The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

User avatar
wizardhat
Posts: 176
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:25 pm

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby wizardhat » Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:55 am

Bah77 wrote:A couple of minor ones today.

Something that can be annoying, someone salmons past me and another rider, only to immediately sit up, wouldnt have been as annoying (as slight as it was) if he kept going.
I really hate that intersection, either someone does what they did to you, or if I'm powering up the hill they trundle on out nice and slow and force me to slow down, or if I'm coming in the other direction they pull out at a stupid moment and I have to haul on the brakes.

Or! It's a pedestrian walking down that side of the bridge.

Grr.
Image

User avatar
jules21
Posts: 10555
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:14 pm
Location: deep in the pain cave

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby jules21 » Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:41 am

idiot in a business suit cycling on flinders st, salmoning and crossing william st against the lights. he didn't look much like a cyclist and good on him for ponying up, but that car taking evasive action and leaning on the horn should have been a clue as to why your defiance of every applicable road rule in that circumstance was a dumb idea.

Baalzamon
Posts: 5470
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:23 pm
Location: Yangebup

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Baalzamon » Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:08 pm

I was on the Kwinana Fwy PSP just before Mt Henry bridge and after Cranford Ave there is a more of a narrower section of the PSP which I always take it easy as today proved why.
See in the distance a ped walking a dog and on the other side a ped but right on the side of the path. Pinged my bell and just as I did that the dog decides it has found a smell it likes on the other side of the path.
LEASH
Hit the brakes
By the time I stopped my arms had just made contact with it. Hate to think what would have happened even if I hit that leash doing 5kph. :shock:

I think the ped will be keeping that leash locked down now.
Masi Speciale CX 2008 - Brooks B17 special saddle, Garmin Edge 810
Image

jasonc
Posts: 12170
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:40 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby jasonc » Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:58 pm

had a doozie this afternoon.
on the way home going over the jindalee bridge. you come down the hill from fig tree pocket, so you're going quick. the bike part of the bridge is very narrow. I had a bloke behind me, it was greasy as there had been drizzle.so i get down the bottom of the hill and start crossing the bridge and there's a bike rider in front of me, travelling in the same direction, on the wrong side doing about 10km/h with a cyclist coming straight towards him (remember i had one behind me too). NFI what he was doing but I remember him we keep left in Australia. If I wasn't attentive, there would have been a nice 4 bike pile up. as soon as I saw the guy i was yell stopping to the guy behind me as I had no idea what he'd do.

User avatar
Dragster1
Posts: 1540
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:46 pm
Location: Eluding motorist

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Dragster1 » Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:49 pm

jasonc wrote:had a doozie this afternoon.
on the way home going over the jindalee bridge. you come down the hill from fig tree pocket, so you're going quick. the bike part of the bridge is very narrow. I had a bloke behind me, it was greasy as there had been drizzle.so i get down the bottom of the hill and start crossing the bridge and there's a bike rider in front of me, travelling in the same direction, on the wrong side doing about 10km/h with a cyclist coming straight towards him (remember i had one behind me too). NFI what he was doing but I remember him we keep left in Australia. If I wasn't attentive, there would have been a nice 4 bike pile up. as soon as I saw the guy i was yell stopping to the guy behind me as I had no idea what he'd do.
That bridge is really narrow, I've had few close calls on that one also. A bloke with two dogs just decided to walk out in front of me from fig tree pocket entrance at the bottom. I often wonder if a lot of cyclist are from over seas as they seem to ride on the right hand side ???. I even play chicken with some of them and they look at you funny :twisted:

jasonc
Posts: 12170
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:40 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby jasonc » Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:00 pm

Dragster1 wrote:That bridge is really narrow, I've had few close calls on that one also.
if i see that guy again on the bridge he'll be swimming

User avatar
trailgumby
Posts: 15469
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:30 pm
Location: Northern Beaches, Sydney
Contact:

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby trailgumby » Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:23 pm

There was a guy with one of those pedal assisted electric motor scooters *and* a trailer trying unsuccessfully to push his unregistered contraption up the harbour bridge steps/ramp this evening.

He got 2 flights up and didn't have the strength to go any further because of the weight.

I gave him a serve for trying to ride a motorbike on the cycleway and he was getting short shrift from everyone else as well. "Why won't anyone help me?"

Sent from my android thingy using Crapatalk

MisuVir
Posts: 167
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:40 pm
Location: Adelaide

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby MisuVir » Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:40 am

Almost witnessed the end of a temporary cyclist this morning. The bus I was on had slowed and stopped behind a car turning left (stopped to give way to pedestrians). I noticed the cyclist coming up in the bike lane on the left side of the bus... and he cut between the car and in front of the bus just as we both started moving forward again. Bus driver had to jump on the brakes to avoid flattening him.

Poor decision making by the cyclist. He should have slowed down slightly and waited while the car turned left. Instead, he cut in front of a bus. Unnecessarily risking your life just to avoid a few seconds of slow down...?

WarbyD
Posts: 527
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:13 pm

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby WarbyD » Thu Feb 06, 2014 10:57 am

Dumb cyclist was me this morning.. TWICE!!

First, exiting the Kwinana freeway PSP at the mount st overpass, another cyclist sitting right by the exit (for those that know this spot you will probably agree not the smartest place to be sitting.. but not a big deal) so I went a little wider than usual - too wide, put front wheel into the dirt and then rather than simply unclipping and pushing the bike out for some reason tried to muscle the bike out of the dirt.. result: Clipstack into the dirt :P Had to laugh.. My first clipstack, at least it was into a garden bed rather than into a car!!

Second, only a few minutes after the above.. Filtering between cars up to the Mount St/St George's Tce intersection (only a couple of cars.. left lane going straight, right lane turning) and I misjudged slightly, bumped the mirror of one of the cars.. Stopped immediately to apologise to the driver who was perfectly gracious about it and not at all bothered, no harm no foul (no damage to anything, just had to flick the mirror back into postiion).. Ended up deciding to go down the footpath instead anyway as traffic was building up on the other side of the intersection and I didn't like the idea of being sat in the middle of a relatively busy intersection with traffic going in both directions past me so the whole thing was COMPLETELY unnecessary and just plain silly on my part!!

Add to the above my rear cassette skipping through middle range resulting in me having to mash away in top gear pretty much the whole way in and today was "just one of those days" I think!!!

User avatar
InTheWoods
Posts: 1900
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:34 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby InTheWoods » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:11 am

Me today too.

Get to end of my driveway. No brakes!!!

Had forgotten to hook them back up after washing it last night having cycled home in the rain.

MisuVir
Posts: 167
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:40 pm
Location: Adelaide

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby MisuVir » Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:06 pm

InTheWoods wrote:Had forgotten to hook them back up after washing it last night having cycled home in the rain.
Hehe, yeah. I've gotten into the habit of checking my brakes, tyres, and panniers every time before I mount up.

User avatar
Lizzy
Posts: 888
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:04 pm
Location: Wild West

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Lizzy » Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:47 pm

Me this morning - heading down from the Loftus overpass, at the t-junction onto the dreaded City West path, I was forced into a choice between signal and brake, chose brake. Right at that moment someone felt the need to overtake me on the right and then turn left, just as I push off again to turn right. No contact but a bit of an oh-showtime moment ... :oops: :x
“Lexa”: 2012 Trek Lexa S; "Hannelore": 2019 Kalkhoff, "Teal Cecile" Reid traino shuttle

wellington_street
Posts: 1791
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:25 pm

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby wellington_street » Thu Feb 06, 2014 1:46 pm

Lizzy wrote:Me this morning - heading down from the Loftus overpass, at the t-junction onto the dreaded City West path, I was forced into a choice between signal and brake, chose brake. Right at that moment someone felt the need to overtake me on the right and then turn left, just as I push off again to turn right. No contact but a bit of an oh-showtime moment ... :oops: :x
Doesn't sound like you were the dumb one in this instance...

User avatar
CXCommuter
Posts: 1885
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:18 pm
Location: Lane Cove NSW

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby CXCommuter » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:13 pm

wellington_street wrote:
Lizzy wrote:Me this morning - heading down from the Loftus overpass, at the t-junction onto the dreaded City West path, I was forced into a choice between signal and brake, chose brake. Right at that moment someone felt the need to overtake me on the right and then turn left, just as I push off again to turn right. No contact but a bit of an oh-showtime moment ... :oops: :x
Doesn't sound like you were the dumb one in this instance...
Seconded there. Love this intersection I turn left towards Subiaco (against the traffic) and regularly get cyclists two/three abreast coming at me through the underpass. (BTW it wasn't me this morning I rode a different way in :roll:
Image

Andrew09
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:20 am

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Andrew09 » Thu Feb 06, 2014 4:02 pm

Whilst I was cycling the M7 cycleway here in western Sydney this morning , there was a guy riding a mountain bike on the M7 motorway itself , southbound , and he had NO helmet on. At least he was wearing a hi viz shirt. I hope he didn't make it home. Is that nasty to say that?

wellington_street
Posts: 1791
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:25 pm

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby wellington_street » Thu Feb 06, 2014 4:12 pm

Yeah that's pretty harsh. As long as he was riding safely, what's the problem?

zero
Posts: 3056
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:54 pm

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby zero » Thu Feb 06, 2014 4:34 pm

Andrew09 wrote:Whilst I was cycling the M7 cycleway here in western Sydney this morning , there was a guy riding a mountain bike on the M7 motorway itself , southbound , and he had NO helmet on. At least he was wearing a hi viz shirt. I hope he didn't make it home. Is that nasty to say that?
its a stupid thing to say, and there is little material difference in the M7s breakdown lanes and other motorways and highways breakdown lanes, and those are often marked with cycles and designated as cycleways, and during periods of maintenance of the road the M7 cycleway has been closed making the main carriageways the only route.

Since the cycleway is on one side, he may have also needed to get to an objective that the cycleway is not connected to properly.

User avatar
Dragster1
Posts: 1540
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:46 pm
Location: Eluding motorist

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Dragster1 » Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:16 pm

zero wrote:
Andrew09 wrote:Whilst I was cycling the M7 cycleway here in western Sydney this morning , there was a guy riding a mountain bike on the M7 motorway itself , southbound , and he had NO helmet on. At least he was wearing a hi viz shirt. I hope he didn't make it home. Is that nasty to say that?
its a stupid thing to say, and there is little material difference in the M7s breakdown lanes and other motorways and highways breakdown lanes, and those are often marked with cycles and designated as cycleways, and during periods of maintenance of the road the M7 cycleway has been closed making the main carriageways the only route.

Since the cycleway is on one side, he may have also needed to get to an objective that the cycleway is not connected to properly.
I personally think he still is a Ding Dong for having no helmet on in the first place. I hope he made it home with a fine for no helmet :twisted:

User avatar
antigee
Posts: 1027
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:58 am
Location: just off the Yarra Trail but not lurking in the bushes

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby antigee » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:31 pm

by Summernight » Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:09 am

To the lady riding on the footpath this morning (illegal in Victoria) on Albert Street, East Melbourne who then decided to cross on a red light and move into the dedicated bike lane that starts on the other side of the street
I met her husband/lover/boyfriend today

Undertook me stopped at Hoddle lights, rolled the red and then mashed his gears - forgiven don't care
Weaved thru the moving x traffic on the red at Albert / Powlett forgiven its your life
Ran the Ped light at Albert / Eades guess if it was your mum waiting to cross would have done same so OK
Took a phone call as passed the Cathedral and slowed to walking, from 10metres behind I rang my bell with bizarre belief I could pass - so he stopped dead in the middle of the narrow cycle path (for those not familiar its pavement/sidewalk to the left / parked cars to the right) I've ridden a lot with 6-8yr olds so I dealt with it :roll:

nezumi
Posts: 1062
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:30 pm
Location: Bundoora, Melbourne

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby nezumi » Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:48 am

Silly cyclist this morning.

I was waiting to cross Collins St at Elizabeth St (Melbourne) and a cyclist came through near the end of the light cycle, assumed that no cars would follow her, slowed abruptly and then wiggled a bit in the intersection and rode across the pedestrian crossing to cross the road, then dismounted on the opposite side and walked the bike.

Evidently she didn't see/care about the car behind her that nearly proceeded through her after she stopped in an unsafe place on the road without signalling at all.

A better move would have been to have done a proper hook turn and dismount on the far side of the road. Oh well.
2014 Merida Cyclo Cross 4
2015 Merida Scultura 5000

User avatar
InTheWoods
Posts: 1900
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:34 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby InTheWoods » Fri Feb 07, 2014 10:28 am

Rude/dumb cyclist this morning on my commute.

There is a weird intersection where the only way to legally get across it is to use the footpath and wait for the lights. I cross on the green man, as does a rider behind me. On the other side there is about 30 meters of footpath you need to ride on before getting back onto the road (I won't go into why, but trust me).

Anyway, there's a pregnant lady pushing a pram on the footpath in front of me, not moving super fast as you'd expect, and there's about 10 meters to go before we can hop of the path, out onto the road. This path is narrow, and either side of the path is a narrow, uneven grass surface on a considerable slope. I just roll along slowly about 5 meters back from her, waiting for the 10 seconds its going to take before I can safely get clear of her.

Cyclist behind me starts dinging his bell at her, ie wanting the pregnant lady pushing the pram to get off the footpath onto a narrow, sloped uneven grass surface...

User avatar
jules21
Posts: 10555
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:14 pm
Location: deep in the pain cave

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby jules21 » Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:21 am

had two noteworthy pedestrian encounters in the past 24 hours.

1. couple walking their dogs, entering shared path near dight's falls. i ding my bell and slow down a bit, although really out of courtesy as they were still 10-15m away. except that i notice their dogs are - of course - unleashed. despite slowing, the bloke yells out 'slow down!' despite me having done that and i suspect as a pre-emptive strike after i turned to look at them in frustration. so i stop for a chat. bloke says "here comes a punch on!" they were good-natured though, even though we were 'arguing' - although i only politely pointed out the requirement to leash their dogs. in the end the lady said "this is my land! yorta yorta (i think)!" so i laughed and said "well i guess you can do whatever you like then" and rode off without incident. for the record, i sympathise with her (let's not get into that) but it wasn't going to save her dog, or me.

2. two ladies on an early morning walk this morning, spread across the shared path. experience has taught me to sniff out warning signs, and this is one. i dinged my bell well in advance, and the lady on the right edged to her left, leaving enough space for me to squeeze through - but clearly making the minimum effort. as i approached at a moderate speed - 20 km/h - she outstretched her arm across my path as if to put a pullover she was holding on. i recognise this manouvre, so slid past her, only for her to let out a loud yelp in mock surprise. sorry, not buying it...

Scott_C
Posts: 934
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:49 am
Location: Perth, WA

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Scott_C » Fri Feb 07, 2014 12:39 pm

It must be spawning season as I have seen two on-road salmon in the last 24 hours, not just the corner-cutting variety, deliberate and sustained riding along the right hand edge of the road.

Yesterday evening it was a middle-aged lady on a mountain bike here riding along the right edge of the road as I rode along the left hand side of the road heading in the same direction. As I am about to make a right hand turn onto a shared path I am riding in the primary position.

Despite this usually being a very quiet section of road Murphy decided to raise his head and a car came out of the intersection ahead turning right just as I pulled level with the salmon. Resulting in me quickly ducking back in towards the curb so the car had room to avoid a head-on with the salmon without cleaning me up in the process.

Then this morning I had a female POBSO with no helmet riding on the right edge of the traffic bridge here despite there being a perfectly servicable shared path on the left hand side of the traffic bridge where I was riding.

Did someone change the road rules and forget to tell me?

User avatar
rangersac
Posts: 1438
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 11:01 am
Location: Southern Tasmania

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby rangersac » Fri Feb 07, 2014 1:08 pm

I met a spawning runner yesterday on my commute home. Now I know that as a pedestrian you walk on the side of the road in the direction of the oncoming traffic so that's cool, but what made this runner special was the fact that they were at least half a metre onto the tarmac, on a double lined section of road that's windy, narrow and with limited clear sightlines. The fact there was a perfectly serviceable metre wide gravel shoulder next to the tarmac made it all the more bemusing.
De Rosa Macro | Intense Primer | Wayward Cape York | Cotic Rocket

User avatar
Jerry68
Posts: 112
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:39 pm

Re: The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

Postby Jerry68 » Fri Feb 07, 2014 1:52 pm

This post seems as good a place as any to vent my spleen in regards to the pros and cons of bell ringing so here goes....

I know this topic has probably already been done to death but anyway.... what are people's take on this?

I have a bell and I always liked to use it to warn pedestrians that I would be shooting past. I've had bikes race past me as a pedestrian and it can startle you.

However, lately I feel it is more trouble that it's worth. I will get one of 4 responses, (listed below starting from the most common):

1. Complete ignorance: The pedestrian will have headphones or an iPod and be completely oblivious.

2. Anger: The pedestrian will panic, step right off the path into the dirt, turn and glare at me with total contempt. If there are more than one they will generally collide with each other at some point. This makes me feel bad as that was not my intention and I really haven't got the time to stop and explain to an angry pedestrian that a cyclist ringing a bell is not tantamount to shouting: "Get the hell out of my way peasant"!

3. Obstruction: The pedestrian will again panic... but instead of moving to the sanctuary of the far left they will pause and turn around directly into my path to see what all the fuss is about. Because of this I have learned to ring my bell from some distance away.

4. Glorious acknowledgement: They nod or raise a hand or finger, (not that finger), to acknowledge my bell, maintain a steady course and pace and everyone is happy.

There are other responses but they occur so rarely they do not rate a mention in the 'official' list but include those, (yes I've had this twice), who look directly skywards when I have sounded my bell. I'm not sure if the unexpected 'ding' of a bell has prompted them to look toward the heavens for a pending epiphany but it gives me opportunity to pass safely whilst they are distracted.

In conclusion I feel it is just safer to give the bell ringing a miss...

What say you all?

Jerry68.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot]