The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

[rheicel]

Sir who is fully kitted with Biachi (Road Bike/Jersey), Epping Road crossing Wick Road, west bound... you are the DUMB cyclist today!
This Sir crosses the intersection, standing up the pedals, looking down, using the Right Opposite Lane, and not even worried about hitting a pedestrian or cyclist. I have to stop in the middle of intersection waiting for him to hit me as I have nowhere to go to (Bus on my Left, Pedestrians/Cyclist crossing on my Right). If I have continued, not sure what a head to head collision of bicycles will look like. Not a big deal but you are definitely degrading the image of all the cyclist in this country.

If you don't want to look forward while riding, you should at lest keep riding on the left side of the crossing or bike path.

I sounded like my grand mother now

[jasonc]

not sure what a head to head collision of bicycles will look like.

had one last month. cracked my helmet.

[Mulger bill]

On occasion ride some of the cycle paths around town and have lost count of the times I've had to move off the path due to nimrods trudging along in the middle of the path with earbuds or headphones planted in their ears.

Ringing the bell is futile, will have to see about a klaxon.

Problem.

Solved!

[Mozz]

Hmm this week in Brisbane ... guy on skateboard being towed by his dog..... on the freakin Jindalee Bridge pathway which is about a metre bloody wide.. oblivious to my bell as I was heading outbound hitting 60kph and then slowing to 3kph while he worked out where the yelling was coming from .... single cyclist out for a morning ride (not commuter) on Oxley Road before 6am and low light and lots of cloud cover, even most cars had their headlights on.. but no front light on this bike and a single very small flasher at the back which was almost flat, but could almost be seen if you were within 3 metres....

[ikm]

Aberdeen St, Perth. Riding on the wrong side of the road into traffic.

[Mountcyclo]

On occasion ride some of the cycle paths around town and have lost count of the times I've had to move off the path due to nimrods trudging along in the middle of the path with earbuds or headphones planted in their ears.

Ringing the bell is futile, will have to see about a klaxon.

Problem.

Solved!

Thanks, the perfect thing which would make them jump.

[outnabike]

On occasion ride some of the cycle paths around town and have lost count of the times I've had to move off the path due to nimrods trudging along in the middle of the path with earbuds or headphones planted in their ears.

Ringing the bell is futile, will have to see about a klaxon.

Problem.

Solved!

This is a devise that you can use as a megaphone or other sound. from a company called banggood. You don't need to blow into it either.
Mind you I have never tried the thing out ...

http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-12V-L ... 48437.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[chriscole]

Riding with my partner (her in front) on the shared pathway around Lake Burley Griffin, north side of the lake and heading west, having just come down the hill from Black Mountain Peninsula, past the rowing sheds at a fairly sedate pace (probably about 25kph, having braked a bit coming off the hill).

Jogger heading in the same direction as us, but jogging at the far right edge of the path (i.e. facing oncoming traffic in the other lane), glances over his shoulder, notes we are approaching from behind (in the left lane, as far left as we can be) and decides in his wisdom that rather than let us pass on our current trajectory, he'd rather point/indicate with his left hand and then suddenly lurch into the left lane, right in front of us.

After a brief hiatus while processing his innovative and devil-may-care life choice, we both grabbed a (controlled) handful of brake and swerved not-too-ungracefully around him, with my better half muttering a relatively quiet "FFS!" as we did so. This elicited a tirade of commentary and suggestions from our friendly jogger conveying his opinion that we should have used a bell, that it was her/our responsibility to cater to his use of the path as a pedestrian, and then something else slightly less comprehensible as we rode on away from him.

While he was somewhat user-friendly in his novel use of hand-indicating as a pedestrian, his maneuver demonstrates nicely why sometimes it's safer _not_ to ding one's bell...because armed with a little advanced warning, people do stupid, unpredictable things... and often it's better for them to have their funky chicken random-walk moment when you've already passed them, rather than when they still have the potential to become a sudden unavoidable obstacle. And in this case, it was clear that he was aware of our presence before we'd reached what I'd have considered the Minimum Safe Distance bell-dinging threshold, anyway.

[lobstermash]

The lesson you should have learnt from that is never trust anybody to do anything remotely sensible on a lake path. I'm with you on the bell thing. I'd rather sneak past to avoid spontaneous Brownian motion-esque maneuvers from said pedestrian or cyclist if there's space, or slow down and let them know I'm there verbally if there's not.

[tekapo]

I have a bell similar to this.

If I need to get the ped's attention, I flick the lever for a full ring. If I can pass them easily, I'll push the lever and hold it, so its more of a clicking sound rather than a loud ring. I find having two levels of rings helpful, a loud ring to get attention, and a quieter one when I don't want to "surprise/shock" them but just some noise to alert them. (Although I don't have enough data to say whether this "works" or just my wishful thinking, and sometimes I do question whether they actually hear the quieter ring/click or not)

[trailgumby]

Sent from my android thingy using Crapatalk

[Ron]

I have a bell similar to this.

If I need to get the ped's attention, I flick the lever for a full ring. If I can pass them easily, I'll push the lever and hold it, so its more of a clicking sound rather than a loud ring. I find having two levels of rings helpful, a loud ring to get attention, and a quieter one when I don't want to "surprise/shock" them but just some noise to alert them. (Although I don't have enough data to say whether this "works" or just my wishful thinking, and sometimes I do question whether they actually hear the quieter ring/click or not)

I usually approach cautiously and talk to them telling the pedestrian I'm passing them. IMO much nicer than being rung at. It really raises my bristles when other riders ring me when passing (especially when I've just turned my head and looked at them 5 seconds previously), do they do that when driving too? Maybe if your tooted by at motorist it's just one of those shared path users driving.
Ron

[Percrime]

Jogger heading in the same direction as us, but jogging at the far right edge of the path (i.e. facing oncoming traffic in the other lane), glances over his shoulder, notes we are approaching from behind (in the left lane, as far left as we can be) and decides in his wisdom that rather than let us pass on our current trajectory, he'd rather point/indicate with his left hand and then suddenly lurch into the left lane, right in front of us.
.

If they are on the wrong side of the path.. from 200 metres you are aware of the most important fact about them. And that is that they are stupid. Its possible to determine this fact in many other ways.. most recently on the interwebs reading posts from people defending being on the wrong side of the path... but in one split second from 200 metres you have discovered the most basic truth about this person. That being the case you should expect stupidity. Cos you will get it.

[duncan16v]

I usually approach cautiously and talk to them telling the pedestrian I'm passing them. IMO much nicer than being rung at. It really raises my bristles when other riders ring me when passing (especially when I've just turned my head and looked at them 5 seconds previously), do they do that when driving too? Maybe if your tooted by at motorist it's just one of those shared path users driving.
Ron

I'd prefer a cheerful 'ding' of the bell than the silent close shave that I got Thursday evening at about 7:45 by Mr Lycra on the Yarra trail south side (between Swan Street and Anderson Street) - and I was doing northwards of 30km/h so Mr Lycra was really shifting. Mr Lycra then close-shaved every pedestrian and other cyclist on the path.

Well done Sir! You are a credit to us all.

[duncan16v]

"Passing!" or "On your right" is nicer, of course.

[jonbays]

I agree a good call out is much better.

I don't ride with a bell on my main bike and I never use a bell as in most situations where you might use a bell I prefer to have my hands squarely covering the brake levers rather than faffing about with a bell!

How many times do pedestrians on hearing a bike coming behind turn the head to the right and wander right into the path you were thinking of taking!

Even my wife did this to Tony Abbot the other day! Not his fault at all but he was very apologetic I guess more for giving her a fright than anything else.

"Passing!" or "On your right" is nicer, of course.

[Summernight]

I don't ride with a bell on my main bike and I never use a bell as in most situations where you might use a bell I prefer to have my hands squarely covering the brake levers rather than faffing about with a bell!

Up to you how you ride and whether you have a bell on your bike (as is required by law even if you never use it), but as an FYI to the idea that dinging causes you to take your hands off the brakes, my bell is positioned on the drop bar (road bike) so all I have to move to ding it is my little finger. The rest of the hand covers the brakes at all times and there is no compromise on braking ability.

[Tomca74]

I nominate myself for dumb cyclist today. While on my commute an impatient driver rammed my rear wheel causing a moment then drove on the grass and went around me. Dumb for chasing him down and assaulting him a little. Police have done nothing with the last 3 times I been hit so did my own personal enforcement.


I notified police I was involved in a hit and run and they told me they weren't interested as no one was seriously injured.

[tekapo]

I don't ride with a bell on my main bike and I never use a bell as in most situations where you might use a bell I prefer to have my hands squarely covering the brake levers rather than faffing about with a bell!

Up to you how you ride and whether you have a bell on your bike (as is required by law even if you never use it), but as an FYI to the idea that dinging causes you to take your hands off the brakes, my bell is positioned on the drop bar (road bike) so all I have to move to ding it is my little finger. The rest of the hand covers the brakes at all times and there is no compromise on braking ability.

Yep, my one's on a flat, and its just a flick of the thumb and the fingers never leave the brake lever.

[CXCommuter]

I nominate the idiot at the lights on Hale Road near Herdsman Lake- leaning against a car so he didn't have to unclip- lights when green and said car moved off and the cyclist fell over into the path of the car behind. Thankfully the rearmost car stopped well in time. The cyclist was then angry at the car for moving

[jaseyjase]

I nominate the idiot at the lights on Hale Road near Herdsman Lake- leaning against a car so he didn't have to unclip- lights when green and said car moved off and the cyclist fell over into the path of the car behind. Thankfully the rearmost car stopped well in time. The cyclist was then angry at the car for moving

what an idiot

i have to be honest, ive been tempted to lean on trucks and buses when queueing at lights, but thats cos they are generally quite slow to take off and id have my eye on the lights to make sure i react before the bus/truck does.

[oxonabike]

I am conflicted pasting a link relating to the death of a cyclist in this particular thread.. but, but.....

http://bit.ly/1lIQR8L" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Undetected on the front of a high speed train for 40km in France.

[tekapo]

I am conflicted pasting a link relating to the death of a cyclist in this particular thread.. but, but.....

http://bit.ly/1lIQR8L" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Undetected on the front of a high speed train for 40km in France.

and thats just 8 minutes at 322km/h

[AKO]

I was the dumb cyclist this morning. On a fast downhill section of road leading to a roundabout on the bottom of the hill. It's a two lane road so I've taken the left lane, indicated to move to the right lane to turn right at the roundabout. The driver in the right lane happily let's me and I'm sitting a few metres behind a small hatch approaching the roundabout. The driver coming from the opposite direction turned right without indicating, the driver in front of me read it far better than I and by the time I realised what was going on it was panic stations. I locked the rear brake and skidded straight past the passengers side of her car, avoiding hitting her by a couple of centimetres at best. The two young girls in the back seat on their way to school gave my a cheery wave as I cam to a stop beside their window. Their mother (obviously a very observant driver) gave me a look of disbelief before driving through.

[CXCommuter]

Me this morning.
Got dressed, grabbed the good bike as planning a longer ride in today. Start the lights, Garmin up and running, gloves, helmet, backpack and shoes on nice a tight. Okay lets go, rolled down the drive and couldn't get the pedals/shoes to join. Stupid me was wearing my commuter shoes (MTB SPD) trying to clip into SPD-SL pedals . Really stupid as one set of shoes is black and the other white/red- really easy to confuse.

Lesson learned, slow down and check things twice at 5:30 in the morning