Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: I'm not a "f***ing cyclist". I'm Ruby's daddy, on a bike

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  • Ross Mason,

    Mirrors are wonderful. I have been trying to source the helmet mounted ones in NZ but with no luck. Any ideas people???

    We used them on our trip across Canada (mounted on the handlebar) and they were worth the extra weight!!!

    It takes away the wobble when turning the head. It is VERY difficult to learn to keep the bike travelling in a straight line while looking back. It makes timing your indications a hell of a lot safer as well becasue you can see when the gaps are coming up without turning your head. Nothign worse than turning around to find a bus RIGHT THERE! Ooooooo Whoops BIG wobble!

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    It’s four car parks, some distance from either beach, at a point where a median barrier had been added to try and curb accidents

    I missed this one Russell wot being down here like.

    A median barrier?
    In a 50km area?
    Two lanes?

    W T F !

    You guys have an issue up there.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Dismal Soyanz, in reply to Sacha,

    Interesting article. Thanks for pointing it out. A couple of bits caught my attention especially.

    Slowed motor traffic — “traffic calming” — is one of the department’s goals for new bike lanes, to the annoyance of many drivers.

    “I was shocked; I thought there had been a big accident,” Mr. Steisel said of a back-up on Carroll Street that he later attributed to a new bike lane. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

    Oh the irony....

    Wellington • Since Nov 2010 • 310 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Ross Mason,

    Ross, I understand the raised median was designed to deal with the crowds accessing the Kelly Tarlton's venue on the other side of the road, including pedestrians from tourbuses and cars that will not fit into the adjacent off-street carpark. Hence my comment upthread.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    Nearly every vehicle (notably always the big trucks and SUVs) pulled as far out of their lane as possible to give me room. I waved to every one of them in thanks.

    I actually find it a little disturbing how far Americans will pull out if you're walking on the verge. I have a 1km walk along a road with no footpaths - a house every ten metres or so, but no footpaths - to my bus stop. Cars will actually end up in the other lane - entirely in the other lane - to avoid me, even if I'm a good metre in from the road. It's courteous, certainly, but a bit of an overreaction.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    And won't someone think of the children? UK poll of 9-13 year olds:

    More than 60% of nine to 13-year-olds think the roads around their home and school are dangerous for those on foot or bicycles. And almost nine in 10 of these children reckon drivers go too fast in their community. ... 50% of nine to 11-year-olds and 61% of 11 to 13-year-olds have had a near-miss while walking or cycling

    If you want even more competent, confident, environmentally friendly people on bikes and in cars 10-20 years from now, you've got to make it safer for Ruby to go on a bike ride with her Daddy today , dagnabbit.

    All the people moaning about pelotons and cyclists riding two abreast should consider it useful practice for rounding a corner and encountering a handful of kids happily riding home from school the way my siblings and I used to. A chance to practice navigating cautiously and expect the unexpected.

    I'd love to see a general return to basic defensive driving (and cycling) -- so much smarter and more polite than all this offensive kind. Maybe we could revamp & update some of the old defensive driving ads, to address our multi-user public roads ?

    (Am also hanging out for a series of ads in which Ruby-age kids address the viewer directly: "That's my daddy/mummy/brother/sister on a bike/in that car/crossing the road. So keep an eye out. And slow the f^&*% down. Please.")

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Also, Greg's mention of slowing down to pass a school bus brought me up short. Over here, it's compulsory to STOP when a school bus is stopped. They even have nifty hinged STOP signs that come out the side of the bus, and flashing red lights to remind you.

    Traffic must stop in both directions until the bus pulls back out into traffic. Once you get used to it, nothing else makes sense.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Ross, I've seen helmet-mounted mirrors for sale at Capital Cycles in Wellington.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Jolisa :

    Maybe we could revamp & update some of the old defensive driving ads, to address our multi-user public roads ?

    There were a series of ads with the Magnet Man, Peter (Perfect) Brock years ago. He had teenagers going through scenarios of cars coming out of side roads, late braking etc etc. What was good? They treated the kids as responsible citizens who just did not have the experience and were put into situations that they had never encountereed before. They realised the implications of their lack of experience and everyone learned a lesson.

    To me it was a hell of a lot more constructive style of ad than the blood and guts we have been inundated before and since that series.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Isaac Freeman, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    Teenage drivers sometimes want to see if they can make you aware of their existence, but I seldom sense any active malice. The only people I've ever felt actually endangered by were without exception middle-aged white men. Typically they have some imaginary law in their heads that says I'm not allowed to ever be in their way, and they assume they have the right to enforce the imaginary law by trying to run me off the road.

    On one delightful occasion, I had this happen at a roundabout, with much horn-blowing at my temerity to... I don't know... be going round a roundabout or something. After the repeated long blasts and the requisite "I'm going to teach you a lesson" dangerous passing maneuver, the middle-aged white man moved on, and a carload of teenagers came up behind him, slowed right down, and waited until they had room to pass. They came by slow enough that they could smile, wave, and express their opinion about what a bastard the other guy was. Made my day.

    Christchurch • Since Feb 2007 • 134 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Jolisa,

    A friend of mine did a defensive driving course a while ago. A young man on the course was asked "What do you do if someone is trying to pass you?" To which he replied :"No-one f*@$king passes me".

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I think there's another side to the "motorists shouting stuff" coin that we should acknowledge: when cars full of teenage girls yell "nice arse!" at you as they pass.

    Yes, this has happened to me. Twice.

    It's a lovely day out there, by the way. Get on yer bike and get some fresh air.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Herald must think they have a lucrative angle now, so publish another opinion piece about how cyclists must change (out of concern for their safety) lest they inconvenience car drivers. Bless.

    A public road with cars thundering along is no place for a cyclist, no matter how much they bleat about having every right to be in the same place as a car. I'm unsure if it's either arrogance or stupidity that lead various cycle organisations to insist on saying cyclists have equal rights with cars.

    That's like me going head-to-head with a supertanker in a small sailboat in a crowded shipping lane expecting a ship the size of a small country to get out of my way. No matter what the rule of the sea says about power giving way to sail (yeah, yeah, I know there are variations but I'm talking about the principle here) it just ain't going to happen.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to Sacha,

    That’s like me going head-to-head with a supertanker in a small sailboat in a crowded shipping lane expecting a ship the size of a small country to get out of my way.

    Nice to see they've lost all sense of perspective there.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • st ephen, in reply to Jolisa,

    ...useful practice for rounding a corner and encountering a handful of kids happily riding home from school the way my siblings and I used to.

    Kids are "strongly discouraged" from riding to our local school. Instead we have a walking bus, which means five and six year old kids (who are like a sackful of puppies at the best of times) are expected to don fluoro vests and walk in single file to school acting like mini-adults the whole way, while drivers whizz past acting like frustrated toddlers. In more enlightened times, it was the cars that had to have a fluoro flag - waved by a pedestrian walking in front of them. This seems more sensible than teaching drivers that potential risks will be lit up like Christmas trees.

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Sheesh. It's like Mad Libs at the Herald.

    For my part, I'm unsure if it’s either arrogance or stupidity that lead various [defeatist wombles] to insist on saying [miserable told-you-so buggers] have equal right [to my headspace] with [those who are eternal optimists about human nature.]

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • st ephen, in reply to Sacha,

    Sounds familiar...

    "A dark city street with men lurking around is no place for a young woman, no matter how much they bleat about having every right to be in the same place as a man. I’m unsure if it’s either arrogance or stupidity that lead various wimmin's organisations to insist on saying women have equal rights with men."

    Men are just bigger, faster and have greater upper body strength. The consequences are simply biology + physics, or something...

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    Herald must think they have a lucrative angle now, so publish another opinion piece about how cyclists must change (out of concern for their safety) lest they inconvenience car drivers. Bless.

    Are you sure this isn't satire? I'm not.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to st ephen,

    Yes, the 'cyclists as uncovered meat' argument. So so modern

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Martin Lindberg,

    If only

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    If only

    I know, I know. But, assuming for a moment that these opinion-pieces are not just troll-bait; have these writers ever been to another country?

    It's all so tedious.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Ooh Martin, you said the magic words, "another country."

    At last I can post my ever-at-the-ready Copenhagen Cycle Chic link. Phwoaaar. Imagine. Heaven will be a little bit like this, except that in heaven, all the bikes (and those outfits) will be free.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    To the rhyme of pheasnt plucker:

    I’m not a f**king cyclist
    I’m a cyclist with a son
    And I’ll keep of f**king cycling until the drivers understand.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    If you're after a classic sit-up-and-beg, give Mamachari (http://mamachari.co.nz/) a go. I'm reliably informed they're good people. A little bit of classic Tokyo style in Island Bay.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    That's like me going head-to-head with a supertanker in a small sailboat in a crowded shipping lane expecting a ship the size of a small country to get out of my way. No matter what the rule of the sea says about power giving way to sail (yeah, yeah, I know there are variations but I'm talking about the principle here) it just ain't going to happen.

    I should point out that if they actually knew the variations in question, they wouldn't have written this. No sailboat is going to expect a supertanker to give way to them.

    It's putting in qualifiers that destory your argument, but not specifying them well enough to actually note that they destroy your argument that really impresses me.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

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