very sore and very lucky
We had a great run out of the city and down Anzac Hwy. Morphetville was a
bit of a challange with the traffic but we made it to Glenelg without incident.
I had no idea that the bikeway was even there so it was an interesting ride as
far as West beach. That's were it went wrong...crossing a roadway at about 25kph
the rider infront of me suddenly swerved and I slammed into a unseen bollard.
To cut a long story short after laying on the path for a while, an ambulance ride
to the RAH, countless tests and xrays and 2 1/2hrs in a neck brace I finally went
home with a full collection of cuts, bruises and strained tendons but nothing broken.
Counting my lucky stars.
Mind you, I still havn't seen my bike yet. :-(
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Frank on
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Soon there be high vis tape on peoples butts!
Sure, any accident is bad news and anything that can be done is a move in the right direction but could rider error have anything to do with this? Perhaps a momentary laps in concentration or looking down not ahead!
Just a thought and may you mend quickly!
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Permalink Reply by heather on -
I have attended several public lectures on road safety. Much talk of making the roads as safe as possible to allow for driver error ('forgiving road environment') because people will always make mistakes. Why shouldn't vulnerable road users like cyclists expect the same consideration? Especially when it is the duty of authorities to ensure that bollards on shared / cycle paths are highly visible. Why were bollards on a bikeway painted dark grey?
Frank, are you falling into a culture trap of blame the cyclist? Cars rule the road; roads should be as safe as possible for vehicle occupants; when bicycle lanes are installed, it is usually within dooring range; when a driver hits a cyclist it is an 'accident'; "I didn't see the cyclist" is a permitted defence; cyclists should always watch out for opening doors (how about people should look before opening doors); night riders should be lit up like xmas trees; etc.
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Culture trap? Really!
Perhaps most are quite the reverse!
The bollard was hard to see, sure that is a given but it wasn't a moving object, by simple deduction, it was operator namely rider error no matter how sugar coated it gets!
I have done similar myself where I zoned out but caught myself just in time!
We all need to stop blaming or finger pointing, we are all mostly all human and take responsibility!
I wasn't there so can't be certain but something failed or failed to coordinate or transmit vital information! Very good reason to stay away from mass participation rides! Too many riders that don't ride much or have basic knowledge!
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Permalink Reply by heather on
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Frank, why do authorities spend millions on 'forgiving road environment' for drivers but install dark coloured bollards in the middle of cycle paths, and omitting the required white paint and reflective strips.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Bland on -
Excellant question Heather .
Such an obvious cheap safety measure .. There is no logical reason not to paint them brightly and put reflectors on them ..
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A few million is nothing, it's absolutely nothing!
A drop in the ocean if that!
The road is a dangerous place to be, on a bike at night it's even worse!
That's all, wrong place wrong time!
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Permalink Reply by john mills on
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Well done Heather. Simple solution. I need to 'get into' using emails a bit more! I just sent a polite request off to them to change the colour scheme on those hoops. Hopefully something will happen as a result. Maybe they will get back to me with a reason as to why they have not done this before now.
But like I said, if they do not get back to me with a good reason, and if nothing happens, I reckon I will just do it for them!
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Permalink Reply by heather on
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John, I did write that from your description, sounds like even more needs to be done. Would you follow up with another email to Kaniva?
Have you heard the term pedestrian / bicycle passageways? There are two on Fitzroy Terrace, connecting bikedirect Braund Road with the shared paths in the parklands around the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Can include a break in the median strip, where the railing has reflective strips of red and silver. Includes black on yellow sign with pedestrian and bicycle symbols and another black on yellow sign with two-directional arrow. Sorry, I cannot provide the Australian Standards sign numbers but you could take photos (signs and rail) to email to Kaniva. These signs indicate to motorists to expect pedestrians and cyclists.
Unfortunately do not work that well with Adelaide drivers who stop across / obstruct the bicycle passageways when red lights half a block away (breach of ARR s. 198). But at Kaniva would be better than nothing because you would have noticed such signs.
In SA not permitted wombat / zebra crossings expect in low speed environments like school grounds and public car parks. Such crossing work well in Sydney. You could suggest that council also consider painting a crossing on the road.
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Permalink Reply by Don (Who's lost?) Nairn on -
I really don't want to get into any blame game.
I wasn't there so I don't really know what happened
However as a risk management strategy if you cant see well in an unfamiliar uncontrolled environment.
To go slowly seems sensible.
How slowly this is the $64 question.
To try and make things safer seems a good idea.
But is it possible to remove every hazard from everywhere?
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Exactly!
I drive, ride bikes and motorcycles and did some flying in rotary wing aircraft!
There are obstacles everywhere!
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Permalink Reply by Randall Oakley on -
Hi all,
Thanks for all the concern/interest.
In the end it's hard to pice together exactly what went wrong last night.
All I can say for sure was that we had crossed a number of other crossings without even the slightest problem or concern.
We all had significant lighting and were excercising resonable caution ... not flying or racing.
I was, I believe, a reasonable distance behind the next rider and when he swerved I was looking at where he had passed.
For whatever reason, the 1st I knew of that bollard's existance was the moment of impact.
As it stands I am extremely grateful that I am fully functional and can only hope that a bit of sensible pressure on council might avert a similar situation occuring.
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