Moron Motorists #3

[jules21]

the campervan was towing a jetski. you're dealing with someone who is a specialist in being dangerous and inconsiderate. as much as i dislike close passes, you have to admire a professional in their field of expertise.

Yep, all jetski riders are maniacs.
All cyclists run red lights.

all comments are meant to be taken literally

[AKO]

the campervan was towing a jetski. you're dealing with someone who is a specialist in being dangerous and inconsiderate. as much as i dislike close passes, you have to admire a professional in their field of expertise.

Yep, all jetski riders are maniacs.
All cyclists run red lights.

all comments are meant to be taken literally

When written that way there is no other way to take it. A may have helped. Just an observation.

[FuzzyDropbear]

Didn't have the camera on because I rode the Anthem in today.

I'd like to thank Crawford's Pharmacy for deciding that it was important to lane split with me through a dual lane roundabout while I was in the left wheel track doing approx 30 - 35 km/hr (same speed as traffic usually). There was no other traffic so they could've changed lanes, but nope, too much hassle for their employees, they'd rather shave a cyclist. Far out that was close.... Oh well, hopefully I have better luck tonight.

Looks like I won't be shopping there anymore.

[biker jk]

An estimated 150,000 unlicensed drivers in NSW and a parliamentary committee's response is to reduce penalties.

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/P ... report.pdf

[Lukeyboy]

Came across this moron in the truck with a woodchipper on the back. Blocked both the inbound lanes with cars using the bike lane/road he came off to get past. Traffic banked up as a result. Cars and trucks waiting were beeping there horn and the driver was getting pissed off as the outbound peak hour traffic kept on coming



What made it even funnier was that it could have been avoided if he had just used the bit of road before and then merged into the turn right lane (the road he came off was a left turn only )

[wellington_street]

An estimated 150,000 unlicensed drivers in NSW and a parliamentary committee's response is to reduce penalties.

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/P ... report.pdf

Just more examples of the attitude of driving being a right and not a privilege that you only get if you do it safely and legally.

That said, this is the major issue imo:

Stakeholders also highlighted that long disqualification periods do not necessarily act as a
deterrent to re-offending, with studies demonstrating that a number of unauthorised drivers
continue to drive.

Bit pointless having suspensions/disqualifications if drivers continue to drive anyway. Needs to be enforced.

[wellington_street]

Came across this moron in the truck with a woodchipper on the back. Blocked both the inbound lanes with cars using the bike lane/road he came off to get past. Traffic banked up as a result. Cars and trucks waiting were beeping there horn and the driver was getting pissed off as the outbound peak hour traffic kept on coming

He disobeyed this sign, evidently:
http://goo.gl/maps/6eUlV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lukeyboy]

Came across this moron in the truck with a woodchipper on the back. Blocked both the inbound lanes with cars using the bike lane/road he came off to get past. Traffic banked up as a result. Cars and trucks waiting were beeping there horn and the driver was getting pissed off as the outbound peak hour traffic kept on coming

He disobeyed this sign, evidently:
http://goo.gl/maps/6eUlV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Easy to do. I mean. Look how small it is. You can barely make out that squiggly line.

[BianchiCam]

(AT) W Street.

Yep the first one with the driver on a phone is a 'bike lane' not too bad for a crappy hard shoulder coming down Mt Martha Hill.
The garbage truck had a lane next to him with no traffic. Was just a lazy pass that was totally unnecessary.

Cheers,

Cam

[iaintas]

I was almost doored today riding home, but thanks to useful comments on here about lane claiming and giving myself enough room beside parked cars i was able to avoid it. was a wake up call to both me and the passenger in the back seat. Am yet to set up my camera so don't have the footage.

[trailgumby]

You lived to tell the tale. I for one am pleased about that, camera footage is a nice to have.

Sent from my android thingy using Crapatalk

[BianchiCam]

Speaking of which, something from today..

[jasonc]

Speaking of which, something from today..

worth reporting the second one? that looked seriously close at that speed

[jules21]

that's some seriously bad driving.

[il padrone]

It's outer fringe Mornington Peninsula, not a place reknowned for cyclist awareness and consideration. And the troublesome ones are plumbers vans and tradie Hiluxes with trailers, and a smattering of the foolish Fangios. All of which is a feature of the road environment in such areas. The rural-urban fringe never has been a pleasant place to ride.

[jasonc]

It's outer fringe Mornington Peninsula, not a place reknowned for cyclist awareness and consideration. And the troublesome ones are plumbers vans and tradie Hiluxes with trailers, and a smattering of the foolish Fangios. All of which is a feature of the road environment in such areas. The rural-urban fringe never has been a pleasant place to ride.

it's unfortunate as there's some great undulating roads around there

[BianchiCam]

On the most part, the Peninsula is actually ok. Reasonable bike lanes but they are more in the beach road areas. I do a loop of 80km through the hills and have little trouble. Unfortunately, for every 50 decent drivers, it only takes 1 or 2 nobbies to make life unpleasant. If you could get a result for unsafe passes, the cops would have their hands full. Does it take getting killed or seriously injured before action is taken in this country?

Ride safe,

Cam

[find_bruce]

Does it take getting killed or seriously injured before action is taken in this country?

Sadly, no, not even then

[il padrone]

it's unfortunate as there's some great undulating roads around there

Riding the main roads on the rural-urban fringe could be equated to the 'champagne cork'. Inside the bottle (the urban area) things are not too bad, if a bit high pressure. Outside the bottle (the countryside) it's mostly good, but get near the cork (the fringe) and you'd better be ready to jump.

The minor roads and backtracks in the rural-urban fringe tend to be much better for riding eg. the roads up in the hills at Red Hill and Main Ridge, and around the back of Mt Martha towards Balnarring and Shoreham.

[trailgumby]

Speaking of which, something from today..

... Vid snipped ...

worth reporting the second one? that looked seriously close at that speed

NO laws broken. Bike was in bike lane (or zone if unsigned), car was in lane.

Pathetic? Yes. But that's the current state of the road rules, even if juries were inclined to enforce them. It's why we need a 1-1.5m passing rule.

[myforwik]

Speaking of which, something from today..

... Vid snipped ...

worth reporting the second one? that looked seriously close at that speed

NO laws broken. Bike was in bike lane (or zone if unsigned), car was in lane.

Pathetic? Yes. But that's the current state of the road rules, even if juries were inclined to enforce them. It's why we need a 1-1.5m passing rule.

Even if there was a passing rule, it would almost certainly not apply to a cyclist in a second lane of traffic, or in the shoulder.

The absolute best thing they could do for safety, that is cheap and easy, is paint a green line down the middle of every single lane on every road. Road painting is surprisingly cheap. Make every single road clearly show cyclist over take width. This could be done slowly over the next 10 years as lane markings are updated and re-painted. It would be simple and clear cut if a driver was over the line or not.

[il padrone]

The absolute best thing they could do for safety, that is cheap and easy, is paint a green line down the middle of every single lane on every road. Road painting is surprisingly cheap. Make every single road clearly show cyclist over take width.

And this green line would indicate what? Where a cyclist should be riding I guess

Because I don't regard a half a lane as anything like the sort of space required for safe overtaking. If drivers can manage to change lanes to overtake a slow car or truck, then they can damn well do the same for a cyclist. The half-lane, close-shave, lane-splitting, buzz-by is a misguided and unsafe technique that Australian drivers seem to have adopted, partly because cyclists in the past have been in such small numbers and lacking in road confidence that we did not claim the lane. This set in train a pattern of behaviour by default. It rarely ever happened to us in Italy. Only the drivers of certain German luxury cars tended to do it.

Ride wider and persuade the bludgers to overtake safely - in the next lane

[leighthebee]

Poor form by the QPS. Robbie McEwen tweeted this picture to them earlier today:

Just goes to show you can't please everyone. There more than likely because of traffic complaints or previous incidents...

Of all people, surely Robbie could avoid this brief obstacle in his daily ride. Especially when it's presence is of direct benefit to his safety.....

[Ross]

Just goes to show you can't please everyone. There more than likely because of traffic complaints or previous incidents...

Of all people, surely Robbie could avoid this brief obstacle in his daily ride. Especially when it's presence is of direct benefit to his safety.....

I saw that tweet by Robbie too. He had a good reply to someone else that had a similar comment

"so according to your logic it is ok for cyclists to rack their bikes in the middle of the road….cars can go around"

[biker jk]

Some of the comments that I have just read suggest to me that they were not made by cyclists who cycle regularly on the road. Perhaps you should remain quiet if ignorant about this type of cycling.