So apparently anyone riding fixed gear in front of me WILL nearly die. possibly.
If the guy on the sky blue motobecane fixie posts here - that running dismount off the bike on Brunswick St this afternoon was amazing! I was the guy behind you…
A motorbike pushed him into the gutter after he pulled in to the curb without checking his mirrors. At least the biker was genuinely sorry.
Then just past the bowling club further up Brunswick a lowered Commodore does the same thing to me! At least I scratched up his passenger side door from where I was wedged against the gutter. “sorry mate, I didn’t see you” REALLY?
You can really ride fast with some adrenalin in your system.
Ha, this happened to me just 10 minutes ago, was riding along and car in front of me just indicates and slams on brakes with out checking I had to squeeze through this tiny gap between two cars and still ended up clipping it a lil bit.
Got hit by my first car today and by car I mean minivan which turned a corner without indicating or checking the mirrors either while I was speedily heading down Melbourne street this morning late for work. Hit me pretty hard and I got bounced a couple of meters sideways but somehow didn’t break anything or come off my bike just went on my way hopefully giving the guy a heart attack. I think he fucked up my left pedal though cuz it was broken by the time I got to work :x
Jeeeesus christ. What happens when something lands hard on the ground? It breaks! If something hit’s you on your right(it’s left) you aren’t going to fall to your right are you? Chances are that you’re gonna fall to your left, onto your left hand side. Do the math.
Quick question here guys: what to do if you are in the bike lane and the car next to you is turning left at the traffic lights? Do you wait for the car to turn or is the car supposed to give way to you?
I have never ridden in the city before (mainly ride along the yarra river) so have never encountered such a situation, but this has come to my mind since working along collins and exhibition everyday.
Car gives way to you. If you are waiting at a red light, then you should move to the front of the lane and in front of the car as much as you can, so then they can’t push around you.
Or, even better, if there is one of those ‘bike boxes’ at the front of the lane then move completely in front of the car and take that space up. Sometimes the car will drive into the bike lane. In that case, I still move in front of the car and give the driver a quick – ‘I’m pushing in front of you because I have right of way’ look.
While this picture is American and better than what we have, the principle in Melbourne is the same – the car gives way and the bike goes to the front with right of way. And this applies even if the bike box isn’t there:
I’ve found the best thing you can do at lights (and wherever close contact with cars is) is to make sure you are seen by the drivers around you.
Gaining brief eye contact and maybe a brief acknowledgement wave is a good method, but try not to make it look like a death stare as it wont really help you.
I think the Xmas holidays mean we’re all having the same problem.
I was on the way to work and a guy in a van pulled through the bike line into me and I brushed his mirror. He called my work and told them one of their riders crashed into him, the rider wasn’t on the right of any parked cars, there was no bike lane, he indicated and his $400 mirror was hanging by a thread. Aaaaall bullsh*t. Trying to get me in trouble with work???
Of course a courier company is going to know best just how much shit cyclists get on the road so I’m in fine standing with the company still. But the nerve!
Then yesterday there was a car zig zagging on the left of the road looking for a park, not indicating and generally being stupid; getting in the way of a bus etc. I push through [before the bus indicated for the record] cause I’ve got the bike lane and right of way whatever but the bus driver decided to teach the bad driver a lesson by cutting him off. Hang on though… I’M IN THE MIDDLE!! My back wheel squeezed out from between them with less space than would fit my cranks.
If this sh*t was happening to less experienced cyclists THEY WOULD DIE.
I’ve got heavy regrets because all I did was tap on the bus drivers window and I never got the van drivers registration. I should have told them both “you nearly crushed me”. These are the things people need to hear.
There are douche bags in all areas of life. The road is just a place where you can’t avoid encountering them.
Agree, although that is more related to controlled intersections. I’ve seen plenty of cyclists sneak up on the left side of traffic only to be cut off/hit by somebody turning left…myself included. Cyclists have to be cautious of vehicles turning left (and right), not just booting it because we have right of way.
Mrs P!N2 got car doored on the weekend, I was in front and heard a nasty collision. It was in the bike lane between a queue of cars, and someone in a taxi got impatient and swung their door out, cutting off the bike lane - nowhere to go. Hopefully no serious injuries, but she is nursing a sore back.
If traffic is moving through an intersection however then the car has right of way. It is illegal for a bicycle to overtake a moving vehicle on the left that is indicating left. If traffic is stopped then go nuts.
