Comments on: Riding safely

By: Daniel Endicott

Daniel Endicott — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:29:48 +0000

Please never ride in the car door lane….
Even when Bicycle Victoria continue to publish crap about riding slowly, or checking for rear brake lights etc. I only heard/saw my 1st one last month and it was sickening. And one of my friends just got doored, lucky to be alive. Many Councils are incouraging car door death riding by placing bike pictures in the car door zone. They look like bike lanes and motorists and cyclists think they should ride there.
Yes I admit motorists get angry when you take the lane, but they don’t know the dangers of car-door-death riding. Why don’t I just make motorists happy, and ride in car door lane? Answer is I don’t want to die. I’d rather be safe and ride in the traffic lane, and then other cars travel at safe speeds behind me. Win – Win situation for everyone
bike-safe-fun-hugs
Dan

By: christophermoore

christophermoore — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:36:52 +0000

Hi Kim,

If you come along to our Wednesday workshops (12pm-2pm on the Quad lawn) you can ask everyone there any questions you have, as well as getting those kinds of data. A few of us already use bike computers if that would be helpful… They yield data like maximum speed, average speed, time riding…

Contact me on christophermoore a t gmail.com

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:56:24 +0000

Hi there,
I’m not a member of this club but have recently started my research at UNSW (Safety Science) to do with pedal cycle accidents and helmet effectiveness. Just wondering if any of you guys would like to be involved in a part of the study.
I need to collect some data on typical riding speeds (recreational riding and commuting), bike style, frame size, ride height, helmet style and size, height and weight. Am thinking of purchasing a GPS to log speed and road profile – if anyone has recommendations for a suitable system please let me know.
I’ll keep you posted but any suggestions are welcome at this stage. Thanks!

By: bikeclub

bikeclub — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:15:13 +0000

If anybody is ever frustrated in the future with blog permissions, let me know and i’ll make you an author so you can post stuff.

By: bikeclub

bikeclub — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:14:38 +0000

Wow, Tom, that’s a horrendous crash story. Your photo didn’t come up for me when i tried. From now we can put photos straight onto the Flicker photo account, i just have to remember the password!!

By: Chris Moore

Chris Moore — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:55:10 +0000

There’s a new smoky vehicles website here:

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/esdsmoky/index.htm

I just reported a car, it’ll be interesting to see whether anything comes of it.

By: Tom Hilliar

Tom Hilliar — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:24:02 +0000

P.S. This silly blog removed my link to the image of my face in the article and several other bits automatically :)

The part it removed was the bit about the roadway
It went in to three lanes,
One: Compulsory Left or Straight Ahead,
Two: Compulsory Straight
Three: Compulsory Right

Here is an image of my face;
http://musoc.exofire.net/images/Damagedgoods.jpg

By: Tom Hilliar

Tom Hilliar — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:21:04 +0000

Hey guys.
Safety story.

My new rule for everyone is MAINTAIN THREE SECOND DISTANCE FROM CAR IN FRONT.

Travelling South behind Taxi on the way past St Vincents’ Hospital on Victoria St. Approaching intersection at Oxford St, the single road changes to 3 lanes as described below.
, ,

We are travelling in the central lane at 12km/h going straight ahead. I am 1 1/2 metres behind the taxi. A car makes a sudden change from the compulsory right hand turn lane into the taxi’s lane 15 metres before corssing oxford street.

The taxi is forced to slam on his brakes and come to an immediate stop. My bike and I travel straight in to the back of the taxi before I even have time to brake.

I am wearing a helmet but my chin and lips smash the back glass of the taxi and I fall to the ground. The severe facial lacerations as shown below also result in severing my sensory and motor nerves to the lower left left lip. I will unfortauntely remain without this sensation and control for 6 months to 12 months. Total bummer. I am a trumpeter in 5 bands so this puts me out for a WHOLE YEAR at least. I have an 80% chance of getting sensation back.

PLEASE be careful everyone. It doesn’t need to be said how damn dangerous it is out there on the roads. Hang back 3 seconds. Who cares if you get passed my aggressive cars. It’s simply not worth not having the stopping distance when you need it.

Best wishes,

Tom Hilliar.
0409 446 787
TomTHilliargmailcom.

By: Alice

Alice — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:56:58 +0000

What with the lovely weather of late, thought I’d ask people what their attitudes are to riding in the rain? do you think it’s safe? Anyone got statistics on this? A couple of friends have had a minor tumble in the past couple of weeks, luckily with no cars around. If it was just a matter of getting wet I wouldn’t mind, but the roads can be slippery and oily, and drivers are extra impatient. But then when it rains for 3 weeks… you just go crazy if you don’t ride!

According to Ani DiFranco ‘the rain is no place for a bicycle ride, try to hit the brakes and you slide an’you slide an’you slide an’you…’

By: Alice

Alice — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:44:30 +0000

Did you know that you can report cars that you can report vehicles to the Environmental Protection Authority if their exhaust smokes for more than 10 seconds?! http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/esdsmoky/startup.asp
The things you find when you’re cramming for an environmental impact assessment exam…
Ok so you need to have your wits about you and write down the number plate, remember the time of day, location etc., but it would be a cool action to get lots of cyclists doing, revenge for lungs full of exhaust smoke…