Lane splitting crackdown in Wellington?

[rastuscat]

I cycled 30 km one way to work quite a lot until I changed jobs.

The first 15 km was out in a rural area and was a training ride, head down arse up. But when I got into built up area it became an exercise in defensiveness.

If one were to film a snapshot of 10 minutes at any intersection in central Christchurch you would see so many potentially risky moves by cyclists, motorcyclists, car drivers, truck drivers. Some are legal, some not.

When you have a broken arm, leg and ruptured spleen, the legality of an action means little.

Even rigid adherence to law is no guarantee of safety.

[pritch]

But you can't be convicted of excess breath alcohol on a bicycle as the Land Transport Act section which deals with drink drIrving specifies "motor vehicle".

Who knew? I will file that one away. Thanks for that.

[PrincessBandit]

...

When you have a broken arm, leg and ruptured spleen, the legality of an action means little.

Even rigid adherence to law is no guarantee of safety.

Which really only affirms the old "do you want to be right or alive" mantra. Also applies to allowing dickheads on the same stretch of road as you doing their stupid shit and just staying the hell as far away from them as possible rather than doing anything which might be legally correct (e.g. determinedly sticking to a speed limit making it difficult or more risky for them to carve past you) but then ends up in tears all round.

[southernmike]

Who knew? I will file that one away. Thanks for that.

You can still end up just as dead on a bicycle though!

[Big Dog]

25+ years ago the distinction Rastus describes certainly didn't stop my brother from getting detained. The term arrested was used but he was not cuffed or charged with anything.
He was taken to the station.
A couple of hours later he was dropped home along with his pushbike and an infringement for something. Couldn't tell you what.


I suspect the cop didn't know the distinction before the got down town. I also suspect my brother failed the attitude test.
Sent from Tapatalk. DYAC

[rastuscat]

25+ years ago the distinction Rastus describes certainly didn't stop my brother from getting detained. The term arrested was used but he was not cuffed or charged with anything.
He was taken to the station.
A couple of hours later he was dropped home along with his pushbike and an infringement for something. Couldn't tell you what.


I suspect the cop didn't know the distinction before the got down town. I also suspect my brother failed the attitude test.
Sent from Tapatalk. DYAC

The law on drink drive 25 years ago was in the Transport Act 1962, Section 58. Now it's in the Land Transport Act, Section 57.

I suspect that over the years many arrests were made which were turned into the Fish and Chip Act when it was realised that they were unlawful.

Your brother would have been detained for detoxification, a law still available. Fortunately. It allows police to detain someone for their own good until the booze wears off.

Interesting that he still got a ticket. The attitude test appears not to have gone well.

[rastuscat]

Who knew? I will file that one away. Thanks for that.

It's surprising how many tiny wee details are unknown to folk.

Lots think they know the rules, but like everything, you don't know what you don't know.

I'm fairly good at the transport rules, but it's a specialist field with even more specialist fiends contained therein. Like boy racer modifications. I don't know much about them, mostly coz I don't care.

[swbarnett]

Lots think they know the rules, but like everything, you don't know what you don't know.

And most don't know enough to know how little they know. So they think they know everything.

[Scuba_Steve]

Lots of folk know the 2 second rule, few ever apply it.

And it's not just about stopping in time. If you are too close you reduce your visibility of other things, and reduce other road users view of you. That's a far bigger issue.

Which is why I bang on about following distance.

It's not about stopping time, it's about reaction time. It takes an avg of 1.5 secs (in a surprise) to acknowledge & react i.e. shove on the brakes; 2secs is just a much easier slogan & timing than 1.5secs (also alot of peoples 2secs is about 1.5) but does give some braking time in the equation too

Somewhat simplified in this graph... Humans are slow creatures, mostly thanks to our colour vision apparently


This is also why impeding the flow of traffic is a much more dangerous offense than speeding as it causes a long line of tailgating/reduced following distances; compounded when they're also failing to keep left (a pet peeve of mine)

[Akzle]

i always thought it was (you should be able to stop in...) "half the clear distance ahead of you"

meh. No fucks given. I havent ridden/driven into any shit in days.

[rastuscat]

It's not about stopping time, it's about reaction time. It takes an avg of 1.5 secs (in a surprise) to acknowledge & react i.e. shove on the brakes; 2secs is just a much easier slogan & timing than 1.5secs (also alot of peoples 2secs is about 1.5) but does give some braking time in the equation too

Somewhat simplified in this graph... Humans are slow creatures, mostly thanks to our colour vision apparently


This is also why impeding the flow of traffic is a much more dangerous offense than speeding as it causes a long line of tailgating/reduced following distances; compounded when they're also failing to keep left (a pet peeve of mine)

Cheers Skoober

Stopping distance plus reaction time is one reaspn why I leave so much following distance.

I also find I have less stress when I sit back and give myself a safety buffer.

[swbarnett]

i always thought it was (you should be able to stop in...) "half the clear distance ahead of you"

It's "the distance that you can see to be clear" on a road with a center line. Half that on one without.

[Swoop]

Just don't expect everyone to be an expert...

You do realise the site you are logged into?

Fucksakes, what has happened around here?

[Akzle]

You do realise the site you are logged into?

Fucksakes, what has happened around here?

i blame the jews

[5150]

A cycle is classified as a vehicle. Some laws specify "vehicle" while others specify "motor vehicle".

If that is the case, then why don't they pay registration? After all, they are public road users as well..