Cyclists! Why do they ride in the middle of the road?

[Mushu]

Well that explains a lot.

Doesn't really explain anything, road rage is the main reason I don't bother with lane splitting, and the fact I live in Christchurch means there isn't traffic ques long enough to make it worth while.

[Shadowjack]

Doesn't really explain anything, road rage is the main reason I don't bother with lane splitting, and the fact I live in Christchurch means there isn't traffic ques long enough to make it worth while.

I dunno about that - one time there were at least half a dozen cars in the queue I was in...

[Mushu]

I dunno about that - one time there were at least half a dozen cars in the queue I was in...

I just wait for them to stop at a light and then filter past. That way you only have to worry about if the front guy is pissed off that you'll get home before him.

[Big Dog]

If it's worth 10k I'd happily ride into a car door, I've crashed plenty of pushbikes over the years, never been paid for it and often into things harder than car doors.

I never said people don't throw open car doors without looking but in that situation the hazard is in front of you and likely not fatal, on the other hand a car that doesn't see you is behind giving you far less of a chance to escape.

So what's your point.

As far as the kids, thousands of them ride to and from school every day, yet it always seems to be adults that get killed on bikes on the road.

Top three results of a Google search on the subject
37 years old
22 years old
50 years old
Kids do get knocked off their bikes just not nearly as often as adults.

Or it is so common it's not news?
When I was at primary, 30 years ago, only those kids who would have had to cross a major 4 lane road or were travelling further than 10 kms did not travel by push bike or foot. School of 3-400 kids had about 100 bikes in foul weather, double that in good weather.

Injuries / fatalities were rare and usually poor judgement crossing a curb.

In recent years I can't remember the last time I saw a primary age student riding to school on the road. A few on the foot path. A fair amount with an adult on the footpath and a couple in groups with an adult at the front and another adult at the back.
Certainly not the 1/2 the schools population, with most of them travelling without an adult.

Some of this I put down to parents taking a more involved approach to getting kids to school in the wake of some kidnapped school kids, some of it I put at the feet of higher traffic volumes. The largest contributing factor in my experience, as a rider, parent and road user is the lack of consideration shown by a typical road user these days.


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[cynna]

if you guys cant ride around a bicycle then keep your slippers on and stay off the roads cos motorcycles arent for you

[R650R]

That is so far beyond ridiculous I don't even know where to start.

Good. I was taking the piss a bit their but the point is these bikes don't just appear out of thin air. Just like wind turbines there is associated infrastructure and transport along with petroleum industry sourced components

My point is only that one cannot say that the working cyclist has not contributed financially to the construction and maintenance of the roads. You are correct that they pay less but that's only fair because they cause far less wear and tear on the road than the average car or truck.

But what about all the other vehicles braking and accelerating/changing course due to a cyclists presence.
Then there's all that green paint ($180 per m) on cycle lanes not to mention the construction of them.
As stated above there is an entire niche industry associated with cycling with consequent emmisions during manufacture. If they were so concerned about wear and tear on roads they should do the good thing and take the bus.
Cycling can be an enjoyable way to get about but this false holier than thou based on assumptions about emmisions is annoying.

[Twentypercent]

For those on here having a cry about being held up by cyclists, think yourselves lucky you don't live near a big congested city.
There are subtypes of cyclists that we don't have here in NZ. Like proper cycle couriers, for example. Unbelievably fit and strong, hyper-aggressive and short-tempered. Tooting your horn at them is a BIG mistake.
And I'd love to see your response to a Critical Mass demo!

[R650R]

As far as the kids, thousands of them ride to and from school every day, yet it always seems to be adults that get killed on bikes on the road.

Kids do get knocked off their bikes just not nearly as often as adults.

And therin lies the answer to the whole issue, just look at the difference in behaviour of the two groups.

Kids aware of risks, still strong natural instinct of anything bigger than me will squash me. So makes self aware of surroundings.

Adults aware of risks also, but believes car drivers fear of prison or fines means they can leave the whole collision avoidance activity to the car driver.
Natural instinct of fear of bigger things overshadowed by belief that their expensive lycra will signal the predators (car drivers) that they can afford an expensive lawyer.

[R650R]

For those on here having a cry about being held up by cyclists, think yourselves lucky you don't live near a big congested city.
There are subtypes of cyclists that we don't have here in NZ. Like proper cycle couriers, for example. Unbelievably fit and strong, hyper-aggressive and short-tempered. Tooting your horn at them is a BIG mistake.
And I'd love to see your response to a Critical Mass demo!

Be dealt with the same way any other drug taking road rage nutbar would be, and they wouldn't be the first either, been there done that and got the t-shirt.

Critical mass aka unlawful mass protest action. Just wait till kiwi truckers get like their france counterparts and blockade all the roads. Bet you be jumping in your car to get to supermarket before shelves run dry...
I see Volkswagon sales are booming despite this incident, hasn't damaged the brand name at all...

[swbarnett]

As stated above there is an entire niche industry associated with cycling with consequent emmisions during manufacture.

It's still a hell of a lot greener than driving a car.

If they were so concerned about wear and tear on roads they should do the good thing and take the bus.

I saw something once that showed buses up as one of the most inefficient forms of transport due to the fact that most of the time they're travelling empty. Even if more people used them to commute this is only at certain times of the day.

Cycling can be an enjoyable way to get about but this false holier than thou based on assumptions about emmisions is annoying.

Assume for a moment one person per vehicle (this is not really an assumption because most car commuters don't car pool). Compare the emissions from digging the raw material out of the ground to the end of the bicycle's life and you'll find the car is far and away the larger polluter. Not only is there one hell of a lot more matter to a car the emissions of an internal combustion engine certainly overshadow those of a cyclist's physiological engine.

[swbarnett]

I see Volkswagon sales are booming despite this incident, hasn't damaged the brand name at all...

I hope they ripped this wanker to pieces. They deserve no less.

[Twentypercent]

Be dealt with the same way any other drug taking road rage nutbar would be, and they wouldn't be the first either, been there done that and got the t-shirt

Your t-shirt might come out a bit the worse for wear.

[R650R]

I hope they...

Cant remember the outcome. Yes certainly not a very sporting move by the VW chap...

I saw something once that showed buses up as one of the most inefficient forms of transport due to the fact that most of the time they're travelling empty. Even if more people used them to commute this is only at certain times of the day.

Sounds a lot like cycle lanes...

Your t-shirt might come out a bit the worse for wear.

But only the T-shirt. I'll wear that to see some arrogant nutbar go to jail (pretty much a dead cert on roadrage charges, workmate 4x2'd a car driver...) along with returning some reasonable force under the circumstances of being subject to unprovoked attack by someone frothing at the mouth like their on P....
Really though using violence or implied threat of just because you got cut off/near miss is the height of stupidity. You can never judge a book by its cover and don't know how the other person will respond... and then there's the payback. Gangs are so widespread through this country that mr sixpack shaved chest lycra wearer might get randomly hit and runned the next day after yelling at the wrong persons granddaughter etc... 7/6 or 2 maybe degrees of separation and all...
Actually the sooner the cycling community weeds out the go-pro vigilantes the sooner the public will treat them with respect. There was never even a sniff of anti-cycling until the go-pro whiners club started moaning about day to day rough and tumble on the roads.

[cynna]

. Gangs are so widespread through this country that mr sixpack shaved chest lycra wearer might get randomly hit and runned the next day after yelling at the wrong persons granddaughter etc... 7/6 or 2 maybe degrees of separation and all...
.

oh - didnt realize you are in Brazil

[rustyblade]

Am I too late?