Why don't cyclists learn to use their brakes?

"the driver cut in as he overtook me.
"I shouted out a warning and knocked on the roof of the car, but the driver
continued to cut in and struck the bike, causing me to fall to the
pavement."

If you have time enough to shout and bang on the car, then why on Earth are
you not keeping your hands on the handlebars and braking?

He sounds like a Simon, an accident waiting to happen

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s...t_poor_driving

On Nov 16, 8:31*am, "Mrcheerful" wrote:
"the driver cut in as he overtook me.
"I shouted out a warning and knocked on the roof of the car, but the driver
continued to cut in and struck the bike, causing me to fall to the
*pavement."

If you have time enough to shout and bang on the car, then why on Earth are
you not keeping your hands on the handlebars and braking?

He sounds like a Simon, an accident waiting to happen

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s...ury_at_poor_dr...

So you have no comment on the hit and run motorist.

Squashme wrote:
On Nov 16, 8:31 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote:
"the driver cut in as he overtook me.
"I shouted out a warning and knocked on the roof of the car, but the
driver continued to cut in and struck the bike, causing me to fall
to the pavement."

If you have time enough to shout and bang on the car, then why on
Earth are you not keeping your hands on the handlebars and braking?

He sounds like a Simon, an accident waiting to happen

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s...ury_at_poor_dr...

So you have no comment on the hit and run motorist.

The alledged etc.

The injury to the cyclist was caused by his own stupidity in not braking to
avoid something and compounding the problem by having fixed his feet to the
pedals, which precluded putting his foot down easily. The ability to hold
yourself upright when stopped is a fairly important one when riding a
bicycle.

On 16/11/2011 09:46, Mrcheerful wrote:
Squashme wrote:
On Nov 16, 8:31 am, wrote:
"the driver cut in as he overtook me.
"I shouted out a warning and knocked on the roof of the car, but the
driver continued to cut in and struck the bike, causing me to fall
to the pavement."

If you have time enough to shout and bang on the car, then why on
Earth are you not keeping your hands on the handlebars and braking?

He sounds like a Simon, an accident waiting to happen

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s...ury_at_poor_dr...

So you have no comment on the hit and run motorist.

The alledged etc.

The injury to the cyclist was caused by his own stupidity in not braking to
avoid something and compounding the problem by having fixed his feet to the
pedals, which precluded putting his foot down easily. The ability to hold
yourself upright when stopped is a fairly important one when riding a
bicycle.



If you moving at a fair pace and an overtaking driver is sideswiping,
you need to move over to the left and brake at the same time. You need
that space on the left. That’s why you need to be a good metre from the
kerb.

In this case the cyclist seemed to think that by bashing the roof of the
car it would alert the driver to the fact he was passing too close. It
does not work. All it does is aggravate the driver.

I suspect that the cyclist had little choice in what he could have done.
It sounds as if he was already too close to the kerb. If he was further
out, the driver may not have been able to get by, but if the driver had
tried to get by, there would have been some plan B space to the left for
avoidance and braking.


--
Simon
For personal replies, please use my reply-to address.

On Nov 16, 9:46*am, "Mrcheerful" wrote:

The alledged etc.

The injury to the cyclist was caused by his own stupidity in not braking to
avoid something and compounding the problem by having fixed his feet to the
pedals, which precluded putting his foot down easily. *The ability to hold
yourself upright when stopped is a fairly important one when riding a
bicycle.

Oh, you make it sound so easy. You clearly have minimal experience of
cycling, let alone how such circumstances develop.Stop pontificating
and go away.

On Nov 17, 12:10 am, dr6092 wrote:
On Nov 16, 9:46 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote:



The alledged etc.

The injury to the cyclist was caused by his own stupidity in not braking
to
avoid something and compounding the problem by having fixed his feet to
the
pedals, which precluded putting his foot down easily. The ability to
hold
yourself upright when stopped is a fairly important one when riding a
bicycle.

Oh, you make it sound so easy. You clearly have minimal experience of
cycling, let alone how such circumstances develop.Stop pontificating
and go away.

Not only does Cheerless never cycle himself, he never even sees any cyclist
at all these days in the hovel he calls home. Can't understand why he gets
worked up over something that does not concern him at all.


--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/

dr6092 wrote:
On Nov 16, 9:46 am, "Mrcheerful" wrote:

The alledged etc.

The injury to the cyclist was caused by his own stupidity in not
braking to avoid something and compounding the problem by having
fixed his feet to the pedals, which precluded putting his foot down
easily. The ability to hold yourself upright when stopped is a
fairly important one when riding a bicycle.

Oh, you make it sound so easy. You clearly have minimal experience of
cycling, let alone how such circumstances develop.Stop pontificating
and go away.

A car cannot move sideways, therefore there was a large element of moving
forward involved, if the cyclist had braked, rather than carry out a stupid
sequence of ineffectual actions, then there would have been no 'near miss'.
His injury would not have occured if he had been able to put his foot down
in a timely manner.

I agree that my personality and lifestyle are not dictated by my choice of
transport and that therefore I am not a psycholist and I am rather glad of
it.

Saying 'go away' does not actually work in the real world, you need to face
up to things and deal with them.

On 17/11/2011 08:12, Mrcheerful wrote:
dr6092 wrote:
On Nov 16, 9:46 am, wrote:

The alledged etc.

The injury to the cyclist was caused by his own stupidity in not
braking to avoid something and compounding the problem by having
fixed his feet to the pedals, which precluded putting his foot down
easily. The ability to hold yourself upright when stopped is a
fairly important one when riding a bicycle.

Oh, you make it sound so easy. You clearly have minimal experience of
cycling, let alone how such circumstances develop.Stop pontificating
and go away.

A car cannot move sideways, therefore there was a large element of moving
forward involved, if the cyclist had braked, rather than carry out a stupid
sequence of ineffectual actions, then there would have been no 'near miss'.
His injury would not have occured if he had been able to put his foot down
in a timely manner.

I agree that my personality and lifestyle are not dictated by my choice of
transport and that therefore I am not a psycholist and I am rather glad of
it.

Saying 'go away' does not actually work in the real world, you need to face
up to things and deal with them.



At relative speeds, cars *do* move sideways.

And the faster the speed, the quicker both cyclists and cars move
sideways in relation to each other and other traffic.

That’s why (or at least one of the reasons why), the faster the speed,
the more lateral distance is needed for safety.

That’s why, stationary traffic can be passed within inches.


--
Simon
For personal replies, please use my reply-to address.

On Nov 17, 8:12*am, "Mrcheerful" wrote:
dr6092 wrote:

Oh, you make it sound so easy. You clearly have minimal experience of
cycling, let alone how such circumstances develop.Stop pontificating
and go away.

A car cannot move sideways, therefore there was a large element of moving
forward involved,

When a car is passing with a reasonable speed differential, it is easy
for the cyclist to facilitate the overtake. It happens frequently.

When a thoughtless driver decides to start an overtake with small
differential then slows down while moving sideways, it can be a
difficult situation to deal with. Your "large element of moving
forwards" forgets that a large element of length has to be cleared.

if the cyclist had braked, rather than carry out a stupid
sequence of ineffectual actions, then there would have been no 'near miss'.

You don't know he didn't brake earlier in the process.

His injury would not have occured if he had been able to put his foot down
in a timely manner.

You have no clue what unfolded.

Saying 'go away' does not actually work in the real world, you need to face
up to things and deal with them.

Go away and stop pontificating about things you know nothing about.
Calling someone a psycholist doesn't make you right.

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