Us cyclists are terrorising the world riding over 10kph!

Now I understand this is a busy stretch but honestly if you need to post a
10kph speed limit, then wouldn't you think that it's not a bike lane at all!
Cyclists will ride at 10kph as much as cars drive at 10kph in shopping
centre car parks. It will not happen!
I love the bit where shock horror, a cyclists had one hand of the handle
bars and the other having a drink from her water bottle. Excuse me but when
was this against the law? I thought the law started that a cyclists has to
have at least one hand on the handle bar.
Or maybe these journalists should check the law before they print.

As I've said to people in the past, Melb really has no bike paths at all.
They're all shared pathways.
Don't be surprised if we see speed limit signs starting to appear on paths
everywhere.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...9-2862,00.html

CYCLE hoons blatantly ignoring speed limits are endangering the lives of
pedestrians, according to a Herald Sun survey yesterday.

A Herald Sun survey yesterday found fewer than 3 per cent of bike riders
along Southbank Promenade obeyed the speed limit signs restricting them to
10km/h.

Bike riders were weaving between peak-hour pedestrians at speeds of up to
29km/h, despite the prominent speed restriction signs.

"They're just up as a warning thing. It's like 'Please don't feed the birds'
signs," a city-based police officer said.

"It's a commonsense thing. Police ride along there many times a day and if
someone is doing the wrong thing they're given a talking to.

"It's a separate offence for cyclists not wearing a helmet or running a red
light. But there isn't one for cyclists and speeding."

Influential Melbourne City councillor and chair of the planning committee,
Catherine Ng, said bike behaviour must improve.

"Speed does kill, and no one would like to face the fact that they kill or
injure someone with a bike," Cr Ng said.

"I checked with our engineers, who checked the Road Safety Act, and
according to them the speed limit signs do apply, and can be enforced.

"There are some aggressive cyclists. They need to understand their impact on
others."

The Herald Sun survey, carried out using a carefully calibrated radar gun
and an expert operator from Australasian Traffic Surveys, found the average
speed of bike riders in the 10km/h zone was 18.5km/h.

More than 77 per cent of riders were travelling faster than 15km/h; 40 per
cent of bikes checked were doing more than 20km/h.

One man wobbled through walkers at 17km/h with one hand controlling his bike
while talking on a mobile phone.

A female rider was dodging pedestrians one-handed while drinking from her
water bottle with the other.

And another male rider cruised through the crowds entirely hands-free.

Pedestrian Peter Treagus, on his way to work at the Nyrstar office on
Southbank Boulevard, labelled the bike hoons dangerous. "Someone will have
to get seriously hurt before they start enforcing the speed limit," he said.

Rider Rowan Lamont, who was clocked at 18km/h, pedals into work every day
from Footscray.

"The alternative is to ride on the roads," he said.

"I've never hit a pedestrian, but I have been hit by a car and the result
wasn't pretty."

Few of the cyclists appeared to slow down yesterday, even after seeing the
radar gun, but only one became abusive and suggested pedestrians should get
out of his way.

The general manager of Bicycle Victoria, Harry Barber, said it was
unacceptable for riders to speed through the area.

"If anyone is going through there at 30km/h they need to be booked," he
said.

"We've got no problem with the police booking riders who are behaving
outrageously."

JoeDe wrote:

Now I understand this is a busy stretch but honestly if you need to post a
10kph speed limit, then wouldn't you think that it's not a bike lane at all!
Cyclists will ride at 10kph as much as cars drive at 10kph in shopping
centre car parks. It will not happen!
I love the bit where shock horror, a cyclists had one hand of the handle
bars and the other having a drink from her water bottle. Excuse me but when
was this against the law? I thought the law started that a cyclists has to
have at least one hand on the handle bar.
Or maybe these journalists should check the law before they print.

As I've said to people in the past, Melb really has no bike paths at all.
They're all shared pathways.
Don't be surprised if we see speed limit signs starting to appear on paths
everywhere.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...9-2862,00.html

CYCLE hoons blatantly ignoring speed limits are endangering the lives of
pedestrians, according to a Herald Sun survey yesterday.

A Herald Sun survey yesterday found fewer than 3 per cent of bike riders
along Southbank Promenade obeyed the speed limit signs restricting them to
10km/h.

Bike riders were weaving between peak-hour pedestrians at speeds of up to
29km/h, despite the prominent speed restriction signs.

"They're just up as a warning thing. It's like 'Please don't feed the birds'
signs," a city-based police officer said.

"It's a commonsense thing. Police ride along there many times a day and if
someone is doing the wrong thing they're given a talking to.

"It's a separate offence for cyclists not wearing a helmet or running a red
light. But there isn't one for cyclists and speeding."

Influential Melbourne City councillor and chair of the planning committee,
Catherine Ng, said bike behaviour must improve.

"Speed does kill, and no one would like to face the fact that they kill or
injure someone with a bike," Cr Ng said.

"I checked with our engineers, who checked the Road Safety Act, and
according to them the speed limit signs do apply, and can be enforced.

"There are some aggressive cyclists. They need to understand their impact on
others."

The Herald Sun survey, carried out using a carefully calibrated radar gun
and an expert operator from Australasian Traffic Surveys, found the average
speed of bike riders in the 10km/h zone was 18.5km/h.

More than 77 per cent of riders were travelling faster than 15km/h; 40 per
cent of bikes checked were doing more than 20km/h.

One man wobbled through walkers at 17km/h with one hand controlling his bike
while talking on a mobile phone.

A female rider was dodging pedestrians one-handed while drinking from her
water bottle with the other.

And another male rider cruised through the crowds entirely hands-free.

Pedestrian Peter Treagus, on his way to work at the Nyrstar office on
Southbank Boulevard, labelled the bike hoons dangerous. "Someone will have
to get seriously hurt before they start enforcing the speed limit," he said.

Rider Rowan Lamont, who was clocked at 18km/h, pedals into work every day
from Footscray.

"The alternative is to ride on the roads," he said.

"I've never hit a pedestrian, but I have been hit by a car and the result
wasn't pretty."

Few of the cyclists appeared to slow down yesterday, even after seeing the
radar gun, but only one became abusive and suggested pedestrians should get
out of his way.

The general manager of Bicycle Victoria, Harry Barber, said it was
unacceptable for riders to speed through the area.

"If anyone is going through there at 30km/h they need to be booked," he
said.

"We've got no problem with the police booking riders who are behaving
outrageously."

Hehe, more sensational newspaper reporting....we have cycle paths here
in the ACT
which are also really shared recreational paths,
and I would be clocked sometimes doing 45kph+, but we never have clouds
of ppl
wanting to walk such paths where my high speed is quite safe.

99.99% of people MOVE OVER when they hear a bell from an approaching
rider.

Some don't, and so you ride around them, maybe on the grass a bit.
Sometines you must,
because the other rider/person is a 3 year old learner...

But If I had to weave my way around hundreds of ppl during a 90k fitness
ride across town and back
I'd go back to riding on the roads. But its a fact I might have to go
around maybe 10 ppl
during a winter ride on a weekday, and all of them keep left, and keep
the dog they are walking out of my wheels.
There are a few busy spots in summer where the main tourist attractions
around Lake Burley griffin, so OK, I slow dwn.
But away from these places, the other 95% of cycle paths allow full bore
riding if you want.

If cyclists have to weave slowly through crowds, they usually decide its
a footpath, and take to the roads....
Cyclists usually settle for a route which allows them some speed, and
moderate safety.

For established large cities like Melbourne or Sydney, it must be
difficult to easily
instal dedicated cycle paths, and police them, and keep pedestrians and
their bloomin dogs off them.
In Canberra, they install the cycle paths during the suburbs
establishment stage,
so we get some pretty good cycle paths, not something agonisingly
grafted into
a dense urban landscape when it is simply often too late and impractical
to do
to please everyone. And the suburbs are less densely populated than in
Sydney or Melbourne.

Patrick Turner.

On Sep 6, 1:26 pm, Patrick Turner wrote:
JoeDe wrote:

Now I understand this is a busy stretch but honestly if you need to post a
10kph speed limit, then wouldn't you think that it's not a bike lane at all!
Cyclists will ride at 10kph as much as cars drive at 10kph in shopping
centre car parks. It will not happen!
I love the bit where shock horror, a cyclists had one hand of the handle
bars and the other having a drink from her water bottle. Excuse me but when
was this against the law? I thought the law started that a cyclists has to
have at least one hand on the handle bar.
Or maybe these journalists should check the law before they print.

As I've said to people in the past, Melb really has no bike paths at all.
They're all shared pathways.
Don't be surprised if we see speed limit signs starting to appear on paths
everywhere.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...9-2862,00.html

CYCLE hoons blatantly ignoring speed limits are endangering the lives of
pedestrians, according to a Herald Sun survey yesterday.

A Herald Sun survey yesterday found fewer than 3 per cent of bike riders
along Southbank Promenade obeyed the speed limit signs restricting them to
10km/h.

Bike riders were weaving between peak-hour pedestrians at speeds of up to
29km/h, despite the prominent speed restriction signs.

"They're just up as a warning thing. It's like 'Please don't feed the birds'
signs," a city-based police officer said.

"It's a commonsense thing. Police ride along there many times a day and if
someone is doing the wrong thing they're given a talking to.

"It's a separate offence for cyclists not wearing a helmet or running a red
light. But there isn't one for cyclists and speeding."

Influential Melbourne City councillor and chair of the planning committee,
Catherine Ng, said bike behaviour must improve.

"Speed does kill, and no one would like to face the fact that they kill or
injure someone with a bike," Cr Ng said.

"I checked with our engineers, who checked the Road Safety Act, and
according to them the speed limit signs do apply, and can be enforced.

"There are some aggressive cyclists. They need to understand their impact on
others."

The Herald Sun survey, carried out using a carefully calibrated radar gun
and an expert operator from Australasian Traffic Surveys, found the average
speed of bike riders in the 10km/h zone was 18.5km/h.

More than 77 per cent of riders were travelling faster than 15km/h; 40 per
cent of bikes checked were doing more than 20km/h.

One man wobbled through walkers at 17km/h with one hand controlling his bike
while talking on a mobile phone.

A female rider was dodging pedestrians one-handed while drinking from her
water bottle with the other.

And another male rider cruised through the crowds entirely hands-free.

Pedestrian Peter Treagus, on his way to work at the Nyrstar office on
Southbank Boulevard, labelled the bike hoons dangerous. "Someone will have
to get seriously hurt before they start enforcing the speed limit," he said.

Rider Rowan Lamont, who was clocked at 18km/h, pedals into work every day
from Footscray.

"The alternative is to ride on the roads," he said.

"I've never hit a pedestrian, but I have been hit by a car and the result
wasn't pretty."

Few of the cyclists appeared to slow down yesterday, even after seeing the
radar gun, but only one became abusive and suggested pedestrians should get
out of his way.

The general manager of Bicycle Victoria, Harry Barber, said it was
unacceptable for riders to speed through the area.

"If anyone is going through there at 30km/h they need to be booked," he
said.

"We've got no problem with the police booking riders who are behaving
outrageously."

Hehe, more sensational newspaper reporting....we have cycle paths here
in the ACT
which are also really shared recreational paths,
and I would be clocked sometimes doing 45kph+, but we never have clouds
of ppl
wanting to walk such paths where my high speed is quite safe.

99.99% of people MOVE OVER when they hear a bell from an approaching
rider.

Some don't, and so you ride around them, maybe on the grass a bit.
Sometines you must,
because the other rider/person is a 3 year old learner...

But If I had to weave my way around hundreds of ppl during a 90k fitness
ride across town and back
I'd go back to riding on the roads. But its a fact I might have to go
around maybe 10 ppl
during a winter ride on a weekday, and all of them keep left, and keep
the dog they are walking out of my wheels.
There are a few busy spots in summer where the main tourist attractions
around Lake Burley griffin, so OK, I slow dwn.
But away from these places, the other 95% of cycle paths allow full bore
riding if you want.

If cyclists have to weave slowly through crowds, they usually decide its
a footpath, and take to the roads....
Cyclists usually settle for a route which allows them some speed, and
moderate safety.

For established large cities like Melbourne or Sydney, it must be
difficult to easily
instal dedicated cycle paths, and police them, and keep pedestrians and
their bloomin dogs off them.
In Canberra, they install the cycle paths during the suburbs
establishment stage,
so we get some pretty good cycle paths, not something agonisingly
grafted into
a dense urban landscape when it is simply often too late and impractical
to do
to please everyone. And the suburbs are less densely populated than in
Sydney or Melbourne.

Southbank is a high (very) pedestrian area, it's basically a riverside
walkway in a restaurant/entertainment area, and a bike route runs
through the middle of it. It's nothing like an open path in the ACT,
much more like cycling through a shopping mall.

I used to work there, and rode through it on most days. 10km/h was a
reasonably safe speed, but sometimes I'd suggest getting off and
walking the bike, anything much more than 10km/h, nope ... but the
paper's report is right - many many dickheads fly through there. I
was usually the only person I saw doing 10km/h through there, and this
was at peak pedestrian times (lunchtime, 5:30pm etc). I'd be booking
people for speeding through there, for sure. It's clearly signed 10km/
h.

There'll be a moan from people here saying that it shouldn't be a
shared zone, that the path should be a part of some bicycle network
etc, but the bottom line is that it's not that, it's a shared area
with very high ped density, and anyone riding through there at speed
should get a fine and a solid wakeup call. City Rd is just over the
back and that's a 60km/h zone, if you're in a hurry, use City Rd. By
all means lobby for an alternative if you're scared of traffic, but in
the mean time, play by the rules.

I had a good look at the photo in the Sun (yes I do buy it, mainly for
the crosswords). Looks like some typical Sun objective journalism. The
text is about evil cyclists flying through a crowded pedestrian
precinct. Yet if you look at the photo, there are no peds in sight, and
the light and shadows would indicate the photo was taken just after
sunrise so not exactly a high ped traffic time.

daveB

10kph is less than jogging speed, and a brisk walking speed is 7kph!!

FAIRDINKUM!!


--
531Aussie

This story sounds VERY familiar, I'm sure I've read it about a year
ago, talking about the same problem, location, and use of a radar gun.

Time for some juducious googling...


BTH

BT Humble wrote:
This story sounds VERY familiar, I'm sure I've read it about a year
ago, talking about the same problem, location, and use of a radar gun.

Time for some juducious googling...

Well I couldn't agree with me more! Here it is, from 24 September
last year:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...2-2862,00.html

HUNDREDS of cyclists speeding at up to three times the legal limit are
putting pedestrians at risk in Melbourne.

A Sunday Herald Sun survey found all but one cyclist breaking the
speed limit at Southbank, narrowly missing walkers on the promenade.
One cyclist, clocked at 30km/h in a 10km/h zone, abused people in his
way. And in morning peak hour, more than 300 law-breaking cyclists
were clocked with a radar speed gun at Southbank, in the Bourke St
mall and on the bike path at St Kilda.

Most were speeding at 18-20km/h, but many were clocked at more.

Near the Southbank footbridge, cyclists weaved around pedestrians and
joggers.

Bicycle Victoria said the situation was similar on the St Kilda
foreshore path used by 8000 cyclists each weekend.

Pedestrian James Gould died after being knocked down by a cyclist in a
bayside race known as the Hell Ride.

Melbourne City Council planning chairwoman, Catherine Ng, feared a
person could be killed at Southbank.

Many pedestrians said they were frightened by the speed of cyclists.

Julie Davison, the director of stockbroking at Bell Potter Securities,
said she was knocked over by a cyclist at Southbank this year.

The Sunday Herald Sun survey found 162 cyclists riding at 16-20km/h,
90 at 11-15km/h, 65 at 21-25km/h and 12 between 26 and 30km/h.

The cyclists' speeds were recorded by an Australasian Traffic Survey
operator between 7.30am and 10.30am on Thursday.

Bicycle Victoria spokesman Mark Dixon said major bicycle routes fed
into Southbank, making it very busy, but path improvements on the
north bank next year should ease pressure.

Port Phillip Council would soon widen the St Kilda path, he said.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Melbourne City Council had erected
10km/h signs at Southgate and police were negotiating with Crown to
erect similar signs. They would then fine speeding cyclists.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 02:04:03 GMT, JoeDe wrote:

As I've said to people in the past, Melb really has no bike paths at all.

We have one in Adelaide, being a more progressive city. It's called the
Southern Veloway.

On Sep 6, 2:23 pm, 531Aussie 531Aussie.2wh...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com wrote:
10kph is less than jogging speed, and a brisk walking speed is 7kph!!

FAIRDINKUM!!

And your point is?

Bleve Wrote:
On Sep 6, 2:23 pm, 531Aussie 531Aussie.2wh...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com wrote:
10kph is less than jogging speed, and a brisk walking speed is
7kph!!

FAIRDINKUM!!

And your point is?

I don't see the paper calling for the joggers who use the promenade to
be booked too. I find them more of a nusance than the cyclists, as many
groups run side by side, taking up far more space than a bike rider.


--
SomeGuy