Cancer survivor hurt by hit-and-run cyclist

[Arch]

They are not as bad as they once were, I'll admit, and anyway, they aren't a pain to cyclists once you get it all right - you can be through and away again in just a few seconds, hell, you don't even have to stop fully in a lot of cases!

Not if you're:

riding a trike
riding a tandem
(Often) riding a bike with big panniers on
hauling a load trailer
hauling a child trailer
using a bike or trike adapted to incorporate a wheelchair
using a handcycle

So that's all fine, unless you're a parent, a utility cyclist, a tourer, or disabled. Or just not quite confident enough to zip through without clashing a pedal (some round here give barely an inch of clearance for one pedal, so you have to position the bike perfectly, and have the cranks at the perfect position)

And why the hell should we have to be inconvenienced, because other people do wrong? Yeah, coz it's easier to put in some metal tubing, than to tackle wrongdoers, whether by force of law or societal education.

 

[growingvegetables]

Nor if you're riding a police patrol motorbike? Duuuuuuuh - protected zones for scrotes, cos they can ALWAYS find a back in.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Not if you're:

riding a trike
riding a tandem
(Often) riding a bike with big panniers on
hauling a load trailer
hauling a child trailer
using a bike or trike adapted to incorporate a wheelchair
using a handcycle

So that's all fine, unless you're a parent, a utility cyclist, a tourer, or disabled. Or just not quite confident enough to zip through without clashing a pedal (some round here give barely an inch of clearance for one pedal, so you have to position the bike perfectly, and have the cranks at the perfect position)

All fair and valid points you, Monty and Growing have said, I admit. It is just daft complaints like the gates at Erskine which get me. Not only are they there to stop traffic turning onto the path, but also so that people don't just cycle across without stopping and into the path of a car. And then there's the cows (not at Erskine).

Yeah, coz it's easier to put in some metal tubing, than to tackle wrongdoers, whether by force of law or societal education.

Yeah and good luck with that one! I can see our point, really, I can, but I'm afraid that enforcing it would be like nailing jelly to a tree.

Meanwhile, some idiots on trail bikes will have come thundering along the path, forcing everyone else to get out of the way otherwise face being injured, therefore persuading a lot of the casual and family cyclists that it is too dangerous, the number of cyclists decrease, the cycle path becomes deserted and ends up being a haven for the area's unsavoury characters (moreso than usual I mean) and before long it becomes a no go for bikes. Well done, you might as well make it into a road!

 

[TheDoctor]

Excellent rant, Arch. Well done!!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

And how is she going to implement this plan, especially when someone on a motorbike comes flying towards you of at a great rate of knots forcing you to jump into the undergrowth whilst the motorcyclist insults you in a hail of obscenities?

Hmmm?

 

[Arch]

And how is she going to implement this plan, especially when someone on a motorbike comes flying towards of at a great rate of knots forcing you to jump into the undergrowth whilst the motorcyclist insults you in a hail of obscenities?

Hmmm?

A judicious mix of education and hanging.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

A judicious mix of education and hanging.

No you won't, because you will be in the undergrowth and the idiot will have disappeared into the nearby estate....

I'll say it again, trying to enforce something like that would be like nailing jelly to a tree.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

So, what to suggest...... gates controlled by someone in a control room via CCTV? Those remote control bollards which disappear into the ground? Bigger gates? I am NOT sharing my path with road traffic, sorry.

What you have to realise is that, due to the geography of where I live, there are two roads in and out of town going towards Glasgow. One is the A82, treacherous at the best of times, and the other road, which joins the A82 at Milton can be just as bad at times.

Nestled amongst the trees in between these two ribbons of hell is the cycle path*, a serene vein of traffic free calm and relative civility. To have things like motorbikes on it would defeat the purpose of it entirely!


* - Obviously this changes at locations, such as it when becomes stuck between the A82 and the railway etc, but the cycle path's value stays the same, even at the bits where the surface is crap....

 

[MontyVeda]

the lancaster-morecambe cycle track was opened in the early to mid 80's i guess... in all that time I've seen maybe three people on motorbikes tearing along it... the biggest fear is getting mugged by a pedestrian.

 

[Arch]

Yes, it's rare I see motorbikes on bike paths round here - with the exception of the place I work at, where some of the local council estate residents ignore the rules. I'd like to see them tackled by the law, have their precious bikes taken away, but I don't think it's a very high priority.

One day, I hope one of them finds himself going up just as one of the Yorwaste bin lorries is coming the other way!

Cars are just funny, since we got the bollard fixed and locked, because if they come through from the top (no bollard) they get stuck at the bottom (bollard) and we can laugh at them as they drive back up.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Maybe you are right, but with the local cycle path going through some rough areas, I wouldn't put it past some people, and there's the rub - these things are often put in place for a reason.


Now, where did I put that cheese wire....

 

[Nihal]

Just..... because

Forget it,i don't want to know

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Forget it,i don't want to know

Can't remember anyway. As you can tell, I was just arsing about as usual.