Thread: Cyclist aware drivers... are you one?

I really did abuse very loudly the cow that I hit with my Triumph TR7 one night. It wasn't the white one but the black one that was behind. . The cow was dead and so was the TR7. If I am turning left in the D1 and there is a pushbike behind, I get as close to the curb as I can, due to nearly cleaning one up a few years ago in my 2A. He wasn't there when I looked, but by the time I had turned he was there. And he almost never rode again. Yes I just missed him. But I do try to give them room if I can.

Originally Posted by CJT

I do agree that coutesy needs to be both ways. I guess at the end of the day it is a bit hard for a cyclist to be courteous to a driver who through their actions, whether intentional or not, could have almost killed them.
The above statement is not fair, I have nearly been hit and cut off by both and on one occasion hit a car. It tends to make me more aware and cautious than discourteous.

There was a time when roads or more importantly road reserves where built as a public place. People would walk there, children would play there and vehicles would drive there, but being aware of other users. I understand that was a long time ago, but maybe that was the right way to think. My kids can not even ride on the local streets around where I live for fear of being run down, but how many of us played on the streets growing up??

As far as driving at 100km/h over a crest and seeing bicycles in the lane and nearly having an accident. There are road design rules that governments and councils apply to. These rules mean that a road is designed to a suitable standard with visibility and stopping site distance in mind. Stopping site distance is calculated from an eye height of 1.15m to an object sitting on the road ahead.

There should be no reason why a vehicle can not stop in time and manouver where required around bicycle riders, especially as they are generally riding at atleast 20km/hr. Since most people on here would be driving a 4wd, then your site lines are better than what roads are designed for as your eye height is significantly higher.

If a driver can not manouver or stop for a cyclist ahead, how can they stop for a fallen tree, traffic accident, cow on the road??? Do you beep and abuse a fallen tree for being in your path??? Or abuse someone in a traffic accident for being there blocking your path???

Of course and most times it is not an issue. I is more than reasonable to give them room and respect 99.9% of the time. As said I ride a pushy and motorbikes, so know what the issues are.
As a community we should be heavily focusing on cycleways. In Esperance we are lucky the footpaths have been designed for dual use so there are lots of cycleways. pedestrians are more of a problem as there are a lot that do not think they have to share the path and will not move for cyclists. But get out on the Esperance-Coolgardie Hwy, Eyre Hwy, Great Eastern Hwy, Great Northern Hwy etc and these roads are not designed for cyclists and there are many areas where you can have close calls, believe me. As a community I think we should all push for cycle lanes and paths to be included in all planning so our kids can ride push bikes. It is not as simple as when "I was a kid we rode everywhere". Speed of cars is not so much an issue in built up areas, but traffic volume is the problem these days.
What does irk me is when there is a perfectly good cycle path and a cyclist refuses to use it.
The other thing that is a problem is that generally there is no real education to ride a bicycle on the road. Cyclists often seem to think that they have the same protection as pedestrians so a turning car has to give way and they can pass on the left, while that is not true.
Cyclists need to realize it is very easy for them to get into a vehicles blind spot, try and stay in a vehicles mirror vision.
IMHO all roads being built, repaired or modified should have an extra section on the side to accommodate cyclists. I am not anti-cycling at all, but am a realist.
Keep Safe Riding

Cyclists who lean on your car .....

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jWvAxjG0kg"]YouTube- Fiat - Bicycle (funny commercial)[/nomedia]

Originally Posted by big guy

Cycling in this country is still relatively new as a sport.
Sure its been around but not at the level it is now.

Bikes out sell cars for the last 3 uears now.
Its also legal to travel 2 abreast, most do stop at stop signs just like cars and be serious, the noise created by a bunch of fit riders at the wee hours of the morning has got to be less than a bunch of hoons in their cars which surely we have all experienced.
To beat them however you too could just join them.

As far as travelling at the posted speed limit, that does not really warrant a reply.
Anyone been overseas? Cycling in many parts of the globe is embraced and what a great way it is to commute and to see many elite atheletes come and ride down under and in particular in SA.

Bring it on.

I watch and look twice for bikes of any nature--

i hope you were on my side there......i was just playing the cracked record of all those against bike riders on the road

I have no problem with cyclists in the city (probably because I am never there!), it's the cyclists in the country that bother me.

Those who live in or near Adelaide will know the roads through the hills where cyclists tend to ride in the middle of the road/2 abreast. I've nearly cleaned them up before.

In fact once while heading home along Mt. Compass - Goolwa road, around a sharp bend there were a group of cyclists, maybe 10-15 taking up a whole lane, and part of the next one! I had to lock up the brakes and still only just missed them. They got a mouthful I can tell you that.

In my honest opinion, bikes simply shouldn't be allowed on 100k windy roads, unless they are mountain bikes who ride on the shoulder.

In the course of my employment I am required to attend and assist with the investigation of numerous incidents involving heavy vehicles. I often have the availability of CCTV (Front mounted on the vehicles).

I can say with my hand on my heart that the majority of cyclists are at fault legally or often riding in a manner that puts them unnecessarily at risk. (that means not demonstrating common sense).

When I attend such incidents (often before police or emergency services) I am amazed how everyone assumes it is always the heavy vehicle at fault.
When police arrive they always treat the driver as "guilty until proven innocent" and the rider as "innocent until proven guilty" (I usually am able to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate either way).

Now heaven forbid the media should arrive! Captions in media will always read:
"Truck/Bus/Train kills cyclist" when the headlines should read "Cyclist riding in dangerous manner killed by heavy vehicle".

The same (and I see more examples of) applies to pedestrians killed by heavy vehicles (all vehicles for that matter). The last 2 fatal pedestrian incidents I have been attended have been without question the pedestrians fault yet they are still recorded against the road toll despite no error on the part of any vehicle driver!

We are constantly bombarded (including this thread) that we need to be more cyclist aware. Well sorry boys and girls it is a two way street (pun intended) we all need to be heavy vehicle aware, they need greater breaking distances, they can not make fast manoeuvres to avoid cyclists, they take longer to move from a standing start (often commencing movement before the cyclist even comes into sight) they also will go wide or cut off corners (as oversize vehicles must do to negotiate many streets) and yes metro buses do need to hog the left and stop in bike lanes. Cyclists who ride "head down bum up" not looking ahead in a bike lane must expect a bus to be stopped at a bus stop which shares the bike lane (all part of the road rules).

We as motorists are constantly reminded to share our roads with cyclists, I am not aware of too many road safety campaigns that try to educate cyclists about sharing the road.

Now I do sometimes (not often) ride a bike and when I do, I go out of my way to use bike lanes and obey rules including using hand signals when appropriate and you know what happens? I am ridiculed by most other cyclists who openly defy the rules.

To the very few cyclists out there who do ride responsibly I offer my apologies but I am only dealing in facts!

Very interesting post Thommo and I agree with it all.

I reckon one of the main problems with Adelaide is the bloody Advertiser. They will make anything up for a good story. Off topic, but I have mates who do law and have to attend trials. In one case the Advertiser completely falsified the results of a case!

Maybe the lycra clad hordes who head down Anzac Highway every Saturday should come under bikie gang laws, because they certainly act like a gang sometimes.

Originally Posted by Thommo

In the course of my employment I am required to attend and assist with the investigation of numerous incidents involving heavy vehicles. I often have the availability of CCTV (Front mounted on the vehicles).

I can say with my hand on my heart that the majority of cyclists are at fault legally or often riding in a manner that puts them unnecessarily at risk. (that means not demonstrating common sense).

When I attend such incidents (often before police or emergency services) I am amazed how everyone assumes it is always the heavy vehicle at fault.
When police arrive they always treat the driver as "guilty until proven innocent" and the rider as "innocent until proven guilty" (I usually am able to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate either way).

Now heaven forbid the media should arrive! Captions in media will always read:
"Truck/Bus/Train kills cyclist" when the headlines should read "Cyclist riding in dangerous manner killed by heavy vehicle".

The same (and I see more examples of) applies to pedestrians killed by heavy vehicles (all vehicles for that matter). The last 2 fatal pedestrian incidents I have been attended have been without question the pedestrians fault yet they are still recorded against the road toll despite no error on the part of any vehicle driver!

We are constantly bombarded (including this thread) that we need to be more cyclist aware. Well sorry boys and girls it is a two way street (pun intended) we all need to be heavy vehicle aware, they need greater breaking distances, they can not make fast manoeuvres to avoid cyclists, they take longer to move from a standing start (often commencing movement before the cyclist even comes into sight) they also will go wide or cut off corners (as oversize vehicles must do to negotiate many streets) and yes metro buses do need to hog the left and stop in bike lanes. Cyclists who ride "head down bum up" not looking ahead in a bike lane must expect a bus to be stopped at a bus stop which shares the bike lane (all part of the road rules).

We as motorists are constantly reminded to share our roads with cyclists, I am not aware of too many road safety campaigns that try to educate cyclists about sharing the road.

Now I do sometimes (not often) ride a bike and when I do, I go out of my way to use bike lanes and obey rules including using hand signals when appropriate and you know what happens? I am ridiculed by most other cyclists who openly defy the rules.

To the very few cyclists out there who do ride responsibly I offer my apologies but I am only dealing in facts!

That's all well and good to say you have viewed footage of unsafe cyclists being the cause of the majority of accidents with heavy vehicles but what about the many cyclists killed by regular cars that do not record this evidence.

I used to cycle three times a week to work and I can say nearly everyday I had a close call. Drivers are basically half asleep on the way to work!

Two abreast is recognised as improving the visibility of riders and on multi lane roads I am fine with it. I admit on single winding roads two abreast is not very considerate. But most cyclists I know wouldn't do this.

Regularly I now ride my motorbike and its pretty much the same. The difference is I can travel faster and have noisy exhaust pipes that make my presence known. But the amount of times that cars have just veered into my path or pull out in front of me is unbelievable. And this despite me blowing my horn (which is a car horn) but they happily continue into my path oblivious to the the life threatening situation they are putting me in and I am forced to veer or brake suddenly.

All I can say is all road users should both have to ride a push bike, ride a motorbike and even drive a truck for that matter, to understand just how important it is to cater to the different needs of all vehicles and their drivers.

You can say what you like about cyclists/riders not obeying road laws and the like but most are just riding to survive!