car.

I'm firmly in the "mess up their car" camp. People do dumb stuff like this because they assume no-one will do anything about it. Ideal solution... I'd "sqeeze" my car in beside. It wouldn't fit but hey, there's room for two cars there, right? I could act all surprised and indignant when my paint and body-work got damaged...

Hmmm. No, I'd probably not (above paragraph may be the result of a bad morning...), but I'd certainly hassle the driver if I saw them, or leave a "nice" sign for them. Maybe in permanent marker across their windscreen.

@blkmcs: Sure they had a good reason. It was "F#@k everyone else, I'm more important". Notice the type of car?

Dent.

DentedHead wrote:@blkmcs: Sure they had a good reason. It was "F#@k everyone else, I'm more important". Notice the type of car?

Dent.

This. No other reason than to avoid carpark knocks.

I will admit that thoughts of vigilante action did enter my head, fortunately for her I wasn't equipped with eggs, nails, a permanent marker or brake fluid.

Mulger bill wrote:

DentedHead wrote:@blkmcs: Sure they had a good reason. It was "F#@k everyone else, I'm more important". Notice the type of car?

Dent.

This. No other reason than to avoid carpark knocks.

I will admit that thoughts of vigilante action did enter my head, fortunately for her I wasn't equipped with eggs, nails, a permanent marker or brake fluid.

and you know that is the reason because you asked the driver why she had parked there?

No that would be too easy and if she gave a good reason then that would ruin another chance to generate hate against a motorist.

blkmcs wrote:I simply cannot find words that would be acceptable on this forum to respond to those who advocate damaging the car.

+ 1000,000.

In 1999 I purchased a ten year old Ford Fairlane Ghia, and while it was ten year old it was the nicest most comfortable car I had ever been able to afford to buy, even though there was still $12,000. dollars + interest to pay off.

While the car had been detailed by the car yard, I spent hours re-detailing and polishing it until it looked a million dollars.

The very first time I parked it in the Fountain Gate shopping centre car park some lowlife who obviously was dirty on anyone that could afford to drive such a car, not only used their car door to put two dints in the passenger door, but also keyed the whole length of the car on that side.

It absolutely destroyed me at the time.

While it is selfish, to a certain extent I sympathise with the driver for parking their car in such a manner in an effort to try and stop it from being damaged by a carelessly opened car door.

Her choice of transport was irrelevant, she is an inconsiderate ratbag thinking only of herself. I loathe these people of any ilk.
The fact that I was totally ignored when I spoke up as she was just leaving the vehicle speaks volumes.

Anyway, YOU think of a reasonable excuse for doing such...

i used to have a job involving road testing new cars (the road testing wasn't really my job, but it got to 'help out'). i was generally pretty careful about where i parked them, etc., but one night i parked (legally) at the video store to return a DVD. 3 minutes at the most. keyed. after a few years of driving other people's flash new cars around, i decided it wasn't worth the trouble spending my own money on one.

Parking selfishly to protect paintwork is not a "good reason". Car parks are largely public places. If you don't want to risk your precious paint, don't park in public car parks. I'm not defending the tools who "door" other cars out of laziness or lack of consideration, I'm saying parking like the pictured tool is just as bad. If I could get the message across without damaging the car, I would (like having a go at the driver face to face if possible). Failing that, the permanent marker/windscreen message would be my favoured approach, as it would let me give the reason for the "vandalism", rather than the driver attributing it to some random dero-isim. Something like:

"Don't park like an arrogant ass-hat. This message replaces the key-scraping I would have preferred to leave."


Dent.

Mulger bill wrote:Her choice of transport was irrelevant, she is an inconsiderate ratbag thinking only of herself. I loathe these people of any ilk.
The fact that I was totally ignored when I spoke up as she was just leaving the vehicle speaks volumes.

Anyway, YOU think of a reasonable excuse for doing such...

My first thought on seeing the photo was that maybe she was collecting someone who was in a wheelchair and she needed to ensure that the car doors could open wide enough to get that person out of the chair and into the car.

greyhoundtom wrote:

blkmcs wrote:I simply cannot find words that would be acceptable on this forum to respond to those who advocate damaging the car.

+ 1000,000.

In 1999 I purchased a ten year old Ford Fairlane Ghia, and while it was ten year old it was the nicest most comfortable car I had ever been able to afford to buy, even though there was still $12,000. dollars + interest to pay off.

While the car had been detailed by the car yard, I spent hours re-detailing and polishing it until it looked a million dollars.

The very first time I parked it in the Fountain Gate shopping centre car park some lowlife who obviously was dirty on anyone that could afford to drive such a car, not only used their car door to put two dints in the passenger door, but also keyed the whole length of the car on that side.

It absolutely destroyed me at the time.

While it is selfish, to a certain extent I sympathise with the driver for parking their car in such a manner in an effort to try and stop it from being damaged by a carelessly opened car door.

I bought a new car last year, so when I park in public car parks I park further away from the entrance, a bit of a less chance of a noob parking next to you.

Wouldn't it be great if we all parked in the middle?

There is not any reason that , that sort of parking is acceptable....

Oh wait, yes there is.... IF THEY ARE BLIND or could I also say maybe blonde it might be ok.

Cheers


Cheers

blkmcs wrote:My first thought on seeing the photo was that maybe she was collecting someone who was in a wheelchair and she needed to ensure that the car doors could open wide enough to get that person out of the chair and into the car.

Which is what disabled parks are for, and is why they're often wider. I'll admit I may be wrong, but to me, that parking was ass-hattery at it's finest. Nothing more. While I'm making assumptions, they're assumptions based on experience, and the only person able to sway my opinion here would be the driver herself.


Dent.

I can't believe the talk of vigilante vandalism against this person just because they took up two car spots. Yes it was thoughtless and possibly inconvenienced a person or two, so what? It's not a crime, they didn't hurt anyone, the world isn't going to end.

How would you like it if someone trashed your bike because you lent it on the window of the coffee shop so you could see it while having coffee, rather than put it in the bike rack? You would be down at the police station in an instant wanting retribution, how is this different??

It's someone elses personal property that they have worked hard to buy. Seems like some people are jealous because someone else has a nicer vehicle than them (BMW X5 is it?). Do you vandalise someone elses top of the range Colango or Cervelo because you can only afford a 10yo steel frame bike ?

PB12IN wrote:

Big_Red wrote:Candidate for a thickshake poured over the windscreen & bonnet and left to dry for a couple of hours. Sheer laziness with that park.

I would disagree with that one, that isn't just someone who is lazy, they have parked dead centre between 2 poles over 2 parks so no one can park beside them, they have done it so noone can open a door into them or something.
It is bloody inconsiderate though.

Thickshake because it isn't permanent but makes it abundantly clear the driver is being a tool

Ross wrote:How would you like it if someone trashed your bike because you lent it on the window of the coffee shop so you could see it while having coffee

Which is one of the minor reasons that I have and use a kickstand.

In this world there are considerate citizens and inconsiderate cocks. Guess which one she is??

@Ross: You've obviously never tried to find a car park here in Ballarat.

As I said, my preferred responses would avoid permanently damage the car, but I would give the driver a serving, or write a message on the windscreen. Neither approach would damage the car (permanent marker is easy to remove from glass). This type of parking is indicative of pure, selfish, self-minded arrogance, which is encouraged when it is free of consequence. It's not a matter of jealousy. All I saw was an SUV parked like it's owner was the only driver in the world. I can't generally tell a ford from a hyundai, and didn't realize it was an expensive one. I don't care if people drive expensive cars, I just want them to realize others use the roads/car parks too. This twat didn't. It's the blatant display of a "F@_k you Jack, I'm more important" attitude that gets my back up.

Oddly, I see this type of behaviour more often when I'm driving than when riding. Maybe drivers instinctively moderate their driving when near the "weirdo on the recumbent trike".

And, no, I wouldn't "trash" someones ride simply because it was more expensive than mine. Given I ride home-built trikes and drive a 3rd hand daewoo wagon, I'd have to trash damn near everyone's ride were that the case. I do try to ensure that this kind of douche-baggery has some consequence, even if only minor.

Incidentally, I'd call out a cyclist behaving like an entitled douche-bag too. I just haven't actually seen one yet.

Dent.