The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

[g-boaf]

He must have ran over something while slowing down and correcting his turn which looks too early.

[bychosis]

Some people. Was driving to a business at the end of an industrial area cul-de-sac. Big wide street. Lady walking her dog slowly, diagonally crosses the road in front of me without even looking. Ear buds in. I tested her situational awareness by slowly driving up within a metre or 3 in my diesel ute and she didn't even flinch or make any acknowledgement of my presence even when I passed and came into view. Was really tempted to hit the horn amd wake her up.

[warthog1]

He must have ran over something while slowing down and correcting his turn which looks too early.

Either that or flat rear tyre? it appeared to slide left then over corrected and went right and just kept sliding.

[CmdrBiggles]

𝑆𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛' 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦
𝑆𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛' 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦
𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛' 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦...

(Paul Simon 1977)

[mikesbytes]

A bit hard to tell but looks like he lost the rear end, while he was cornering it doesn't look like he had enough angle and also he lost it in the opposite direction so I'm guessing he had the rear brake on hard and didn't release it when the tyre lost adhesion with the road

[g-boaf]

On the topic of pedestrians and unpredictable- I use the road on one part of my commute.

It’s the difference between stop start riding on a very bumpy path at 20km/h and swerving around iPeds (or the equivalent Android form) or quick riding on the road at 45km/h which overall saves a good 5-10 minutes despite the section being relatively short.

Even so, I still had a pedestrian thinking of darting across two lanes of traffic without watching. The pedestrian changed his mind suddenly when seeing me and a car coming fast…

[g-boaf]

That downhill right hand fast corner near the Bella Vista end of the M7 cycleway (the one with the speed bumps) is a real danger.

Guys (and the ladies too at times) love bombing down that hill and cutting onto the wrong side of that corner.

I’m cautious when going opposite direction there and just as well, one guy today was going to cut the corner but saw me and awkwardly weaved back left.

Even calling out isn’t enough.

[g-boaf]

Gosh the pedestrians around Parramatta on the cycleway are crazy this afternoon. Walking in zig-zag way from one side to the other… I narrowly missed one - I was already slow and slammed the brakes on.

She wasn’t paying attention.

Parramatta Park now has 10km/h speed limits. Noticed some runners going faster than that, even the cops on bicycles looked faster than 10km/h.

I went past them at moderately fast speed and they didn’t seem too bothered so if you are going through there just be cautious and sensible.

[g-boaf]

Appears to be a new way for walkers to turn right.

Walk to the left then very suddenly charge to the right. I nearly got caught out by one of these.

I called out that I was passing, he moved left and then suddenly charges right. I have good brakes so no harm done.

[JPB]

Appears to be a new way for walkers to turn right.

Walk to the left then very suddenly charge to the right. I nearly got caught out by one of these.

I called out that I was passing, he moved left and then suddenly charges right. I have good brakes so no harm done.

Walkers doing hook turns?

[g-boaf]

Walkers doing hook turns?

Seems like it, he apologised and I just went on my way without saying anything more. I seem to be coming across all the odd behaving pedestrians recently.

[Mike Ayling]

Driving north along Springvale Rd (a major Melbourne North South artery) just north of Springvale a rider in a yellow top shot out of a side street across the northbound lane and attempted to mount the median strip.Unfortunately for him there was a kerb on the median strip and he hit it full on both rider and bike flying through the air. We were in the left lane and traffic was moving well so we were unable to stop and see whether he survived>

[P!N20]

Moron or dumb? https://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/view ... hp?t=22881

[familyguy]

As above. Thread exists. MODS merge?

[find_bruce]

merging in 3, 2, 1

[jasonc]

need this in Australia for all road users
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-fi ... nce-307489

[elantra]

need this in Australia for all road users
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-fi ... nce-307489

Wow. That’s a positive step for behavioural compliance !

Viva la France !!

[g-boaf]

need this in Australia for all road users
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-fi ... nce-307489

When I last reported that €135 fine I got yelled at on here for daring to mention it.

I like this idea and wish it were extended to pedestrians or runners going down the middle of a shared path with music going so loudly they wouldn’t hear a freight train. As a pedestrian I found this annoying as well.

I was blocked for a good 500 metres this morning behind a runner. When the path got wider, he moved even further over to take up even more space, only thwarted by a street light in the middle - giving me the chance to safely get past without being knocked over into 70km/h traffic.

[familyguy]

Not sure if me or the groups. 3 big groups (10+) on main road this morning using the middle of 3 lanes all the way. Not an issue. But did make it hard to pass when they were rolling up an incline to their slowest rider pace and not really giving anyone behind much option to pass. Fair enough, chance at top to get to left and pass with plenty of space. Someone in one of the groups shouted "don't pass on the left!", dunno who it was. Clear lane, lots of time, lots of space, you want to take the middle, I'll go inside you. What's the issue? Second group moved across at a long vacant left lane that helped a few of us get by without any agro.

[jasonc]

If it was a clearly marked lane, you were fine

[g-boaf]

Agree with above.

[familyguy]

If it was a clearly marked lane, you were fine

Pittwater Road coming south into Dee Why. Don't know why they got so antsy, but it looked like there were a few novices among them, so maybe they didn't want anyone being spooked. Not how to go about it really.

[Mr Purple]

Just got back from a fortnight in Japan - the cyclists over there are bloody terrible!

On and off footpaths all the time, not sticking to any particular side, excessive speed on their mama-san bikes, literally heard a bell once the whole time I was there, and did witness a guy on his mobile run a red and swerve out in front of a car without looking.

But you know what? Didn't see one expression of anger towards a cyclist the whole time I was there. No horn, no yelling, no head shaking, the drivers just slowed down and drove carefully around them. The cycling infrastructure in Japan isn't particularly spectacular either, so it's not that.

I'm beginning to suspect it's actually an attitude problem towards cyclists in Australia that is almost entirely the problem. Over here the slightest perceived infraction can result in a motorist attempting to kill you, over there the motorists seem to treat cyclists like actual human beings.

Pretty crazy that in Japan you'll routinely see a cyclist unhelmeted, on his mobile, on the wrong side of the footpath and weaving in and out of pedestrians. You'd be looking at $3-4k in fines here, over there no-one bats an eyelid. Makes me wonder if cyclists in Australia are being blamed for problems caused by others.

Mind you the cyclist death rates over there are about twice ours per capita. So it's not all happy news!

[elantra]

Just got back from a fortnight in Japan - the cyclists over there are bloody terrible!

On and off footpaths all the time, not sticking to any particular side, excessive speed on their mama-san bikes, literally heard a bell once the whole time I was there, and did witness a guy on his mobile run a red and swerve out in front of a car without looking.

But you know what? Didn't see one expression of anger towards a cyclist the whole time I was there. No horn, no yelling, no head shaking, the drivers just slowed down and drove carefully around them. The cycling infrastructure in Japan isn't particularly spectacular either, so it's not that.

I'm beginning to suspect it's actually an attitude problem towards cyclists in Australia that is almost entirely the problem. Over here the slightest perceived infraction can result in a motorist attempting to kill you, over there the motorists seem to treat cyclists like actual human beings.

Pretty crazy that in Japan you'll routinely see a cyclist unhelmeted, on his mobile, on the wrong side of the footpath and weaving in and out of pedestrians. You'd be looking at $3-4k in fines here, over there no-one bats an eyelid. Makes me wonder if cyclists in Australia are being blamed for problems caused by others.

Mind you the cyclist death rates over there are about twice ours per capita. So it's not all happy news!

Yes, but that is the death rate per capita, not the death rate per kilometre travelled on bicycles by the population of Japan.
I suspect that bicycles are more widely used in Japan than in Australia.
Like used for day-to-day tasks such as commuting to work/school/shops.
I know that some of us on the forum are active bicycle commuters, but unfortunately that is a small proportion of the Australian population - unfortunately.

The Australian cycling community may do a lot of kilometres, but much of it would be for sport or fitness or recreation, usually at times and in places when/where we consider that the risks posed by vehicles are low.

[Cyclophiliac]

Just got back from a fortnight in Japan - the cyclists over there are bloody terrible!

On and off footpaths all the time, not sticking to any particular side, excessive speed on their mama-san bikes, literally heard a bell once the whole time I was there, and did witness a guy on his mobile run a red and swerve out in front of a car without looking.

But you know what? Didn't see one expression of anger towards a cyclist the whole time I was there. No horn, no yelling, no head shaking, the drivers just slowed down and drove carefully around them. The cycling infrastructure in Japan isn't particularly spectacular either, so it's not that.

I'm beginning to suspect it's actually an attitude problem towards cyclists in Australia that is almost entirely the problem. Over here the slightest perceived infraction can result in a motorist attempting to kill you, over there the motorists seem to treat cyclists like actual human beings.

Pretty crazy that in Japan you'll routinely see a cyclist unhelmeted, on his mobile, on the wrong side of the footpath and weaving in and out of pedestrians. You'd be looking at $3-4k in fines here, over there no-one bats an eyelid. Makes me wonder if cyclists in Australia are being blamed for problems caused by others.

Mind you the cyclist death rates over there are about twice ours per capita. So it's not all happy news!

I don't suspect, but I know it's an attitude problem here. I haven't cycled in Japan, but I've cycled in France and Italy, and it was so much fun over there, because I wasn't getting harassed all the time simply for being on the road in a non-motorised vehicle.