Near miss with a scooter... new complexity to disappearing bike lanes
The anger of the moment has passed and now there's only regret at not grabbing the license plate no. for this jerk.
Following Payneham Rd. into the city is hairy enough - plenty of disappearing lanes, bus stops etc. but it for the most part it works out for me (the intersection at the Glynde hotel is the worst part of my ride). I have seen scooters/motorbikes in the bike lane before but (...not excusing the behaviour) they generally don't do it when there are cyclists within range. This morning however is the exception.
I was following another cyclist towards the intersection of Payneham & Stephen Tce at Stepney and with the bike lane disappearing early, hung as far to the left as possible. We continued along the side of the traffic and made it to the front in time for the green light. To our right was a tour bus (medium size) which was pulling away slowly and, as riders of the Payneham/Stephen instersection will know, it's safer for you if you pedal like crazy to get to the other side "disappeared" lane before the cars do. Almost half way across, a scooter passed, at speed, between me and the bus, pulled across in front of the bus and kept going. If a metre matters, I couldn't tell you how close this call was...
I didn't pass any scooter in the banked up traffic at the lights so my assumption is that he was racing down the bike lane. He gained maybe 200 metres in this act of stupidity, caught up in the peak hour traffic and as I rode past I hurled some abuse his way - nothing returned but the blank stare of someone who sees nothing wrong with that behaviour.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Derek Hasel on -
Report them to SAPOL via the 1800 number. Need the Rego No, If SAPOL received enuf complaints they will 'ping' these Morons. It helps if you know any 'roadie' cops.
-
Permalink Reply by Alexander Langman Hender on -
The secret about motorcycles and scooters is that they can't stop as fast as cars and usually they can't stop as fast as bicycles. Brakeless fixies excluded.
So when a *** **** of **** in a car turns left into a side street, without indicating, in a rush because the traffic is banking up ahead of them and they want to take a 'short cut', then bam! The motorcycle overtaking on the left side goes into or under the car.
In a bicycle, you'll probably be more alert, be able to stop faster, or just bounce off the side of the car. I've touched a community bus in that way. Scary.
The point of all this rambling is that if you ever get the chance to explain it to the moron using your bike lane, you can tell them why it's in their best interest to stay out of the bike lane.
But really, we need to report all these idiots, just as Derek says. The weight of complaints will eventually result in a the person having a visit from a cop, or something.
-
Permalink Reply by Gus K on -
I saw a scooter rider in Walkerville ride up the bike lane near the Sussex Hotel, go up onto the footpath via the pedestrian ramp, around the corner (via footpath) and off onto Stephen Tce.
I don't like these disappearing bike lanes at all either. In this area I will not ride on Payneham Rd but on the streets parallel called 6th, 7th and 8th Ave and along and under the Hackney Rd Bridge to Frome Rd to get to the city.
-
Permalink Reply by Angus Fry on -
Good tip - thanks Angus. I'll see if avoiding Payneham/Stephen intersection works for my route!
-
Permalink Reply by Angus Fry on
-
I should have mentioned that I'm also a scooter rider (though since Nov last year I've preferred human power to smelling like 2 stroke when I get to work). You're right - it is the safety middle ground because you're equally at risk from being hit by larger masses on the scooter. I ride a scooter like I drive a car - as central to the lane as I can, plenty of room between me and the car in front and not in the bike lane. I also agree with replacing single passenger cars with two wheel transport (or buses... or car pooling...) - it's the congestion of traffic that seems to increase the danger of commuting by bike.
© 2013 Created by Gus K.
