Moron Motorists #3

[Retrobyte]

I'm waiting in a queue at the lights to turn left, and the Coles driver in the loading zone decides to pull out and take the left turn lane and prevent me from turning. Good thing the lights turned red so I could educate him. His excuse was that he had his indicator on. I told him he's not a bus so he can just wait next time.

[g-boaf]

I'm waiting in a queue at the lights to turn left, and the Coles driver in the loading zone decides to pull out and take the left turn lane and prevent me from turning. Good thing the lights turned red so I could educate him. His excuse was that he had his indicator on. I told him he's not a bus so he can just wait next time.

I must be lucky, I don't get too many fools in that area. (I ride along there a lot).

[Retrobyte]

I'm waiting in a queue at the lights to turn left, and the Coles driver in the loading zone decides to pull out and take the left turn lane and prevent me from turning. Good thing the lights turned red so I could educate him. His excuse was that he had his indicator on. I told him he's not a bus so he can just wait next time.

I must be lucky, I don't get too many fools in that area. (I ride along there a lot).

They come out in peak hour

[nezumi]

My opinion based on cycling where I live is that minimum passing distance legistaion has generally helped. Less close passes.
However my opinion of our driving in general is that it is heading south.
Device distraction is very widespread and increasing. People driving 1.5 tonnes of fast moving metal without even looking outside of the vehicle at times. What could go wrong?
It needs to be treated the same as driving whilst intoxicated given the danger it poses.
There must be a mandatory licence suspension when caught, to underline how dangerous it is and put some limit on the prevalence of this behaviour.

Honestly, the driver behaviour on this section of road has been pretty good overall, which is what prompted the level of response.

For those concerned with physical safety, I am a 90-odd kilo guy who plays baseball as a catcher (read regularly has big dudes charging in at me), so I'm not too concerned about them getting out to escalate things - and if they do, I can hold 40km/h on the flat, so I'll just let them get all the way out of the car, then take off

[g-boaf]

I'm waiting in a queue at the lights to turn left, and the Coles driver in the loading zone decides to pull out and take the left turn lane and prevent me from turning. Good thing the lights turned red so I could educate him. His excuse was that he had his indicator on. I told him he's not a bus so he can just wait next time.

I must be lucky, I don't get too many fools in that area. (I ride along there a lot).

They come out in peak hour

That’s my riding time. I must be lucky.

[bychosis]

so I'll just let them get all the way out of the car, then take off

I dont think that's a bad idea at all. While you'll never outrun a car and trying to do so is pointless, I reckon in many cases you'd get enough head start to be able to find a protected footpath, laneway, building or just change of direction. They have to stop the vehicle, then get out, then chase. Gives a little time for an escape especially if they then need to get back in and start off again.

[Mr Purple]

So say someone does outrageously stupid, and you have it all on Varia camera but it also records your 'ahem' colourful language afterwards. Do you edit it before sending it to your police?

Had a good Sylvan Road incident today. Idiot in a Porsche 911 decided to drive into the bike lane I was riding in because he for some reason thought he could fit in the 50cm the car turning ahead of us both had left. Then gave me the horn as I rode past and accelerated through the bike lane hard missing me and the PMD rider behind me by a few centimetres in his haste to get to the next red light.

It was bad enough that the PMD rider asked me if I was going to take it to the police. It'll be interesting to see what the footage is like. As usual, it got him absolutely nowhere. He sat avoiding eye contact while waiting at the red.

[jasonc]

i would leave it in there Mr Purple. "my life was endangered and I responded vocally"

[Mr Purple]

i would leave it in there Mr Purple. "my life was endangered and I responded vocally"

I'll see how the footage turns out. It was exactly that same corner on Sylvan Road you posted here a few weeks back. This moron absolutely apexed it through the bike lane at full throttle. If it looks as bad as it felt it's going to the police.

[Mr Purple]

Well it shows him messing with the PMD rider behind me far more than he did me.



And it wasn't a narrow pass at all. Just a high RPM far pass. Ironically I had a GoPro on the front which would have caught his 'no indicator dive into the bike lane' but it wasn't on because I'd just used it to film a Cootha loop and they have an awful battery life.

Apologies for the language, I still feel it was warranted. Genuinely not sure at what point he put his indicator on, but pretty sure I was past it by that point. The flashing off the car behind is my taillight.

I can definitely see the benefit of running a front camera as well now! I am pretty sure there are certain commentators on the internet who would refer to this as 'passing a car turning left'. Well, it was not turning left until I was almost past him, and he still drove through the middle of the bike lane to do it which I'm fairly sure is illegal.

[Anrai]

I am pretty sure there are certain commentators on the internet who would refer to this as 'passing a car turning left'.

I'd say regardless of indication, the turning bike lane isn't space the car should be in, only the continuing bike lane.
Definitely should be some hard rules/enforcement on when it's okay to left-pass slow traffic though. I had a similar incident a couple years ago on a main road that splits into three lanes at a major lighted cross-intersection but is technically a single traffic lane until there; sometimes someone in the single lane is just a little too far over for people in a hurry to turn left (to the highway) to detour via the often vacant bus and parking zones, and as a pedestrian I once found myself sharing the footpath with an impatient motorist who was gone before I could get their plate.

[elantra]

So say someone does outrageously stupid, and you have it all on Varia camera but it also records your 'ahem' colourful language afterwards. Do you edit it before sending it to your police?

Had a good Sylvan Road incident today. Idiot in a Porsche 911 decided to drive into the bike lane I was riding in because he for some reason thought he could fit in the 50cm the car turning ahead of us both had left. Then gave me the horn as I rode past and accelerated through the bike lane hard missing me and the PMD rider behind me by a few centimetres in his haste to get to the next red light.

It was bad enough that the PMD rider asked me if I was going to take it to the police. It'll be interesting to see what the footage is like. As usual, it got him absolutely nowhere. He sat avoiding eye contact while waiting at the red.

That sux.
Poor driving, driver wants to change lanes to get around a stationary (waiting to turn) vehicle in his lane, driver should give way to vehicles (you) that are in the adjacent lane (a busy, designated bike lane)
I wouldn’t worry about the technical lingo, as long as you didn’t call (him?) a stupid white something or other, it’s all sweet.
And presumably the Porsche didn’t take the left turn into the Wesley Carpark.
Because if that was the case then you could have possibly identified a surgical colleague, and given feedback not only on his driving behaviour but also his fitness to perform surgery that morning.

[Arbuckle23]

After a deliberate very close pass today, a new camera is on the agenda.
My Fly 6 died a year back and I replaced it with radar as had got complacent with no close passes for a while.
But biting the bullet and a Varia RCT715 is being ordered.

Be selling a a RTL515 shortly

[g-boaf]

More cars and coffee brilliance:

https://youtube.com/shorts/Kpqvf94KQhI? ... Pp8ZkJrjp2

Are the BMW/Toyota Supra lot trying to take the trophy from the Mustang crowd?

Unfortunate for the unlucky people in the other car.

Our BMW driving folk aren’t immune to that disease either:

https://youtu.be/miA5qj5ergM

[g-boaf]

SMIDGAF goes to turn across the front of me at an intersection despite me having green light to go straight through.

I’m on a downhill doing 40km/h. Thankfully Cervelo has great brakes.

[Anrai]

SMIDGAF goes to turn across the front of me at an intersection despite me having green light to go straight through.

In my experience as a pedestrian, if there's the green traffic light and no green pedestrian light (i.e. you're clearly intending to cross but got there a split second after the cutoff for the button) I expect most cars are just gonna go. I imagine drivers who don't see bicycles as traffic vehicles act about the same.

[g-boaf]

SMIDGAF goes to turn across the front of me at an intersection despite me having green light to go straight through.

In my experience as a pedestrian, if there's the green traffic light and no green pedestrian light (i.e. you're clearly intending to cross but got there a split second after the cutoff for the button) I expect most cars are just gonna go. I imagine drivers who don't see bicycles as traffic vehicles act about the same.

I could see the car edging forward so it saw me, it was just a IDGAF moment hoping I might give in. I slowed quickly but made them wait, as they are supposed to.

[warthog1]

Good ol Patrol4x4

Feckn cyclists. Local council spent God knows how much money acquiring land and building a cycle way between Macksville and Nambucca, alongside the old highway. This morning at dawn & in heavy fog, there's a bloody moron in dark clothes riding on the road, next to the cycle way. Often see these MAMILs there at dusk and dawn.:mad::mad:

https://www.patrol4x4.com/threads/what- ... /page-1285

Good for tech info on Patrols, bigotry, racism, climate change denial, far right politics and not much else.

Don't bother replying. It will be futile.

[Andy01]

Without knowing the road or path in question, or any context (for the quote), I think I might be asking myself (as a vehicle driver) the same question (and I don't drive a Patrol, or have any desire to drive one).

Why would a cyclist ride in poor visibility conditions in dark clothes in the road instead of using a separate path ? Seems like a candidate for a Darwin award. Perhaps this should be in the Dumb Cyclists thread ?

Perhaps I am missing something ?

[jasonc]

Perhaps this should be in the Dumb Cyclists thread ?

Perhaps I am missing something ?

Shared path?
Turning right in a short distance?
Didn't know their lights have failed?
Too many stops and starts on the path?
Many reason the cyclist could be there

[warthog1]

Without knowing the road or path in question, or any context (for the quote), I think I might be asking myself (as a vehicle driver) the same question (and I don't drive a Patrol, or have any desire to drive one).

Why would a cyclist ride in poor visibility conditions in dark clothes in the road instead of using a separate path ? Seems like a candidate for a Darwin award. Perhaps this should be in the Dumb Cyclists thread ?

Perhaps I am missing something ?

Sure don't wear dark clothes and use a light. I do both.
I took issue with the attitude that the cyclist should have been on the path and not had the temerity to take up any space on the road.
It is a common attitude on that forum.

[CmdrBiggles]

Without knowing the road or path in question, or any context (for the quote), I think I might be asking myself (as a vehicle driver) the same question (and I don't drive a Patrol, or have any desire to drive one).

Why would a cyclist ride in poor visibility conditions in dark clothes in the road instead of using a separate path ? Seems like a candidate for a Darwin award. Perhaps this should be in the Dumb Cyclists thread ?

Perhaps I am missing something ?

Sure don't wear dark clothes and use a light. I do both.
I took issue with the attitude that the cyclist should have been on the path and not had the temerity to take up any space on the road.
It is a common attitude on that forum.

@Andy01

warthog1 said it!
It would seem very obvious to me there is a fashion trend for cyclists of either road or gravel to kit themselves out entirely in black, neither front nor rear lights and no concession nor thought given to how they appear (or not appear!) to other road users, especially in conditions where visibility of all road users should be paramount: fog, rain, early morning or evening. Effectively, they are putting themselves and others at risk. Seriously, this all-black/no lights/poor visibility is all too obvious around the gravel roads in the Great Otway National Park (which roads I know well from almost 50 years of bushwalking there) where gravel grinders set out from Lorne to tackle (and high speeds!) the Benwerrin-Mount Sabine Road — twisting, up and down, blind corners and visibility virtually 10m ahead in fog. In a car, I have to drive with lights on, as everybody does; I really have no idea what could be hurtling around those blind corners. I have had several frightening encounters as a driver with a particular black-clad mob (apparently serial offenders from Geelong) heading straight for my bonnet 5-6 across the road! I shake my head trying to understand what's in it for riding like the road is a freeway with nothing at all to worry about!

[warthog1]

warthog1 said it!

From my perspective JasonC said it.
Yes I agree don't wear dark colours.
However that doesn't absolve drivers from actually paying attention to what is on the road in front of them and for many reasons some "cycleways" are not the best places to ride.

Oh well, it has been enlightening posting it here too.

[bychosis]

This morning's MM close passed me, then proceeded to give the parked car up next a wide berthl by crossing well over the double lines. Not sure if aggressive or stupid.

[Mr Purple]

Without knowing the road or path in question, or any context (for the quote), I think I might be asking myself (as a vehicle driver) the same question (and I don't drive a Patrol, or have any desire to drive one).

Why would a cyclist ride in poor visibility conditions in dark clothes in the road instead of using a separate path ? Seems like a candidate for a Darwin award. Perhaps this should be in the Dumb Cyclists thread ?

Perhaps I am missing something ?

I can help here, I was wondering the same thing so did some research on the path in question.

When the promo photos (presumably of a wide, well built section) looked like this I started to get suspicious.



And indeed found some Youtube footage of someone riding the whole distance on it.



And the short answer is it looks narrow, meandering, poorly maintained and in many sections a bit rubbish. Not sure it'd be great on a road bike with 25mm tyres.