Blame Stovepipe He Started It!

Vince

Over here, a bicycle rider does not have to be given right of way, and if fact he must obey all road laws, including the one that says bicycles must keep as far to the left as possible and not rid more than two abreast.

A mate of mine works for the Transport Dept and they had a conference for road users. All of the usual groups showed up...Auto Assoc, trucking industry reps, taxi industry reps, Emergency Services reps (Police, Fire and Ambulance), and then came the bicycle riders reps. Input was sought from all and the bicycle reps went off their heads about safety and them not always getting a fair go, also the Transport Dept not providing big bicycle lanes (big enough for a group to ride in) as well as more demands. The Transport Dept rep listened, waited till they were finished, then asked them when they were going to get their "vehicles" to meet roadworthy requirements, get registered, get a license, pay road taxes and fully comply with all road laws...the bicycle reps shut up when they said, "when that happens you can make demands, but until then, you are not in a position to demand anything!!".

My daughter and son-in-law are avid bicycle and motorcycle riders (Suzuki DR650's) and my son-in-law is also a bicycle mechanic by trade (GIANT qualified in fact), so I don't have a major complaint about bicycle riders. Only thing that gets right up my nose is when you do finally manage to get past one in traffic, which can take a fair bit of trouble, they come merrily pedalling down the footpath, past lines of cars, when you are stopped at the traffic lights, then drop back down onto the road at the head of the queue again. Little wonder people get peeved at them on the roads. Bicycle riders have to accept that the "Law of Might" is used by everybody, including road users on vehicles smaller, or more vulnerable, than them...truck over car, car over bicycle, big kid over little kid etc. Whether or not this is right is irrelevant, its a fact of life.

Having said that, a lot of car drivers pay little or no attention to bicycles when pulling over, or out, from the kerb. My son-in-law has been a pushbike courier all around the world, starting in Canada, Japan, the US from NY to San Francisco, then out here to Australia, and he has been taken out on many occasions by guys opening car doors without looking, and taxis simply not giving a rat's ars3.

There is a place for bicycles on the road, but not during peak traffic periods and not on busy roads. Best place for a bicycle is on a downhill track, or anywhere else in the bush for that matter.

Cheers, Vince

Elvis

for the last 10 years Ive biked around 8km each way to and from work each day and have seen lots of bad driving, one of the biggest things I learned was to hog the centre line if turning across the road and dont get off it untill the turn I will get over onto that position from 500 mtrs or so before the corner and found I no longer got stuck on the side of the road trying to get across. fluoro gear was always worn for work so that was taken care of. my rear light got mounted on my helmet and that sure helps with visibility the back of my back pack sported a flashing light too.the only vechile I had any trouble with was a bus pulling out in frount of me. I caught up with him at his next stop and gave him an earfull I was pissed of and not very polite his customers were looking shocked but it worked I never had a problem with buses on that route again the word must have got around. dont p off the guy on the bike he bites.

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Vince wrote:

they come merrily pedalling down the footpath,

That one gets too me too, cause if you can bike on a side walk faster then traffic, your going too fast for the people walking. It is actually a standard 90$ fine here, plus, there is a extra fine of up to 55$ (depending on the part of the city), and you can get dinged for careless driving, which is another 490$. Shocked

www.toronto.ca/cycling/pdf/hta.pdf

Dimitri

Vince

It's against the law over here too mate...doesn't stop them though.

To be fair, not all bike riders do it, but those that do really peeve me burr

I even said to one of them one day..."You better be able to take off quicker than me, because I ain't stopping to go around you...AGAIN !!!" He got out of the way..quickly, and all the cars behind me wouldn't stop to let him back in again. Serves him right.

When I pull up at lights or an intersection I make sure I stop close enough to the kerb so that a bicycle cannot fit down beside me, that way it is not a problem.

Cheers, Vince

stovepipe

Sidewalls are RED, there's dust on them....you know we don't do doilies, curtains or PINK.

MacD

They just put bike lanes on our streets and nobody has any idea how to deal with them. If you keep to the left of the lane when turning right at a corner a car will come up on your right side in the bike lane blocking your turn. I have often thought bike riders should face traffic so they can see what hasn't seen them. BTW I have driven motorcycles for 40 years. The other day I saw a crotch rocket jockey drive up the bike lane to get ahead of a line of traffic. I wanted to kick his southern area all the way back to the end of the line. If this testy drone doesn't learn soon he is going to join the road burn fraternity or just go splat.