Enough is enough

[eldavo]

Poor bloke, I was trying to find whether the court case proceeded, couldn't, but saw it was four years after this interview mentioning earlier life breakdown:

http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimens ... 611350.htm

[moosterbounce]

Not sure if this is an appropriate place for this question or not, but does Barbagallo Raceway or whatever it's called ever get used for cycling? Could it be used to keep some of the larger bunches off the paths and give them a lengthy course but remain away from traffic?

Obviously, this is pretty far north and most comments here refer to psp south, but would people travel? It wouldn't remove the "hoon commuters" though, but like car track days, may give an outlet.

Just a thought.

[herzog]

Would get pretty monotonous though wouldn't it?

[RobertFrith]

Not sure there's an up to scratch café strip handy either

[Marty Moose]

Not sure there's an up to scratch café strip handy either

Cool down ride to Joondalup!!!!!!!

Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk 2

[Graeme H]

does Barbagallo Raceway or whatever it's called ever get used for cycling?

Occasionally:
http://www.wa.cycling.org.au/event.asp?ID=3264

The circuit is pretty heavily booked, so it couldn't just be opened up for spontaneous recreational use.

[Thoglette]

Would get pretty monotonous though wouldn't it?

Having run in motors there (1 hr at 5,000 rpm, 1 hr at 6,000 etc to 11,000) I can categorically say: yes

But it'd be good for the climbing legs - it's not very flat.

[twizzle]

Poor bloke, I was trying to find whether the court case proceeded, couldn't, but saw it was four years after this interview mentioning earlier life breakdown:

http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimens ... 611350.htm

That's bloody sad.

[stealthbike]

Mrs Stealthbike commutes to work every day on an e-bike. She wears safety clothing and always rides defensively. She sent me the following message this morning:

I had a beef with three guys this morning. The first two, I could hear talking together when they approached. As they were passing me, two abreast I called out, “single line when passing”.

They turned round and told me to. “shut the f… up”.
I then shouted back is was against the law and dangerous.

They then turned and gave me the same.

Finally, I shouted you are making it dangerous for other riders.

Same reply.

I then shouted (but they were out of ear shot by this stage) you wan…..s? I lost it!!! Unfortunately I said it as someone else was passing by.

Anyway, don’t be surprised if I get knocked off my bike on the way home.

What hope is there for any semblance of safe riding to work when such hoons abound?
How do we get get behaviours to change? Someone has to do something. The police will not, the Minister of Police will not, the bicycle associations and lobby groups will not. Will we eventually get vigilantes meting out their own justice?

[Howzat]

the bicycle associations and lobby groups will not.

One would hope they might be willing to take this on, as aggressive riders like the ones that hassled your wife effectively work against the interests cycling lobby groups and bike clubs/associations.

[eldavo]

Idiotic behaviour lies in the vacuum between the ears, not attached to the vehicle or lack of, so "giving cyclists a bad name" doesn't add up when I see similar stupidity by pedestrians, joggers, prams, dogs, kids, scooters, motorcycles, cars, 4WD's, trucks, buses... (are trains and planes exempt?)

I had a grown male adult pedestrian play head on chicken last night on way home, female walking with him laughing trying to pull him away from my side of path after I range bell once for alert, once for 'seriously?' I had removed my sunglasses to enjoy the glowing cloudy sky sunset and he was looking me in the eye the whole time and pulling away from her to stay in my path... on a 'shared path'.

[CycleSnail]

the bicycle associations and lobby groups will not.

One would hope they might be willing to take this on, as aggressive riders like the ones that hassled your wife effectively work against the interests cycling lobby groups and bike clubs/associations.

WARNING: RANT

If you want cycling lobby groups to act (on your behalf) the commuting bicycle riders might have to join and support them. To lobby for cycling means not only following and contributing to forums (preaching to the converted), but also writing letters, do research, attend numerous meetings, work with politicians at state and local levels, work with government departments and so on. None of it sexy, all of it time consuming, none of it funded. There are about 11000 people cycling into the CBD, but cycling organisations that do not organise rides suffer sharply declining numbers and are struggling to maintain membership in the mid-hundreds.

RANT finished

I know work is being done on to get a "share the road" campaign off the ground - this should include "share the path" campaign, (or perhaps just a "share" campaign). The issues of sharing the road with cars are differnt from sharing paths with cyclists, the difference starts with impact energy (85kg cyclist at 15kmh compared to 1500kg vehicle at 60kmh : the second has an impact energy about 282 times higher).

In the meantime there is an election coming up. Getting about $35mio to $50mio per year into cycling would help to finish the PSP network, and start funding separation of pedestians and cyclists on the heaviest used routes. Talk to your local candidates and make sure that they understand that funding cycling is more cost effective than any other transport investment (Benefit to cost ratio 3.4 to 1 compared to 1.8 to 1 for public transport and less than 1 to 1 for roads). If the MAX rail network can justify $1.8bio to move 25000 people per day by 2020, for a fraction of that (about 10%) we can complete the PSP network and get the same amount of people safely cycling into the CBD, not only reducing congestion but also providing health and environmental benefits.

None of the major parties have committed to any direct funding for cycling for the next term of government! Time for every one of the 11000 commuting cyclists (and the 500'000 people who used a bicycle last week in WA) to ask their local candidates questions ....

Here is what the Bicycle Transport Alliance is suggesting

[eldavo]

RANT finished

The issues of sharing the road with cars are differnt from sharing paths with cyclists, the difference starts with impact energy (85kg cyclist at 15kmh compared to 1500kg vehicle at 60kmh : the second has an impact energy about 282 times higher).

With the quadraplegic example earlier, and to the topic of this thread of 2+ abreast riding, head on collision of two human bodies + bikes <100kg each at closing impact speed of 50kph+ when each doing a leisurely top speed cruise pace of 25kph each... and more like 30kph for leisurely cruise top speed by most roadies.

A 6kph pedestrian would be lucky to find a bad passing cyclist hitting them at 20kph, Colin's anecdotes of close shaves sound like everyone trying to cut by as fast as possible in the 30kph+ realm.

That info of big election promise of mega public transport investment contrasts terribly with the ignored cycle infrastructure.

[Thoglette]

WARNING: RANT

In a nut shell: Join the BTA.

Membership includes insurance should you (or your family) scratch someone's expensive motorised toy*. That alone is reason enough to join. Hell knows that's why I joined - existing insurance company's attitudes to damage-to-others-outside-the-home was awful.

One late-model-Lexus (or Golf) run-in and I'm paid-back for life!

*someone just scratched (and I mean scratched) Mrs Thoglette's front bumper**. First repair quote was for $800. That's nigh-on-a-decade of BTA membership.

** Her car's bumper. Minds out of the gutter please!

[CycleSnail]

WARNING: RANT

In a nut shell: Join the BTA.

Membership includes insurance should you (or your family) scratch someone's expensive motorised toy*. That alone is reason enough to join. Hell knows that's why I joined - existing insurance company's attitudes to damage-to-others-outside-the-home was awful.

One late-model-Lexus (or Golf) run-in and I'm paid-back for life!

*someone just scratched (and I mean scratched) Mrs Thoglette's front bumper**. First repair quote was for $800. That's nigh-on-a-decade of BTA membership.

** Her car's bumper. Minds out of the gutter please!

Thanks for your support!!!

(We really need a "like" button for this forum, there are often comments that I want to support, but quoting the whole thing and adding "+1" creates unnecessary lengthy consversation streams)

[Aushiker]

I posted this video in the silly cyclist thread but think it also relates to this discussion ... stupid riding is not confined to the lycra riders and/or groups ... It is hard to see on the video but this rider was putting in a hell of a lot of effort: either for the hill climb to come or to try and beat the other two riders who I suspect had no connection to him.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4TXJVGS150&hd=1[/youtube]

This "incident" occurred at bottom of the southern decent into Scarborough Beach on the Recreational Shared Path (RSP). It is a quick decent and I was on the brakes as sometimes there are pedestrians and/or pedestrians with dogs and/or sand on the path.

What I was not expecting was a cyclist pulling a passing move on a blind corner.

I managed to squeeze pass without getting on to the grass, but it was close.

Not sure if the guy was racing the other riders or going full out for the hill, either way pretty stupid on a recreational shared path and more so for this area.

Andrew

[stealthbike]

In a nut shell: Join the BTA.

I am a member of BWA, which also includes insurance. I don't think it is necessary to join multiple organisations. Perhaps part of the problem of low membership is that there are too many organisations that basically are attempting to achieve the same outcomes?
I do write to and phone police and politicians and local councils. I have also spoken directly with Jeremey Murray from BWA, so I believe I do more than the average cyclist to bring about change.
My point is that, irrespective of who is currently doing what, the situation is unsatisfactory and not changing. In fact as more and more people take up cycling (a good thing), more and more danger is occurring (a bad thing).

I am thinking about direct action. By this I mean, I may make up signs and leaflets and position myself near the PSP, to draw attention to erring cyclists - maybe even invite the media for publicity.
The definition of madness: keep doing the same things and expecting a different result.