My Personal “ Hill 108 “ for Wouter

The 2011 Giro d’Italia’s tragic loss of Wouter W. remains as a constant memory with many ! Personally I find that as I ride the bike over various different terrains certain memories come to mind with recollections of various events over a lifetime of activity whether from travelling in Australia or Europe . Scenery in the Austrian mountains is similar to the French and Italian Alps so much so that you can imagine you are in another locale as you round each corner of the road . On parts of the road today the colours of the leaves reminded me of views in the Eastern States of the USA where Autumn sees a smorgasbord of startling colours ranging from Reds through Yellows to Greens . Normally I only see Greens on these rides .

Brandenberg Valley is a cul-de-sac and the round trip is about 26km but is shaped like an inverted W. so this is why I am reminded of Wouter !

Mornings I like to take the western road which runs north to Aschau in B. for about 9km and I nearly always side track and ride up into the village thus adding height in the sunlight . Here is a view of the back of the valley on the westerly ascent :





Instead of turning uphill the road veers right with a descent of 15% for about a mile runs along the valley floor and then ascends to another group of houses and farms before declining gradually to a gulley and then there is a sharpish climb of a couple of kilometres to Brandenburg where the descent of 9km to Kramsach begins with several false flats along the route .

Taking this route today was only interrupted on one occasion by cattle being herded through the village on the outskirts of Brandenburg . One old guy only arrived at his gateway after some cows decided to try out the taste of his flowers . About 4km from Kramsach there is a splendid view south of the valley and beyond .

Arriving back in Kramsach I turned about and set off uphill to repeat the route riding the Easterly side of the valley which remains shaded much of the morning on the ascent . As I was climbing through the windy section a clown on a noisy motocross bike scraped my shoulder to show his dimwitted sense of humour . Not only did he pollute the atmosphere with noise and fumes he also demonstrated his stupidity since when I described him to one of his neighbours , the woman said she would have her husband a “ Cop” speak to him ! Love to have been around for the result !

As mentioned elsewhere Alpe d’Huez Annually in June has an event raising Funds for “ Cancer Charities “ , this area lends itself as ideal for doing something similar as a large number of Dutch visit this area each year for Skiing ! Perhaps “ Tirol Tourism “ can find a way to fund the initial event and thus create another opportunity for those who will be surplus to the 5000 participant limit imposed by the Dutch Organisation for their 2012 event . There are any number of other worthwhile events that could locate here as an alternative venue since generally the weekday traffic is minimal by comparison to so many areas and access to Kramsach is by way of the Autobahn Exit there .

My Personal “ Hill 108 “ for Wouter

TRAFFIC HAZARDS 2

Came across these stories after posting " Traffic Hazards " so since theee are relevant items I have added them separately in this post .:

“ http://road.cc/content/news/44032-motorist-rams-new-forest-cyclist-road-rage-incident

It annoys me so much when you get Mr Irratic Car in a very busy location attempting with every sinew and muscle to squeeze in front of you on a bike only to see them brake harshly in front and stop in a queue which was totally visible way back. When safe to do so you inch slowly past said vehicles and get abuse thrown at you! It's about time everyone looked in the mirror before getting in their car and taking a chill pill and looked forward to an enjoyable drive to their location instead of the stoneage attitude of working out how many people they can upset on their way....


posted by shaun finnis [9 posts] 21st September 2011 - 6:19






Live to Ride, 'cycling a real sport'From the Highway Code
General advice (144-158)
Traffic-calming measures. On some roads there are features such as road humps, chicanes and narrowings which are intended to slow you down. When you approach these features reduce your speed. Allow cyclists and motorcyclists room to pass through them. Maintain a reduced speed along the whole of the stretch of road within the calming measures. Give way to oncoming road users if directed to do so by signs. You should not overtake other moving road users while in these areas.
How often do we see this advice disregarded? The ranting cyclist hating lobby of the Echo seemed to have skipped this page.

posted by giff77 [145 posts] 19th September 2011 - 15:48



Well here..
I am a cyclist and a driver
There are bad drivers.. AND certainly bad cylists as well. Nobody has the right to ram somebody off the road for any reason. But giving somebody the fingers, or shaking heads is not a very good thing to do either. I am always very patient with other cyclist when driving, but sometimes we/they get drivers and themselves into very dangerous situations because we/they think that a cyclist can be a pedestrian and a traffic object at the same time.
I say we should have respect for eachother - mostly people just want to get home in one piece anyways. 
Though I get annoyed when people on MTB's ride in the middle of the road in rush hour when there is a path on the other side of the road.

posted by seabass89 [12 posts] 21st September 2011 - 21:14

Will be interested to see the outcome of this incident !


This further item may remind people of how ineffective the “ Points System “ is in relation to stemming the rise of the “ Aggressive and Bullying vehicle operator “! As all you need is money to employ a Barrister to present your case more and more people are choosing to take this route rather than reconsider their “ Driver Behaviour “ and thus change the manner in which they drive !



“ Having read about this situation before I think the whole system is farcical and just goes to show that despite all the media attention on the "war on the motorist" the whole criminal justice system is setup to treat motorists so carefully that they can literally get away with murder with just a slap on the wrist.
Anyone who mounts up 12 points clearly is a poor driver, if being without your car would cause "exceptional hardship" then maybe you should start using it as the law permits.
As for the people with 30 points why on earth are they still driving? Couldn't the system be changed so that at 12 points *if* being without the car would cause "exceptional hardship" then the courts could POSTPONE the ban however any additional points beyond that result in gradually longer bans and possibly a need for retraining and testing (at a hugely inflated price in the middle of the working week....)
Drivers need to realize that they are in charge of rather heavy machines which are capable of seriously hurting and killing other people and treat them as the potentially lethal weapons they are.
posted by bassjunkieuk [8 posts] 20th September 2011 - 8:57

Someone I know was stopped whilst speeding in his hire car in Australia. Apparently the rozzers over there have the power to issue instant bans, as he was kicked out of his motor and made to get a taxi to pick him up, then arrange a recovery vehicle to return the car to the hire company.
Maybe if the Police had those sort of powers in the UK, and drivers were aware of it, then people might be less inclined to tempt fate in the first place.
posted by jarderich [21 posts] 20th September 2011 - 12:47

WHAT A GREAT IDEA !


Not the only one who likes this idea ! Here is another with merit :


The example of that cab driver infuriates me even more.
Dude, if you were negligent enough to get 12 points as a driver, find another occupation! You are a risk to yourself, other road users and those passengers who're paying you 
Also, would be a good idea for the cabbies, truckers, etc to be made to display their insurance and points gathered on license in the cab. Give the customers a right to refuse to pay if either of them are out of order (expired insurance or points > 12).
~rbx

posted by rbx [167 posts] 20th September 2011 - 21:51



I like the idea about having to display the number of points on the car - perhaps as a warning triangle on the car, so that other road users can take precautions?
This is truly scandalous and kind of puts paid to stories about motorists getting a hard time.
robbiec
posted by robbieC [16 posts




Cyclingsilk.blogspot has posted this weekend about a traffic incident that luckily only left him with bruising and a broken front wheel . Reporting the incident to the police will no doubt produce further follow up reports as this matter is processed .

TRAFFIC HAZARDS 2

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