P.B. Close-shave record...

[BarBender]

Don't know what it was about last night, but in the time it took me to get home from work (which is rougly 30 minutes) I had four close shaves on the bike.

1. Cage changes lanes and moves in from the left into my lane. Location Gt South Rd heading up to Gillies Ave

2. Cage in the opposite direction fails to give way turning left as I'm turing right (had one of these last Saturday night as well) Location Mt Albert Road onto Owairaka

3. Van-Cage backs out onto the road as I'm travelling towards him...Location Richardson Rd heading towards White Swan

4. MVP-Cage pulls out from a driveway on the right side of the road and attempts to turn right as I and cars on his right close in on him...Location White Swan Rd.

It was raining (which probably didnt help) and between 6:15pm - 6:45pm...
Thank God the radar was locked in because if id been day dreaming there'd be no way I would have seen any of it coming...

Thought about the way I was riding and even stopped to check my lights after Close Shave 2... All good. I suppose when it rains it pours eh?

Was glad to get home and thankful someone up there was watching...BUT that was not an enjoyable ride home and I'll be farked if I want any more repeats.

Careful out there people.

I hate to say it...but its getting crazier...



Theres a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road,...yeah

Riders on the Storm...

[Rhino]

I know exactly how you feel.

Even on the 'Wing with all lights on and additional yellow Fog lights on during rain/bad visibility, some dumb f**ker in a cage is bound to give me a close shave :(

Auckland (probably by virtue of its population) has the greatest concentration of bloody awful drivers in NZ.:yes:

[terbang]

A lot don't seem to realize or grasp the gravity of what they are doing and are not prepared to accept responsibility for their actions. So they tend to sit there in a euphoric, stunned mullet daze believing that it must be someone elses problem.

OK that was profound and this is just where it came from. Young 'T' (16 YO daughter) is on her learners licence and asked me to take her into town. And before I start, I reckon she is a cool kid and will make a good rider/driver. We are on the backroads and enter a right hander a little fast. It happens I guess and thats what learning is all about. With only partial visibility, she moved well right into the other lane to compensate for her excess speed..! Sort of grabbed my attention, this did and I asked
"Were you 100% sure that if Blair and Easale (Blairos and lady who often visit us) were coming the other way on their bike, would you have honestly seen them?"
"well yeah... I er reckon so"
"but bikes are small and they can appear to be be moving quite fast"
A stern set to her jaw
"Oh well if he was going too fast, then its his problem"
:gob:
Mown down by a driver who is on the wrong side of the road and its his fault..Tui ad please.

OK I could see she had given herself a fright and wracking her up over it was only going to get her back up. Later after some quiet contemplation and discussion she admitted that it had only then just started to truly dawn upon her the responsibility that she, as a driver was taking on. Not only to her and her passengers, but to other road users. A bigger picture!
Sure she learn't a bit about how to handle her car, but more importanly, she started to learn that she was in charge of a potentially lethal piece of machinery and that she bore a lot of responsibility on a public road.
Now she is a fairly typical young kiwi driver who is going through the process of learning to drive and was allready partially licenced before the impact of her (own) actions started to become a realization.
I havn't sat a road exam for years and havn't seen much material about the harsh reality of a drivers task, other than the ads on TV. I was a little surprised to be having to explain that side to her after she had passed her driving exams..
Maybe there are those that just slip through the cracks?

[beyond]

Yep, it's getting bad out there alright.
I suppose everyone thinks it won't happen to them or they would never be the cause of an accident until they actually are.

I remember my Dad was in hawkes bay hospital after his heart attack a couple ofyears back and there was a guy next to him with a broken arm and leg and his missus was in another ward with a broken pelvis. They were riding a crusier on the main road and a twit in a four wheel drive came around the corner on their side of the road, whacked them and sent them through a fence.

The mindless moron was changing a CD????? Could have killed them both.

[xwhatsit]

Yes it was a little hairy today. Twice I had cars cut into my lane (on Greenlane Rd) which required heavy braking and post-incident tooting. Curiously enough I saw both check their rear-vision mirror first (not side mirrors though, or any form of headcheck). I will now associate that behaviour with imminent cager action, so I'll be prepared for it next time.

Also had a bloke who seemed quite determined to undertake me, as earlier on I had gone to the head of the lights in front of him. He overtook me three (3) times, and each time I just casually rode past him as he'd get stuck behind slow traffic in the other lane and couldn't change lanes in time. Must've been very upsetting for his ego, poor man. Turned off in front of him, so he didn't get the satisfaction of overtaking me properly again.

Newmarket viaduct was the usual merging/weaving nightmare. Fairly marginal following distances between the cagers too, which meant that slow-downs were not gradual reduction of speed, but slammed-on brakes. Kept well back to make it easier for myself, but of course people just change lanes into the gap you leave.

Just more standard boring tales of cager-avoidance in Auckland. Just seemed to have a higher frequency of them, must've been the beautiful sunny weather (I know it brought on a slight hoon-ish tendency in me. Scraping pegs, 65kph round a 25kph corner. Don't think I'll be able to repeat that in a hurry :), I'm a bit of a Nana lol. I know the corner well, I ride it every day).

[Swoop]

Quite correct. I took extra notice of the cagers behaviour this morning, and my morning study concluded:
1, keep the gaps MUCH smaller between cages (which results in #2)
2, far more agressive "barging" into the traffic lane when either attempting to merge or when changing lanes.
3, even less use of the indicators (if that is actually possible in D'auckland...)
4, super-agressive moving into a spaces left between cages... normally without indication, OR at best, the "flash-and-go" lane change (normally resulting in #5).
5, cage mirrors becoming unusable.

[devnull]

Saw a prime example this morning....

Came up to Roberts Rd intersection, waiting to turn onto Te Atatu Rd.
There were a few cages coming & bike was cold, so happy to wait for a gap.

Then this bloody cage flies up behind me, goes around on my left, and pulls straight out, forcing the oncoming traffic to hit the brakes. :tugger:

There was a huge gap in less than 100m - all he had to do is let the 4 or so cages go past.

Pity Darwin's Law isn't more effective in weeding these fuckers out

[Ewan Oozarmy]

Is there actually a driving test in this country?

[discotex]

Pity Darwin's Law isn't more effective in weeding these fuckers out

Pity these fuckers tend to take someone else out rather than themselves. It does make vigilante justice seem appealing at times.

[90s]

I know I have told a lot of new lanesplitters on threads that cages are not usually trying to cut us up or block us out (but just have no awareness or safe driving process), but last night lanesplitting the SH16 (about 5:30pm) a BUS in the 'fast' lane appeared to deliberately move over to stop me coming through. I could devine no other cause for this move.

Now with 5 yrs combined daily commuting on cycles and bikes in Auckland I think many bus drivers genuinely hate all things two-wheeled. I have been deliberately shaved on my moutain bike - actually grazed - by a bus on White Swan rd. when there was plently of road space. And when I shouted at the driver he could give me more than an inch he said "you don't need more than an inch" and drove away. Bus drivers in Auckland are shockingly happy to give cycles (on Dominion rd for example) no space, force them off the road, and same for motorbikes. And this seems more than the usual cluelessness or thoughlessness but active.

Anyone else or is this just my perception?

[terbang]

Yup there are some bloody dangerous pricks out there.
Riding back through Drury towards Puke on Gt South road last night. Dickhead in a bright red HSVGTSEI Falcodore (one of those aussie cage things that makes them all feel a bit sporty), who had just left the northbound southern motorway, didn't give way to Moi. On the picks hard, big swerve and onto the horn. Missed him by an inch or two while noticing his bimbo in the passenger seat is giving him a bit of a rev up. He just gave me that indifferent look of "you shouldn't have been there anyway" and drove on. Grrrr

[Max Preload]

It does make vigilante justice seem appealing at times.

There's nothing more underrated than dishing out a bit of vigilante justice to the deserving.

[Max Preload]

Now with 5 yrs combined daily commuting on cycles and bikes in Auckland I think many bus drivers genuinely hate all things two-wheeled.

You're right - they do. Which is why I make special efforts to fuck them off when I'm in the cage. "Please let the bus go first" the sign says. Fuck that shit. The time of anyone taking a bus is clearly next to worthless or they'd be driving to their destination.

[xwhatsit]

The time of anyone taking a bus is clearly next to worthless or they'd be driving to their destination.

<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>Fuck you. Some of us don't have a choice.

[Steam]

...I make special efforts to fuck them off when I'm in the cage..... The time of anyone taking a bus is clearly next to worthless or they'd be driving to their destination.
I agree with Xerxesdaphat. That's not on old bean. Grow up and be an adult.

[Max Preload]

<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>Fuck you. Some of us don't have a choice.


I agree with Xerxesdaphat. That's not on old bean. Grow up and be an adult.

When you two ladies have nearly been wiped out as many times as I have by a bus indicating left and pulling right into your lane, you'll feel the same way. And until that day, bite me.

[Swoop]

The time of anyone taking a bus is clearly next to worthless or they'd be driving to their destination.
Some people wonder why Auckland has traffic problems...

Is there actually a driving test in this country?
It dosen't matter if the haven't decyphered the "rode code"... Most of them would require the use of an Enigma Cypher machine for that.

...a BUS in the 'fast' lane appeared to deliberately move over to stop me coming through. I could devine no other cause for this move.
Perhaps the spherical operator, of said bus, was reaching for another bucket of KFC to nibble on as a snack?

[jrandom]

My worst heavy-traffic experience in Auckland so far has been what happened two weeks ago, when a greasy State Highway 16 rose up and smacked me in the thumb. There was a car less than a kilometer away at the time.

I blame the Asians.

[Max Preload]

Some people wonder why Auckland has traffic problems...

Not me. I understand cause and effect. The Auckland public transport is not shit because people take their cars - people take their cars because Auckland's public transport is shit.

For decades the government has taken money from the motoring public under the guise of being used to improve our roads and spent it on shit like paying the most useless members of society to breed equally useless members of society or just to stay home getting drunk on DB, and frequently both. It's called "user pays" or more correctly "user pays and gets fuck all in return". Also, if the money collected in Auckland was spent in Auckland not provincial shitholes with 1 person per km of road, there would be no traffic problems in Auckland and the rest of the country would have the dirt tracks their contributions paid for. Don't get me started on the reduction of tourism such dirt tracks would have either - tourism is a whimsical bullshit industry - what we need to do is say "Fuck off" to all the eurpoean backpackers seeing the country on a dollar a day and get a better class of visitor and some proper industry.

But I digress.

[Steam]

I understand cause and effect.
No, no, I don't think you do.

A bus driver nearly hits someone

You intentionally drive/ride in order to piss off bus drivers because of (1)

Bus drivers become angry and drive worse because of (2)

Repeat cycle from (1) into infinity

[Max Preload]

No, no, I don't think you do.

A bus driver nearly hits someone

You intentionally drive/ride in order to piss off bus drivers because of (1)

Bus drivers become angry and drive worse because of (2)

Repeat cycle from (1) into infinity


Except that's not what happens in reality, but in your vacant head.

1) Bus driver drives like a prick, making manouvres that are hazardous to other road users. Example: switching on your indicators does not mean all other road users must yield.
2) I show them the same lack of courtesy they display but obey the rules of the road at the same time.
3) They get fucked off like the people they do it to. Some of them might think of their actions - most won't.

When they lift their game, I'll begin to show them the same consideration they show me. Until then, fuck 'em.

[more_fasterer]

My worst heavy-traffic experience in Auckland so far has been what happened two weeks ago, when a greasy State Highway 16 rose up and smacked me in the thumb. There was a car less than a kilometer away at the time.

I blame the Asians.

:rofl::rofl:



1) Bus driver drives like a prick, making manouvres that are hazardous to other road users. Example: switching on your indicators does not mean all other road users must yield.
2) I show them the same lack of courtesy they display but obey the rules of the road at the same time.
3) They get fucked off like the people they do it to. Some of them might think of their actions - most won't.

When they lift their game, I'll begin to show them the same consideration they show me. Until then, fuck 'em.

Having been blindly driven into by a bus jockey on multiple occasions both in cage & on bike, I'm right with you on this one. Even when I was sitting right beside the driver's window, with my cage's horn blaring through his open window, he still "failed" to see me and kept moving.

It's the awful truth (Ha! See what I did there? Did ya??) that most of these predominantly empty buses are driven without respect for other road users. So I'm quite happy to return the favour - as the saying goes, treat others as you'd have them treat you.

[90s]

Have to say that although I feel bus drivers often are fairly irresponsible that I treat them courteously - and not only because they are usually fuck-times bigger than me.

A bad driving culture only will perpetuate itself unless people try to make a difference. I can't see the awful-truth agreeing with this, but maybe if he had (and maybe he has) driven in countries with good driving cultures as I have he' realise he could have it so much better - if only we all tried a bit.

(note - yes I understand cause and effect, in fact I can model game-theory applications any way you want. You can play the zero-sum game and argue this is reality, but I do not agree. And I don't want to live that way either.)

[Max Preload]

A bad driving culture only will perpetuate itself unless people try to make a difference. I can't see the awful-truth agreeing with this, but maybe if he had (and maybe he has) driven in countries with good driving cultures as I have he' realise he could have it so much better - if only we all tried a bit.

That's where you're wrong - I used to be a naive idealist like you but I've largely been cured of that particular affliction. To hell with "do unto others" - that doesn't work. Now I'm trying to give the cunts a taste of their own medicine.

I used to be one of the most courteous drivers/riders on the road. I'd stop short of driveways and slow to create adequate gaps, flash my lights and in other ways indicate to people to go in front of me and join the flow of traffic and for the most part they weren't even concentrating on the fucking task at hand, off in their own dreamworld, staring pointlessly in the wrong direction (that is, the direction with no vehicles instead of looking for the gap from the other direction). And I'd often get stuck behind these muppets unneccessarily as I'm sure you do to. And it pisses me off because if they're so unalert, why are they even allowed on the road? Even when they do make take the opportunity I provide them, they rarely acknowledge my effort.

So I'm sure you can understand why I'm now leaning to the conclusion "why fucking bother?". Why not just join the minion drongos and say fuck everyone else and just pretend they don't even exist? The only thing that has stopped me from completely collapsing to their level is guilt. I feel guilty if I'm overtaking in the right lane on the motorway and someone behind me wants to go faster but I can't move over fast enough because the clown who just entered the motorway left the onramp at barely 80km/h and shot straight into the right lane forcing me to slow.

The fact is most drivers in NZ are completely oblivious to all other road users - police cars and ambulances with screaming sirens and flashing lights can sit on their ass for what seems like an eternity and they don't even fucking realise while I've seen them coming for literally hundreds of metres (no exageration) and moved over to let them through.

So you'll excuse me if I think it's largely no longer worth the effort to be overly courteous and instead I just follow the regulations. Experience has lead me to outgrow my former youthful idealism and I've grown into a realist. Most other drivers don't give a flying fuck about anyone else, so why would I. And in any case, karma is the philosophy of losers.

[90s]

That's where you're wrong - I used to be a naive idealist like you ... Now I'm trying to give the cunts a taste of their own medicine... And I'd often get stuck behind these muppets unneccessarily as I'm sure you do to... So I'm sure you can understand why I'm now leaning to the conclusion "why fucking bother?". Why not just join the minion drongos and say fuck everyone else and just pretend they don't even exist? ... The fact is most drivers in NZ are completely oblivious to all other road users ...
So you'll excuse me if I think it's largely no longer worth the effort to be overly courteous and instead I just follow the regulations. Experience has lead me to outgrow my former youthful idealism and I've grown into a realist. Most other drivers don't give a flying fuck about anyone else, so why would I. And in any case, karma is the philosophy of losers.

Sure, I agree with your experiences and reaction. And just for the record I wouldn't put myself up as a "young idealist". I am off to see the Cure tonight and I first saw them live in '88 (notsalgia trip I know) - incidently the year I got my first full. I am quite far from being a hippy too, although I admit I am a (proud) Latte Westie now.
20 yrs on the road has made me feel as you do much of the time. Part of the problem or part of the solution is my philosophy - nothing to do with Karma.
Sure many other people - some days it feels like most - are pricks, but I'm not. (or at least not whilst driving/riding).
Maybe I'll give in. I hope not. I can see where you are coming from, but I'm not going there. At least not yet.

So next time I cut you up to get 3m ahead in traffic that's going nowhere without indicating you can be happy - you were right, and I was wrong.

[90s]

Oh, naive idealist - not young. Guess I was thinking about my old age.
Idealist - sure. Naive, no. No one that drives like an idiot gets there faster than I. Reacting any other way would not satisfy me or get me ahead. My petty victories would not register on the idiots - so why bother with that?

[Max Preload]

So next time I cut you up to get 3m ahead in traffic that's going nowhere without indicating you can be happy - you were right, and I was wrong.

That's the difference. I would never not indicate. I pretty much follow ALL regulations religiously, bar speed.

[discotex]

Have to say that although I feel bus drivers often are fairly irresponsible that I treat them courteously - and not only because they are usually fuck-times bigger than me.

A bad driving culture only will perpetuate itself unless people try to make a difference. I can't see the awful-truth agreeing with this, but maybe if he had (and maybe he has) driven in countries with good driving cultures as I have he' realise he could have it so much better - if only we all tried a bit.


It's not just driving 90s. It's everything. When I was in San Francisco in Feb I was blown away at how polite the average person was compared to Auckland.

People automatically walk on the right on the footpath so they don't walk into each other - try that on queen st!!

If you're anywhere near a queue for something but aren't clearly lined up people will ask "are you in line?" before they assume you're not waiting and cut in.

It's fucking surreal and it puts us to shame. On the other hand literally no-one will give you the time of day walking down the street - guess the risk of mugging is too high.. That and homeless people everywhere begging for spare change.


That's where you're wrong - I used to be a naive idealist like you but I've largely been cured of that particular affliction. To hell with "do unto others" - that doesn't work. Now I'm trying to give the cunts a taste of their own medicine.


On the bike I'm pretty much in the fuck them mode too. You pretty much have to own the road in Auckland. If you make the mistake of assuming people will obey the road rules or treat you like you're another living human you're dead.


Unfortunately we seem to be past the point that you can make a difference with your own behaviour. Too many people drive/act like total fuckers now. I do my best to not make it worse but I no longer feel guilty when I happen to be a less than model citizen - on or off the road.

[90s]

It's fucking surreal and it puts us to shame. On the other hand literally no-one will give you the time of day walking down the street - guess the risk of mugging is too high.. That and homeless people everywhere begging for spare change.

Yo got that right. Last time I was there work put me up in a cheap hotel (read backpackers hostel) next to Union Square - homeless central. TV were filling a report on homeless killings in the hotel lobby, and I had a guy screaming in my face "youre a fucking phony buddy" following me down the street when I didn't give him money.

Still, got to love SanFran and I'd love to ride a bike over the bridge and tour the 'other side'.

[discotex]

Yo got that right. Last time I was there work put me up in a cheap hotel (read backpackers hostel) next to Union Square - homeless central. TV were filling a report on homeless killings in the hotel lobby, and I had a guy screaming in my face "youre a fucking phony buddy" following me down the street when I didn't give him money.

Still, got to love SanFran and I'd love to ride a bike over the bridge and tour the 'other side'.

Hehe I didn't get any of that but I think their anti-panhandling bylaws make begging almost illegal. They were all pretty sweet and it was a handy way to dump all those 1c coins before I jumped in the cab to the airport :)

Real contrast of a place eh. I wasn't keen on going to the US on principal but as work was flying me business class I couldn't exactly say no. :Punk: Now I'm kinda keen to head back but Canada and Europe trumps the US still.

And as expected, when I got asked for my ID when ordering a beer a the diner under the hotel the guy sitting next to me sees it and goes "are you a kiwi too?"

[avgas]

I wonder if i could fit a submachine gun behind the fairing - hook the trigger to the horn?

[Sanx]

I wonder if i could fit a submachine gun behind the fairing - hook the trigger to the horn?

I'd prefer a rocket-propelled grenade. Far more satisfying.


Have to say that although I feel bus drivers often are fairly irresponsible that I treat them courteously - and not only because they are usually fuck-times bigger than me.

I've found a pretty good way of annoying bus drivers, but unfortunately it's becoming less possible these days. When they've done something sufficiently fuckwitted enough to deserve it, have a look at the back of their bus for the emergency fuel cut-off switch. More modern buses don't have it any more, but some older ones still do. Always a good thing to trigger when they're waiting at a set of lights.

[avgas]

I'd prefer a rocket-propelled grenade. Far more satisfying.
cept wen you catch up to it!!!! Like throwing rocks while standing in a glass house

[mbazza]

Your experience reminds me of an often repeated refrain in the mountaineering world. "Experience counts in the hiils!" Holds good for we who experience real danger on the roads on a day to day basis and deal with it appropriately. "Experience counts on a motorcycle!" Thanks for the write up. Cheers. :bye: