Crashed

[g-boaf]

Thanks all for the well wishes. The wounds are stinging a bit, especially when changing the dressings and that stuff. The swelling will take time to go down, but I have some cream to help with that. Nothing is infected so far thank god.

On the topic of bells and other devices , I think the voice is better because it can be adjusted to suit. Airzound is not something I'd use. But occasionally - peds don't know who or what is around them - no amount of calling out will alert them. Those ones I slow down to walking pace for.

Funny enough, if I'd not called out to warn her, I would have got past without any accident.

Worst thing is seeing other people out riding, I miss that!

[outnabike]

Hi g-boaf ,
That was a bad fall to cause that sort of bruising. Hope it heals well. I just the other day walked backward into beam and have a decent bruise on the lower back. Chemist gave me Hirudoid cream in a tube; says on the packet for bruises and scars etc, seems to be helping. Nothing works better than ice applied asap I suppose. Some times it pays to go to a doc as the major complications can be blood clots.
It's always a tough call with Peds, and as you say that person probably thought "oops a bike I better stay left", and you collected them in the change of direction.
I usually use the bell as no matter how or what I yell, it always come out as an order, pretty hard to win.

[sogood]

Thanks all for the well wishes. The wounds are stinging a bit, especially when changing the dressings and that stuff. The swelling will take time to go down, but I have some cream to help with that. Nothing is infected so far thank god.

If you really have a big haematoma and a contaminated wound, there may even be grounds to commence prophylactic antibiotics. Your call but a medical review is a wise consideration. You don't want to endure an infected haematoma. Not pretty and you'll lose muscle bulk big time.

[foo on patrol]

I will say, passing on your left or right depending on where the clowns are walking as they are normally all over the place like browns cows.

Foo

[birdbrain]

Unless peds are hogging the path I usually pass them without warning them. I always give myself an exit point off the path in case they do something stupid. I give a warning if they have a dog or pram or if they are walking on the wrong side of the path. Anyway heal quickly and put the crash down to experience but don't let it put you off cycling. Maybe you're fortunate in that you did'nt collide with her because it might have worked very expensive and very stressful for you.

[g-boaf]

Thanks all for the well wishes. The wounds are stinging a bit, especially when changing the dressings and that stuff. The swelling will take time to go down, but I have some cream to help with that. Nothing is infected so far thank god.

If you really have a big haematoma and a contaminated wound, there may even be grounds to commence prophylactic antibiotics. Your call but a medical review is a wise consideration. You don't want to endure an infected haematoma. Not pretty and you'll lose muscle bulk big time.

When I posted this thread, I was at the local medical centre. The swelling is starting to go down, and I am on antibiotics.

I also had x-rays done today which confirmed nothing was broken.

[sogood]

When I posted this thread, I was at the local medical centre. The swelling is starting to go down, and I am on antibiotics.
I also had x-rays done today which confirmed nothing was broken.

Good to know that you've been properly reviewed. Rest and recover well!

[toolonglegs]

Unless peds are hogging the path I usually pass them without warning them. I always give myself an exit point off the path in case they do something stupid.

This works fine until it doesn't.

[__PG__]

Before I bought a bell I just used to call-out/shout 'Ding Ding!'.

[Ozkaban]

Unless peds are hogging the path I usually pass them without warning them. I always give myself an exit point off the path in case they do something stupid.

This works fine until it doesn't.

That worked for me. Until it didn't...

Now I slow, call 'passing', leave plenty of room and say thanks as I pass.

I find bike bells work well in general (one of my bikes has one, one doesn't) - people know what they mean. And my airzound is for taxis and 4wds...

[DentedHead]

We must have a different breed of Peds wandering the lake here in Ballarat. 95% either can't hear, or choose to ignore my bell. I ring it on approach, get no response, and end up calling out. Pairs of peds invariable "split", 1 going left, the other right. I rarely go faster than maybe 15kmh there unless I get a "ped-free" stretch. That said, if I want to go faster, there's always the road that also circles the lake


Dent.

[g-boaf]

We must have a different breed of Peds wandering the lake here in Ballarat. 95% either can't hear, or choose to ignore my bell. I ring it on approach, get no response, and end up calling out. Pairs of peds invariable "split", 1 going left, the other right. I rarely go faster than maybe 15kmh there unless I get a "ped-free" stretch. That said, if I want to go faster, there's always the road that also circles the lake


Dent.

The splitting ones are scary. Even at 15km/h they can knock you over if they are particularly careless. Some of the worst I've seen are the hard at hearing, hard at seeng young teenage school girls caught up in the latest gossip about each others escapades... It took shouting and crawling along at less than 10km/h for them to get the message.

There are some pretty silly ones out there. And every day here we see that the roads are not much safe either.

[wombatK]

Funny enough, if I'd not called out to warn her, I would have got past without any accident.

Not really funny, but you've contradicted you're own belief that the human voice is all you need.

The human voice can't raise 115 db of sound. So, you have to get pretty close before the
person will hear your call - so close that you won't be able to get out of trouble if they startle
and jump the wrong way.

If you use a blast of 115 db (an Air Zound) when you're 20 m away, you've got plenty of
time to adjust for any stupid reaction. How's that overkill ?

Of course, if you're stupid enough to use the 115dB when 5m or less away, you deserve all
the trouble you'll get.

Cheers

[sogood]

If you use a blast of 115 db (an Air Zound) when you're 20 m away, you've got plenty of
time to adjust for any stupid reaction. How's that overkill ?

I suspect such would not be appreciated on a busy shared path eg. King St. Verbal calls are more than sufficient when accompanied by a suitable bike speed.

[wombatK]

I suspect such would not be appreciated on a busy shared path eg. King St. Verbal calls are more than sufficient when accompanied by a suitable bike speed.

On King St even an Air-Zound wouldn't save you - 115 db wouldn't be heard over the traffic noise

But of course, the RMS knew this, and very intelligently designed the traffic light sequencing to prevent
any speed that might threaten to overtake a tortoise on mogadon

[g-boaf]

Funny enough, if I'd not called out to warn her, I would have got past without any accident.

Not really funny, but you've contradicted you're own belief that the human voice is all you need.

The human voice can't raise 115 db of sound. So, you have to get pretty close before the
person will hear your call - so close that you won't be able to get out of trouble if they startle
and jump the wrong way.

If you use a blast of 115 db (an Air Zound) when you're 20 m away, you've got plenty of
time to adjust for any stupid reaction. How's that overkill ?

Of course, if you're stupid enough to use the 115dB when 5m or less away, you deserve all
the trouble you'll get.

Cheers

Let me make it very clear, I will not use an airzound device on a pedestrian or on a shared path. I might not trust pedestrians but I will never subject them to that, even at a distance.

[London Boy]

Unless peds are hogging the path I usually pass them without warning them. I always give myself an exit point off the path in case they do something stupid.

This works fine until it doesn't.

What I'm struggling with is why this is all so much of a problem. I ride mostly on the road, and ride big when I need to to stay safe. So far so so.

I ride on shared paths some of the time, amounting to maybe 40-50kms a week. I've never found it difficult to watch what a ped is doing as I approach. If they are moving predictably, I go past without any other action. If they are unpredictable, slow or taking the whole path I slow down, to walking pace if necessary I go past when there is a safe gap, either because they notice I am there, or because I let them know I am there. Usually they can hear my sprockets as I'm freewheeling. No need for air zounds or anything like that.

Patience. That and awareness. All you really need.

[toolonglegs]

quote it together with the original post i was commenting on and it should make sense... You London boy are warning them... Passing a ped without warning them apart from scaring them, means also that really you have no idea which way they will jump when they hear you a split second before you pass.
It only takes one in a 1000 and it's going to hurt.
Edit: actually re reading you post you aren't warning them if you think they are predictable... That's up to you. But how can you predict what someone will do if you give them a fright.
Not really looking to get into a discussion, personally I never have to ride in shared paths.

[wombatK]

Let me make it very clear, I will not use an airzound device on a pedestrian or on a shared path. I might not trust pedestrians but I will never subject them to that, even at a distance.

Have you ever used a car horn within 18 meters of a pedestrian?

Car horns are typically 110 db, so have the same effect at a very slightly less distance. Truck horns are typically louder than air zounds.

Used at an appropriate distance, air zounds won't be anything a pedestrian can't tolerate, but will be noticed.


Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

[RonK]

At the end of the day, nothing beats slowing down and defensive riding. Give wide berths, always.

Quite so. I take the view (as does the law) that walking is the primary means of human movement, and for that reason pedestrians have the ultimate right of way.

[queequeg]

Unless peds are hogging the path I usually pass them without warning them. I always give myself an exit point off the path in case they do something stupid.

This works fine until it doesn't.

That worked for me. Until it didn't...

Now I slow, call 'passing', leave plenty of room and say thanks as I pass.

I find bike bells work well in general (one of my bikes has one, one doesn't) - people know what they mean. And my airzound is for taxis and 4wds...

my bell works just fine, except when it rains and the sound it makes is just a dull thud. thankfully not many pedd out and about in the pouring rain.

in terms of percentages, I get around 60% of pedal who either can't hear the bell due to earphones or traffic noise, or they simply choose to ignore it. on more than one occasion I have been dinging the bell on approach until I am adjacent to the pedestrian and they still haven't heard me, then as I crawl past at 6km/h they jump 6 ft in the air from fright!

[RonK]

in terms of percentages, I get around 60% of pedal who either can't hear the bell due to earphones or traffic noise, or they simply choose to ignore it. on more than one occasion I have been dinging the bell on approach until I am adjacent to the pedestrian and they still haven't heard me, then as I crawl past at 6km/h they jump 6 ft in the air from fright.

You need to take into account that everyone's hearing degrades with age and the higher frequencies (such as a bicycle bell makes) are simply inaudible to many.

[g-boaf]

At the end of the day, nothing beats slowing down and defensive riding. Give wide berths, always.

Quite so. I take the view (as does the law) that walking is the primary means of human movement, and for that reason pedestrians have the ultimate right of way.

Pedestrians should also have an onus on them to be aware of their surroundings and not be listening to music on headphones while walking. But even simpler would be just to keep in the left side of marked shared paths where there is a left and right lane marked. In this case, we are talking fairly wide paths.

I learned that just this morning in my area, two more bike riders were knocked from their bikes because of impacts with pedestrians. That's not good.

I'm also informed that there is a new expectation from some pedestrians that bike riders MUST get off their bikes and walk past pedestrians, rather than riding past. So just be aware that you all must now comply with this requirement.

You need to take into account that everyone's hearing degrades with age and the higher frequencies (such as a bicycle bell makes) are simply inaudible to many.

Teenage kids can hear quite well, especially when they roll their eyes and laugh and giggle at making bike riders and other pedestrians give way to them. Some pedestrians just choose not to hear.

[Nobody]

I'm also informed that there is a new expectation from some pedestrians that bike riders MUST get off their bikes and walk past pedestrians, rather than riding past. So just be aware that you all must now comply with this requirement.

Then there will likely be some arguments on the bike paths (but not involving me). Personally, I won't verbally interact with peds if possible. Learnt my lesson already.

Peds need to learn how to share too. If they don't like it there are thousands of kilometres of footpaths they can use.

[sogood]

On King St even an Air-Zound wouldn't save you - 115 db wouldn't be heard over the traffic noise

Sorry to been a tad confusing. King St shared path, as the one connecting King St and Darling Harbour's Pyrmont Bridge.