Bicycle Development

[red750]

Sorry octave. Honestly, this just popped up on Facebook. I just had to share it...

 

[facthunter]

At least pushies don't leave Poop everywhere. I have a picture circa 1989 with a very modern looking cycle and an elegant French gentleman on the Champs Elysee made by Hurtu, Hautin and Diligeon constructeurs. .   Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

My maternal grandfather was killed riding a bike, the story I believed was that he was the first person killed on the road by a drunk driver. My older sister, who is often wrong about such things, says  the grandfather was the drunk one.

Fast forward to last year when I used to ride my electric bike along the footpaths to Elizabeth. I was always polite to the ( rare ) pedestrian and I reckon they should have the right-of-way. Bikes are allowed to go 30km/hr, which is faster than scooters. They are also limited to 250 watts, which is quite a lot. ( champion types can just do 400 watts, I reckon 150 watts would be my limit. )  

When the kids were smaller, I always insisted that they use the footpath, on the grounds that I would proudly go to jail rather than have them run over. In the event, nothing ever happened with the cops and now the law has been changed to allow bikes to use the footpaths.

[Bruce Tuncks]

The footpath is safer than the road, but you still run the risk of fools reversing out of their driveways, going way too fast.

[spacesailor]

Southport Queensland , has cyclist riding two abreast on the footpath , over the bridge.

GOD help the poor old lady with Varicose veins , getting her leg swiped by a pedal  .

I had to put my foot on the road gutter to stop being hit . they don't slow down or give way .

I was berthed in the marine & went shopping .

 

The day of the bicycle !

 

spacesailor

Edited April 16, 2023 by spacesailor
image added

[facthunter]

There's been an orchestrated hate campaign in Sydney against bike riders for years lead by that notable  fair minded NOT commentator Alan Jones.  Why would bike riders who have no protection be  logically  and fairly accused of being the problem?  Nev

[spacesailor]

Because they Don't know , or care about the RULES,

When I started !,  so long ago . Bicycles were everywere ,

BUT

the road rules were Not heard of , in the cyclist community  . And the ' sublime ' four wheeler is the worst of the lot .

spacesailor

[octave]

47 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

Because they Don't know , or care about the RULES,

When I started !,  so long ago . Bicycles were everywere ,

BUT

the road rules were Not heard of , in the cyclist community  . And the ' sublime ' four wheeler is the worst of the lot .

spacesailor

 

Sorry spacey but this is rubbish. I would suggest that the percentage of rule-breaking cyclists is no greater than the percentage of rule-breaking car drivers.   As well as riding a bike I also drive a car,  I can't recall when driving my car, my safety being threatened however I have had several incidents on my bike where people have failed to give way or people have pulled out of driveways without looking or thrown open their door into a bike lane.  These are the actions of a small minority of drivers and I would never ever condemn all drivers and neither should drivers hang shit on all cyclists for the odd transgression. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have commuted by bicycle to and from work in Melbourne and London; In London, my last commute was 26ks each way and not too much of it flat.

 

The London driver is a lot different to the Melbourne driver; they are far more regimented and predictable. In London, where, at least on my route it was mainly those bloody narrow London roads, I was modst threatened by those speedster riders who throught the roads were practice lanes for their racing; many cyclist came to grief because of these overly aggressive and entitled a$$holes. But, London drivers are no saints, either - amongst themselves.

 

In Melbourne, it was the total opposite. Because of the bike lanes, it was joyfuyl to ride to work with even those lycra-clad maniacs; enough room for them to overtake and us to take a more sedate pace. When I was on the roads, the cars were so "relaxed" (i.e. lacadaisical and situationally unaware), there were many a time after getting home, I needed a visit from my mate, Wolfie, whom I met at about that time!

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

I'm all for giving bikes their own lane - everywhere. 

There simply should not be 15km/h vehicles sharing the same space as 100km/h vehicles,  for everyone's safety.

[Bruce Tuncks]

There was a horrible accident in SA where a drunken lawyer killed a cyclist, and he got away with it. He is now making lots of money defending similar drivers. And yes, they did change the law after his non-punishment. Personally, I think the judge was corrupt.

I have read that professional cyclists prefer to practice in Europe as there are fewer deliberate attackers there than here.

Does the pedestrian have right-of-way everywhere here, including where spacey had a near-miss?

[old man emu]

If they haven't changed the law, it is an offence to ride a bicycle on a footpath, unless the footpath is identified as a shared path. 

Children under 16 years of age are allowed to ride on a footpath. An adult rider who is supervising a bicycle rider under 16 may also ride with the young rider on the footpath. You should always adjust your speed to your environment.

 

[willedoo]

6 minutes ago, old man emu said:

If they haven't changed the law, it is an offence to ride a bicycle on a footpath, unless the footpath is identified as a shared path. 

It's the other way round in Queensland; it's legal to ride on the footpath unless there's a 'no bicycle' sign. I don't think it's always been like that. I have a vague memory of bicycles banned from footpaths some years ago.

[Bruce Tuncks]

In South Australia ( the place where there were no convicts ) they changed the law a few years ago to allow bikes to use footpaths. I dunno what is the case here in vic.

And I dunno if it is ok or not to ride a bike facing the traffic, like we were always told to walk if there were no footpaths.

I have seen kids riding bikes on footpaths around town, so I think it is legal here. I'd like some help though with the question about riding on the side of the road that faced the oncoming traffic. I can see 2 sides to the argument.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Here's a very fast calculation of kinetic energies....

50 tonne truck @ 100km/hr, ke= 1.9 MJ. Bike @ 30 kph, ke =3.4kJ, fat lady with shopping @ 0.5m/sec , ke=15 J

So the bike is between the truck and the shopping lady, but much closer to the shopping lady in absolute numbers.

In percentages, the bike has 0.18% if the truck's ke, while the shopping lady has 11 % of the bike's energy.

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

oops sorry, the shopping lady has a lot less than 11% of the bikes ke

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

It's more like 0.4%

 

[Old Koreelah]

Statistics aside, every collision hurts. I haven’t cycled into our town for years and won’t allow my family to either, because of the increased traffic on the highway.

[onetrack]

In W.A., bikes were banned from footpaths due the danger posed to pedestrians - but with recent changes to the law, cyclists are allowed to use the footpath if there's no bikepath - but they're limited to 20kmh, and the onus is on them to keep a sharp eye out for pedestrians, and pedestrians always have right of way.

 

I will never ride on any vehicular road again (that doesn't have a defined bikepath) after having nearly been wiped out by a stupid careless woman motorist some years ago. 

I was riding up to a light-controlled intersection where the road changed to two defined lanes. I was right on the kerb and this bloody woman driver simply swerved into my lane like I didn't exist, and she missed my handlebars by less than 50mm. You don't stand a chance against any car when on a bike, and so many car drivers (4WD's seem to be the worst offenders) have a feral hatred of cyclists.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by onetrack

[octave]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-17/police-search-for-driver-after-hit-and-run-noble-park/102230172

 

[spacesailor]

Yes,  that car driver will cop the wrath of the entire population .

We Are allowed to hate those lycra clad pricks.  but not to kill them !.

spacesailor

[octave]

Spacey why such hatred for a whole group of people.  I wonder if you think I am a Lycra clad prick?

I feel it is this kind of hatred that makes a a small percentage of people feel they can hit someone with their car.

[spacesailor]

Not the whole group as I used to enjoy cycling myself !.

But

Just like hoons in hotted-up cars , Lycra clad ' hoons ' don't play nice , 

I have to be careful of crossing a concrete pathway , ( $5 million cycleway ) .

As those ' hoons ' are out to scare the daylights out of All doddering pedestrians. 

They won't even ding their bell untill right beside you. 

.PS even the powered cycles are riding away from that cyclway as they get yelled st too.

spacesailor

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by spacesailor

[onetrack]

And then there's always the cycling donkeys, like this woman (below), who chose to ride abreast with her hubby, outside the bike lane - and who expects road trains to just swerve around her! She deserves all the abuse she copped.

 

https://au.news.yahoo.com/perth-cyclist-sent-abusive-messages-after-near-miss-with-truck-38576534.html

[Bruce Tuncks]

I agree with onetrack and so I waited till the law change before buying an electric bike, although I had actually ridden to work ( 20K) beforehand on a normal bike.  There is a real danger of being deliberately killed by a sick car driver if you are sharing the road.  I used to have  a rear-vision mirror to see them coming up fast behind me but I'd sure rather  be allowed to ride on the other side of the road so that I was facing the oncoming cars. Then it would take little to swerve off the road to the right.