DRIVER ATTITUDES

These have been cold but dry days in the Tirol recently but normally at this time of year cycling is all but over unless you wish to soak up the rain or more likely the snow . Tomorrow , Saturday there is a likelihood of Snow so about a month of unexpected extra cycling has been very welcome .

What has been apparent is that being one of the few prepared to extend their cycling season I have noticed increasingly difficult drivers . Fact is some of the moronic behaviour on the roads have caused me concern . Had it been seen by the “ boys in blue ” the drivers would have had lighter wallets and some may have collected “ points ” that would have reduced them to other forms of transport whilst their license was suspended . Several Blogs and Forums have seen my comments in recent weeks and I have followed those causing me grief onto their destination to point out their shortcomings . That I am able to follow the short distance in many cases demonstrates that the manoeuvre causing me alarm was down to their careless and thoughtless behaviour , could be they have always driven in this manner without penalty .

Interestingly the “London Cyclist ” has posted about driver attitudes this week and here is the link :

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/secure/what-to-do-when-you-encounter-behaviour-like-this-on-the-road/

The article is fairly brief with Video but the comments are numerous and many have valid points even though “ Gaz ”gets an unfair amount of Stick !

Samples of my recent comments :

London Cyclist :

“ @helen at 7.36am , i too follow people where i can with the aim of embarassing them by reminding them of their ” faulty Driving “! So often it means a bit of a detour from my original route or destination but unless these people are confronted they will think there are no consequences for bad behaviour .
Just yesterday on a narrow Austrian country lane i was bowling along at 40+kph and saw a car wait at the corner up ahead . Knew it was not for me and saw that a ” Sprinter type Tray truck ” was following , after it rounded the corner with screeching tyres it honked to let me know it was coming . This Truck width lane does not allow a truck to pass a cycle safely so continued on with more honking from behind . As the road turned left and uphill i had enough so pulled up in the middle of the road stopping the inconsiderate driver ! truck was marked with his employer’s logo so i wenr to the window and told him that in the morning he could expect me at their office .
His attitude was so what , and was no better this morning when i saw him in their transport yard . His boss was there and he had another employee translate what i had already reported in their office . One point i made to the translater was ” How do you feel about a colleague behaving in this way and making you and your company look bad “? His reply was that the driver was ” Stupid and needed education ” !
As the offending driver was driving out of their yard he was holding the Mobile telephone to his ear , an offence in Austria also , and contrary to the company’s policy sine they provide ” ear pieces” !
What will the company do , possibly nothing , but before arriving in the yard i was passed by another of their Rubbish collection trucks that had signalled overtaking me and then signalled returning to the kerb lane as is required by Austrian Law . Seems this company has a few Good Drivers but suffers ” Smart alecs ” driving their smaller vehicles .
Lets hope that they sort out the idiot that is damaging their good name ! “


Comment on road.cc

“ Driver attitude is the major problem everywhere ! Consider the fact that I am pedalling at 35kph in a 30kph zone and can’t go faster as the car & trailer in front of me are limiting my speed , so for safety I am about 5m behind drafting and a car comes up alongside me on this narrow winding lane . Of course I ease the pace and the next car barrels into this gap for about 50m then takes a right hand turn following the other car . Followed both up the driveway to their houses . First of the cars was slowest getting out so approached him and asked for an explanation . Attitude was F…Off , you are on private property , went next door and the young woman admitted she thought it safe since the other car had passed me .

Apologised that she didn’t see me in time and was very concerned that I planned to call the Polizei since she hadn’t meant any harm as she was hurrying to get to the family lunch . Lost for words when I reminded her that in hitting me she would have not reached her lunch let alone been able to eat when the ambulance or mortuary vehicle departed .

Would the Polizei do anything ? No injury , no interest ! ”

Time to invest in a Helmet Camera ! Any advice welcomed !

DRIVER ATTITUDES

AUTUMNAL RIDING

Tomorrow , 26th November , is the Opening of the Mayrhofen Ski Season ( www.mayrhofner-bergbahnen.com ) and much anticipated by all in the neighbourhood . Normally November has a layer of snow on the valley floor but where ever you go at present you see green even on the highest peaks where there should be some snow . I guess I am better off with dry roads even if they have a layer of frost at 9am of a morning .

Today was a bright sunny and frosty morning that required the long sleeved cycle shirt and long hose under the Vivo uniform and a Wind Jacket with heavy gloves and a beanie under the helmet .

Look at tonight's sunset which bodes for a repeat of today's in the morning . As I turned corners I was watching the road surface to make sure I stayed in the parts cleaned by vehicles to avoid any slippage . Still heard the odd moron testing their Klaxon as I headed west to Schwaz and the odd chores that needed dealing with . My “ local bike shop “ there is run by Peter and I am still trying to convince him that 20mm or smaller patches are what I prefer when fixing punctures in my tubes .

Related the story of the prat I came across yesterday and he was able to assure me that the 2km ride to his shop each day is so filled with motoring misadventure that nothing would surprise him ! Briefly I was heading west into a roundabout when I spotted a 7 ½ ton truck barrelling into the junction with the right hand holding paperwork and the steering wheel and the left across the chest holding a mobile phone to the right ear . Little wonder I pulled up in a hurry since had he lost hold of the wheel I would have been carried away as he mounted the pavement . Annoyed I gave chase and on arriving at his destination went looking for the “ manager ” of the business that he was supplying service .

Short story was I asked for them to check the times on his phone or call the Polizei . No luck so I got them to supply pen and paper and took down the details that would be required and headed to the Schwaz Kommando Post . Having found the English speaking Junior there , I related the full story reminding them that since they were not on the scene I was not expecting any favourable result . About 5 mins after arriving the driver showed up to toss his “ penny worth ” into the mix , wonder WHY he should go out of his way to save face ?

After lunch I headed out east to Worgl for my afternoon ride but found most of the southerly road edges still heavily frosted . Lunch time was spent listening to more of the “#Occupy Wall Street actions that have captured the attention of the ORF radio Station FM4 , unbiased reporting with live updates makes for interesting and informative information .

Returning from Worgl I came across the Cyclist run off the track last week by a speeding tractor that I was following at a distance , he being a local had had the similar experiences over the years . Whilst I realise these roads were originally for the farmer as gravel tracks , now that they are sealed asphalt and designated “ Stephan’s weg ” they are for all and slowing down and moving the right wheels onto the grass does not harm the tractor particularly when the cyclist has to ride into the bushes to avoid a collision .

This same tractor driver I have forced to a stop when I have refused to leave my side of the road . Followed him to his farm yard at about the 40kph pace and told my local Kramsach bike shop who and where he lives .

About the same time I came up behind the Skier you see here practicing his skills . Arno of Worgl has been cross country skiing about 15 years and the equipment he is using is similar to that I tried to put together about 4 years ago when I was considering taking up this sport .

Luckily for me the ski touring season started early that year although I fancy the idea as a great cross training exercise as an alternative to the “ rowing machine ”on nasty weather days .

AUTUMNAL RIDING

INNSBRUCK revisted

Fallen off your stationary bike recently ? Happened this morning through lack of thought when sorting out a loose cassette yesterday . Nothing worse than a rattle is there ? Started on the weekend and after tightening a loose bottle holder , I thought problem solved but then it continued and then after fingering the cassette decided it was loose so stopped off at my local bike shop to get the Long crank to open the cassette and put in a slim shim . When Harry applied the tool we found it was already loose thus explaining the rattle , but since the 10th gear had been tingling the spokes I put the shim in anyway .

This morning being sunny and sufficiently warm for short sleeves and bib shorts I took off west through Munster but lacking power I struggled up the incline there and had to come to a fast stop as a car cut across me as it decided “ might has right ”! Dropping gears to get going again took the chain into the space between the wheel and cassette , locking everything up and not getting the foot out of the cleat I collapsed onto the bus stop area just as a bus arrived . No danger as he was travelling slowly so he moved up the road and off loaded his passengers whilst I struggled to free my foot from the pedal that was flat to the asphalt . Bus drove off without bothering to check whether help was needed .

Shaken up I got going again and before I got out of the village’s 50 kph zone was passed closely by a small truck who then promptly slowed , signalled a left turn and having slowed me turned into the place of business they occupy . I followed and went past to their office but no one was there and thus when they asked me what I was looking for I asked if there was anyone speaking English ? When they gave agreement I asked how they thought stopping me to turn was good road behaviour ? Having said there was a car coming , I asked why it was necessary to pass anyway and was told they were late for breakfast ! As they had their hands full it was obvious that there were many more workers involved , they being the delivery team . Was then told that I was on “ Private property , so F##k off you stupid c##t before we get the Polizei to deal with you ! Little choice since I at present do not wear a helmet camera nor had the necessary witnesses and was not injured in the incident .

Later as I entered Schwaz I passed the Bus depot so went into the office and found all four there understood English pretty well so explained the Bus Incident and went onto the lack of “ Signalling” passing that I have observed over a period . Generally Busses make little effort to signal passing cyclists and will move out a little when at speed but that lack of signal means following traffic do not see the cyclist until a collision is all but inevitable , thus there are some scary moments for even experienced cyclists . Trucks and light vans also cause the same problems with close following vehicles not being able to see through them . Following vehicles should not be so close but here in Austria we have some drivers with the Italian and French attitude of trying to crawl up the tail pipe of those in front ! Are they trying to save fuel by this stupidity or are they trying to wear out their brakes ?

The general attitude was that they would remind the drivers to do as required , signal overtaking but also mentioned the availability of the cycle paths in their area . Later I returned home on one of these paths which for the most part were in good condition for Race bike tyres . Over the years I have had several chats with people such as these and the outcome is usually agreement to remind their drivers that courtesy to Cyclists encourages the Tourists thus bringing more into their area and increasing their passenger numbers . People driving seeing “ Professional Drivers ” signalling would be reminded that they could improve their driving skills by doing the same ?

Cycling Lawyer has recently posted about his involvement with the London Met Police initiatives and it is clear that HGV owners are not being encouraged to comply with fitting the mirrors that are deemed necessary for safe operation of their larger vehicles . Since each vehicle with the older type mirrors have to be inspected annually I think that they should be given warning that they will fail the next inspection if the lack of this facility is not rectified . Surely the Road Tax on larger vehicles makes fitting these extra mirrors seem like a petty cash matter ?

Where in the Road Rules does it allow an aggrieved vehicle driver to chase a cyclist and try to stop them or even knock them from their bike so as to call the cops to report what they think is a “ Riders “ bad behaviour ? Heard of several incidents recently that would raise your blood pressure if you were involved ! Trying to ride on two postage stamps whilst the car is on four A4 pages is not an easy comparison . One thing I am sure of is that “ slapping the window “ of an irritating driver is better than hitting the panel work , but make sure you can get up on the kerb so that they can scrape their wheels if they try to cut any further into your riding area !

Just finished rereading “ It’s not about the bike “! as enjoyable as always and reminded me of how even the best riders find themselves in life threatening situations either by chance or losing track of where they are . Lance taking downhill corners at speed near Nice and running head on into a car through a lapse of attention I am sure has been repeated by others so many times . When riding the Tour Routes I am trying to emulate their pace but make certain to stay on my side of the road and even here in the off season I find enough drivers on my side of the narrow roads as they squeal their tyres through the smaller villages . My locality has just reduced from 50kph to 40 kph and to see the “ boys in blue ” hiding with their radar guns and unmarked cars trying to balance the budget is laughable but it is so much easier than stopping a driver who is talking on a mobile phone .

Papp has been featured by Cycling News as if he was a saint , for rolling over and offering up as much as he can to save himself from a lengthy prison confinement . Shame those on the various “ forums ” praising him for his offerings , forgot about all those slaughtered by the various “ Drug Cartels ” as they seek to increase their profits in places like Mexico . Whilst in Sydney in 1974 I had occasion to report some for dispensing so called soft drugs , not sure of the results there but year by year I see the growing threat to society of the acceptance of this “ Human Failing ” and no where do I see why it should be tolerated . 10 years with hard labour , preferably breaking rocks , would have sent a stronger message to the Cycling Community Clowns who think he is being a good boy ! Guess it is a NIMBY problem , not in my back yard , not reading the thoughts of this miscreant for the present is a happy situation but there are some of the commenters who are in withdrawal .

My recent post to the CNF/mushroom farm :

“ At about the 150th page of a book i have just finished rereading i came across the " motivation " that prompted the setting up of " LiveSTRONG " ! I find the " It's not about the bike" quite motivating and from the comments in this thread it is obvious that most of you have read it more than once also !

No doubt some of you have marked the various quotations with Highlighter and may even have your own index of contents so as to go back to refute assertions made by others !

HOW so many of you having read ( perhaps your perception skills are lacking ) this book and others and then twisted those quotations to suit your own purposes defy my imagination ! That LA is not a saint is made clear in his own writings and musings but he definitely has not been " Convicted in a Legal Court " of ALL that some of you wish "! Trying to liken him to papp , flandis , shamilton and others belittles your own intellect , that is if you ever had this faculty ! Reminds me of some of those odious comments that arrived on my blogs by " anonymous " , gutless and thoughtless would have been a better moniker !

That we have passed 7900 comments on this thread alone makes me wonder how much bile is out there ? SHOULD LA find himself in a Court of Law , i doubt that any of you will treat him in the same way that you treated papp now that he has been silenced ( perhaps only temporarily ) ! Last month i was waiting like so many others with bated breathe for the predictions to be fulfilled but the Astroid sailed past Earth last night without headlines ! Which of you is going to stand in the sand pit on a soapbox and make the next pronouncement of his difficulties with this " Court of public opinion" ?

Not sure what i will do for amusement when this thread comes to a grinding halt , perhaps take to reading his other books for a start !

Having sent the Innsbruck Parking Police Authority several emails I finally received an automated reply yesterday so had an Austrian friend phone this morning on my behalf ! He was told that their computer has a “ virus ” so they do not read or answer emails ! He was also tolsd that since I had left it until today to ring that I should pay up as I HAD LEFT IT TOO LATE to seek redress ! My employer’s vehicle is shown on their computer screen and the comment was that “ they
Can afford to pay ” ! A$$hole forgets it comes out of the pocket of a 66yo non pensioned individual who can ill afford the loss to a sneak thief employed by their sub contractor ! I have had to advise the vehicle owner of this lack of co operation and the fact is my recompense for the work will be reduced by the Euro21 as a result . Had I been driving a rental vehicle the result would have been a double payment since those like AVIS choose to collect double the amount to cover their involvement . The parking people are aware of this situation and must be severely brain damaged to treat people in this way , they continue to try to justify their existence by creating a profit on others misfortune .

Paralympic Games started as the “ Stoke Mandeville Games ” in 1948 and have grown throughout the years into the first “ Paralympic Games ” at Rome in 1960 ! The reason for mentioning this is the death recently of a well known benefactor and fund raiser of the hospital . This truly remarkable character raised over £40 million as well as contributing massive amounts of personal monies and daily visits to the unit that he caused to be built . Sir Jimmy Saville was an extraordinary person and there are many I know who have met him although I only sighted him on one of my visits to the Hospital .

Follow this link to the better description of his efforts on behalf of Spinal victims , the author describes his before and after contacts :


http://barry-wells.com/the-loss-of-a-legend-and-a-personal-hero-sir-jimmy-saville/

A truly remarkable story and a man that will be greatly missed by all who had contact with him

R I P Sir Jimmy !

INNSBRUCK revisted

TRAFFIC HAZARDS

You are riding towards a traffic junction at about 35kph, perhaps only 75m away and you are passed by a car , then it brakes and pulls to the curb , the door quickly swings open so someone can get out but had you carried on in a straight line you would have either been doored or hit the alighting passenger ! So who would be at fault here , and how would the Polizei view the result particularly with no common language to explain exactly what had taken place ? Usually the Polizei side with the driver don’t they!


Hammering along the road you are passed by a car and it passes just in front of you , moves to the right onto the white line then moves back into the centre of the carriageway / traffic lane to continue on it’s journey . What sort of a point do they think they are making by this behaviour , personally I think they may have been drinking and don’t you wish there was a Cop around to check them over ?


You are in a large roundabout trying to hold your speed for the far exit and not hold up following traffic and a large HGV pulls into the roundabout with a “ size is might attitude” causing you to have to avoid being the “ meat in the sandwich “. Conversely as you are rounding a roundabout a car drives into the road in front of you without even looking , thinking that there is time for them to be out of your way , having misjudged your speed . Suddenly they look at you with a " What are you doing there " attitude , "why are you there " ?

You are riding down the road tailgating traffic and leaving about 10m for safety’s sake and a car pulls alongside you and THEN decides to start moving towards the kerb with the attitude of you being smaller and smarter will brake/ slow down . Don’t they get upset when you rap on the window to remind them that you are still there ? Recently a people mover owned by a behinderten organisation did this to me ! We were both following a tractor at 40kph when the tractor moved left with the intention of going into a lane on the left so the van moved right so as not to slow down trying to force me out of the road onto the grass verge . Rapping on the window had no effect on the driver or passengers .


Approaching the roundabout you let some traffic through but take position to follow them with others queuing behind you through the roundabout , then having moved towards the curb after exiting the roundabout , the following car steps on the gas to the extent they narrowly avoid shunting the car you were 10m behind at that time .


Truck / HGV starts passing you on the straight road and then someone coming the other way starts to overtake causing the truck to forget you and in order to avoid a head on collision moves right towards the pavement whilst you are still alongside the trailer so as to hold their speed .


Truck passing you too lazy to signal overtaking and thus the tailgating vehicle suddenly discovers you are there and blares the klaxon to tell all that they were asleep again !


Car passing with driver holding the mobile phone to the ear and pointing out to you they think you should be on the farm track that some call a cycle path . How can they drive with both hands occupied , doing anything other than holding the steering wheel ?



Have you ever gone into a roundabout , had a car come alongside you then leave on the same exit and get 300m down the road and they are still there ? When you are at the speed limit they then complain you are going too fast ? Could be they expect that the car has priority over the cyclist ? So often I have cars choose to overtake in the last metres before the roundabout and then they are wondering why you are still there several hundred metres later !



Driving a car I always come up behind a cyclist and signal overtaking or turn on the “ hazard lights “ so as to warn those following what is happening . If I can do this then 99% of the population driving should be able to exercise those digits called fingers to do likewise . Highway Codes exist in ALL countries and I am sure 95% of the time the requirements placed on Drivers towards cyclists are common and so whichever country you are passing through you can expect “ Fair Treatment ” whether this happens is usually down to the vehicle driver rather than the cyclist !


Certainly I can think of many more examples of sheer inconsiderate driving behaviour but would welcome some of you’re the readers observations !

STILL AWAITING COMMENTS !

TRAFFIC HAZARDS