bikes

CAT17

I agree bikes are great - the only problem they don't seem to have riders who follow the road rules. I think bike (I assume we are talking about the pedal type) should be registered like cars and then perhaps the bike riders and the car drivers just might have a bit more respect and car for each other! I find bike riders in their lycra suits just don't seem to get it that they do not have right away - I have nearly been knocked down by a bike rider and I was on the footpath? He was most unpleasant when I protested! What do others think?

jjdrer

Hi Blossom read your reply thanks for that. I guess what should be said that everyone should and must be aware of others using roads, paths, bike lanes etc. Respect for each other would save a...

Thanks CAT17.
I had another experience with a car/van(Govt. owned). The driver in the van went past me, pulled over to the kerb, switched off the motor next to the Dept. equipment on the footpath, obviously didn't check his mirrors at all and opened his door as I was riding past him. I almost "collected" the outer edge of the door. There was no vehicle passing me so I was able to swerve a bit to miss it. The guy had to cheek to yell out at me to watch where I was going next time. I wasn't about to go back and tell him to check his mirrors before opening his door onto the road.
I witnessed another incident too. A Mum was driving an old VW Beetle. Her child who would have been about 8 y.o. wasn't wearing his/her seat belt on. was in the back but obviously wanted something off the dashboard or in the glovebox. His waist (or near as I could tell) was across the top of the front seat(early ones didn't have headrests), his/her feet in the air in the back and his/her head near the dashboard. She was going around a blind corner in the middle of the road.
I still shudder to think what would have happened to her child if had to brake. it was ver irresponsible dangerous driving. I got off the road to the footpath, off my bike and stopped as soon as she passed me. I didn't want to get caught up in her foolishness if anything happened. I don't think I ever got off the road so quickly in my life other than then. What concerned me the most was the child being where he/she was and could also have gone head first through the windscreen.

I hope the weather is good over Christmas / New Year. So many don't drive to the conditions. Seem seem to delight in making big "splashes" by driving a lot faster - especially through puddles risking aquaplaning on the road. It is so easy to lose control of a vehicle that way. I have been a passenger in a car going very slowly having only just left a side street and giving away to other vheicles where it had been raining heavily and the water was deeper than it appeared to be. We could feel the car moving about. The next morning we found out that the Police closed the road 10 minutes later.

CAT17

I have had a problem on bikeways with cyclists not ringing their bells at all. Some places in my opinion are not safe to ride on anyway. Bike lanes on some roads have broken up so much that there...

Hi Blossom read your reply thanks for that. I guess what should be said that everyone should and must be aware of others using roads, paths, bike lanes etc. Respect for each other would save a lot of lives on our roads too. Drive/ride safely everyone and have a happy safe Christmas

Blossom

I agree bikes are great - the only problem they don't seem to have riders who follow the road rules. I think bike (I assume we are talking about the pedal type) should be registered like cars and...

I have had a problem on bikeways with cyclists not ringing their bells at all. Some places in my opinion are not safe to ride on anyway. Bike lanes on some roads have broken up so much that there is literally cracks in the surface and edges are broken away. Ride over them at the wrong angle and you have to be an expert not to go out of control. White paint lines are slippery the same as they can be for motor vehicles.
Bikes that go over a certain speed are supposed to be registered. Bikes are only allowed to ride two abreast but a lot - in their lycra suits- ride more than that side by side. Children are allowed to ride on the footpath until they reach a certain age.
However I will admit I have done it for about 10 metres a few times but I always stop and wait for people to walk past, then I go down the bikeway about 20 metres then go down a couple of side streets before I get home. There was a Police Radar on the footpath one day so I went a bit further than normal and explained why I did it for safety. He could have fined me but he said the short distance I did and the fact that I always got off and waited for pedestrians I was safer that way. I didn't know that he saw me wait for some pedestrians.Otherwise I have to cross a very busy road, go about 100 -150 metres then turn right down a side street. Also riding almost in the gutter one afternoon after work I was going futher than normal on that road. Coming towards me a vehicle decided to do a U-Turn ---no indicator on (I have a witness to that) and hit the kerb. Fortunately there was a corner on my side of the road and he started to go on the wrong side of the road before he got level with me so I went around the corner only fraction of second. He actually skidded and hit the kerb as he did the U-Turn. I was really frightened.
A friend of ours was hit by a lad on roller skates in Rundle Mall in Adelaide CBD.
He got an injured arm and shoulder. Being a self employed tradesman, meant he was unable to work at all until recovered from his injuries and had to have intensive physiotherapy. I have also seen a lad on a skateboard on the footpath in King William Street and nearly knocked down several pedestrians. He obviously had plenty of experience as he fell off at a driveway, got up straight away and raced off again.