Warning: gravel, turkeys & cyclists!

[bogan]

Are cyclists meant to stop at red lights?

apparently they can get off and walk them anytime its safe, if they ride through I assume the 50pts for a cyclist comes in to play?

know a guy who hit a jaywalker just to prove his point, dude was acting all stauch crossing the road, looking straight at the oncoming driver assuming he would have to stop. Driver did slow down but still knocked the guy off his feet, so be warned, there are some angry people out there looking for any excuse

[modboy]

apparently they can get off and walk them anytime its safe, if they ride through I assume the 50pts for a cyclist comes in to play?

know a guy who hit a jaywalker just to prove his point, dude was acting all stauch crossing the road, looking straight at the oncoming driver assuming he would have to stop. Driver did slow down but still knocked the guy off his feet, so be warned, there are some angry people out there looking for any excuse

[MarkH]

No, but I've had someone ring *555 due to my behaviour on a bicycle.

Ooh - I hope they didn't catch your license plate!

[vtec]

Okay, time for some perspective.

How often do you find yourself stuck behind some cyclists two wide for more than 1 minute? If not very often then whats the big deal. If you are on a motorcycle, you are skinny enough to lanesplit surely theres enough room to overtake some bicycles. How much emotional damage happened to you when you had to ease off the throttle so you could do it safely?

I was driving along Tamaki drive the other day, and the traffic was pretty damn bad and I noticed that most cars only had one person in them, so effectively providing the same amount of transportation per vehicle as a bicycle. With all the cars going along there crawling at 20kph or less. The cars were actually hogging the whole lane, and the bicycles had to use either the center median strip or chance their luck going between the cars in traffic and the parked car door opening zone putting their lives at risk more so than usual. I don't hear any cyclists crying about being held up by cars.

I drive my car and feel that the main impediment to my progress appears to be other cars, and in fact I have never had a bicycle hold me up at all. I've been driving for ten years now. Usually when you overtake a bicycle you just end up waiting behind another car and the bicycle takes back the position.

Also of note, if you can't stop in the visible road in front of you then you are driving too fast for road conditions, take it to the track.

If people had to spend a certain number of hours on a bicycle before they were allowed to ride a motorbike or drive a car, I PROMISE there would be far less accidents.

Every now and then I've come up on bicycles on the open road, it seems pretty rare, so what do I do I've got a fucken dilemma on my hands, do I keep going at my same speed and hope nobody comes the other way so I can overtake them without having lost any of my precious kinetic energy, or do I ease up so I can overtake them in the visible space that I have on the road. Remember they are usually going at least 30kph, unless they are touring over 100k per day. So they are giving 30kph more space to ease up your speed in. lets say you are going 110kph, you only have to brush off 80kph to match their speed, in a space in front of you that is constantly moving forwards at 30kph, not bloody hard.

If I hear someone else crying about cyclists ruining their lives, I'll want to bitch slap them.

Having worked as a bicycle courier I've got some good insight, I'm a car driver and a motorcycle racer too. Now, as a bicycle in Central, you are INVISIBLE to all other road users and pedestrians, thusly you have to take your safety in your own hands (not all cyclists understand this). So, remember this is coming from a fringe of NZ cyclists, and in fact I represent on 2 of the courier fraternity who hold onto cars for extra speed, if you want to stay alive you cannot stick to the conventional road rules, you have to use ALL of the available riding space to keep yourself alive this includes footpaths, and the other side of the road, and sometimes you even have to dominate a car lane to prevent some muppet pushing you into the car door opening zone, I have been hit side on by a car while on the footpath doing 5kph as I was just warming up in the morning, this was my awakening when I realised I could not put ANY responsibility for my safety in anyone elses hands. I have therefore formulated a new road code for myself. 1. Do anything you can to not hit and not get hit by another vehicle or person. 2. Because you can't rely on anybody else to follow the rules with regard to bicycles, bicycles are completely exempt from the standard road code rules (as long as you are clever enough to not get caught).

On the open road you have to rely on people approaching you from behind taking enough responsibility not to hit you. Unfortunately it seems like that demographic is extremely agitated by this responsibility.

I don't understand why all different parts of society hate each other so much.

[beyond]

No problem with all that. The problem is when they are two and three abreast on blind corners making car drivers swerve around them and then the car drivers are busy coming at you in your lane making you swing off the road or having to take evasive action to prevent a head on.

[Katman]

Okay, time for some perspective.........


........I don't understand why all different parts of society hate each other so much.

And to add another perspective.......

To all those motorcyclists who have a deep seated resentment towards cyclists - there is a sizeable percentage of car drivers that feel the very same resentment towards motorcyclists.





(Oh, but that's right - they're just fucking cagers.)

[kiwifruit]

Cycling > Motorcycling.

[nsrpaul]

And to add another perspective.......

To all those motorcyclists who have a deep seated resentment towards cyclists - there is a sizeable percentage of car drivers that feel the very same resentment towards motorcyclists.





(Oh, but that's right - they're just fucking cagers.)

good call, you would think those on two wheels would stick together a little

all you big men need to try riding down your local hill in lycra, see how tough you are when you can still do 80kph on road race push bike tyres (think your mc has a small contact patch) and no leathers

push bike haters = small willy losers

[EJK]

Cycling > Motorcycling.

hear hear

[nsrpaul]

No problem with all that. The problem is when they are two and three abreast on blind corners making car drivers swerve around them and then the car drivers are busy coming at you in your lane making you swing off the road or having to take evasive action to prevent a head on.

agian fair call, but a small minority doesnt need to tar all cyclists with the same brush

also the car driver shouldn't be crossing the centre lane on a blind corner no mater what

If I think real hard I know fukwits from most areas of society, even motorcycling (ok less from there than others)

I hold up heaps of cars on my tractor, thats a real pain but what can you do, it just won't go very fast

[nsrpaul]

Cycling > Motorcycling.

to right

[bogan]

Okay, time for some perspective.
.......

I hear that, and personally i dont have much of a problem with sitting behind one for a little bit (no problem at all if they are riding considerately). But when they put themselves in real danger of being killed by other motorists (as in shreks case) it pisses me off a little, I cant imagine what it would feel like to be in a fatality causing accident, but Im sure it would seriously alter the lives of all involved.

agian fair call, but a small minority doesnt need to tar all cyclists with the same brush
...

Fair enuf indeed, but to put it back in perspective of beyond's OP, the warning about cyclist is a good one, they dont have mirrors (the majority anyway) and a lot don't seem to perform head checks, meaning you gotta be extra careful round them, and they are harder to spot than tractors and other slow moving vehicles. Maybe we are just jealous that they pay no RUC, ACC and need no training, license, and in some cases, no understanding of road rules to be allowed to ride.

[Katman]

I cant imagine what it would feel like to be in a fatality causing accident, but Im sure it would seriously alter the lives of all involved.

I wonder how many car drivers have had to live with the vision of a motorcyclist slamming into their windscreen through no fault of the car driver.

[twinkle]

No problem with all that. The problem is when they are two and three abreast on blind corners making car drivers swerve around them and then the car drivers are busy coming at you in your lane making you swing off the road or having to take evasive action to prevent a head on.

making? how does 80kg of cyclist make a car do anything? lean on the side of it and push it into the other lane?
You mean car drivers can't be arsed braking and simply swerve into the oncoming lane regardless, right?

[beyond]

making? how does 80kg of cyclist make a car do anything? lean on the side of it and push it into the other lane?
You mean car drivers can't be arsed braking and simply swerve into the oncoming lane regardless, right?

Yeah, exactly right