The Christchurch City Council has launched its ‘Share the Road’ campaign for the month of February, encouraging drivers and cyclists to respect the rights of all road users.

Asset and Network Planning Manager, Terry Howes, says drivers and cyclists can share the road safely by practising common courtesy and consideration.

“Bicycles are vehicles and they have every right to be on the road. We are asking drivers to consider good driving practice, such as checking for cyclists before turning left or opening car doors, giving them plenty of space and not overtaking them where it is unsafe.”

“At the same time, cyclists also have an obligation to obey the road rules. They should bike defensively – watching for car doors and turning vehicles, as well as keeping as far left as reasonable and riding a maximum of two abreast,” he says.

The Share the Road cycle safety education campaign is run by the Council each year to coincide with police enforcement campaigns. For more information visit http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cycling.

Oh the irony!

Would've been better two months ago...but at last they're doing something

are they? I drive and ride, and this is the first I've heard of it. Where are they running the campaign? Bus stops? Taxi stands?

When a driver is getting out of a car, at what point can they be considered as a pedestrian?

I had a door opened on me yesterday afternoon. I nearly impaled the driver against the open door. It was the fastest exit and retreat manoeuvre I have seen but it also sent me wobbling into the path of following cars.

I was thinking I might need one of those flash laser pointers, modify it to give a wide beam to fire into drivers-side mirrors of parked cars so the driver gets a flood of light to warn them a cyclist is nearby?

Some thing needs to happen because a significant number of drivers seem to turn off the self defence part of their brain once they start to get out of their car.

alexd wrote:
I was thinking I might need one of those flash laser pointers, modify it to give a wide beam to fire into drivers-side mirrors of parked cars so the driver gets a flood of light to warn them a cyclist is nearby?

You might get your carbon bike cut in half by the japanese if you do that...

I might forward the thread title to Tui as a suggested bilboard slogan.

Its all very well talking about motorist vs cyclists obligations .... but you would think a truck driver would know if they turn in front of a cyclist there could be a problem....
One 17km ride to work this week, dozens of cars passing closer than 1.5m, 1 truck pushes me dangerously close to bridge rails and 2 trucks (thanks Tranzlink & Keegan Contractors) turn out of side roads in front of me forcing me to bike defensively, but I shouldnt have needed to!

I wear hi-viz clothing, ride as close to the left as possible and bike very defensively... I have to otherwise I wouldn t' make it to work!

Geez I only want to keep fit so I can go off road and blast in the forest on the weekends!..

I'm sick of that "keep as far left as possible" bullshit. If you do that then cars will squeeze you into the gutter/siderails/curb/cars. If you ride about 1m to the right of as far left as you can ride then cars will respekt your authoratah and wait until it's safer to pass (or, you can wait till there's a safe bit of straight road where you can move further left)... And if they do decide to mong it up and squeeze past somewhere retarded then you've got some road you can dive into.

I think that about 7 times out of 10 that I have scares on the road it's because I was riding too far to the left and it made motorists do retarded shit because they thought they could squeeze through.

agreed witht he jovial primate.

happybaboon wrote:I'm sick of that "keep as far left as possible" bullshit. If you do that then cars will squeeze you into the gutter/siderails/curb/cars. If you ride about 1m to the right of as far left as you can ride then cars will respekt your authoratah and wait until it's safer to pass (or, you can wait till there's a safe bit of straight road where you can move further left)... And if they do decide to mong it up and squeeze past somewhere retarded then you've got some road you can dive into.

I think that about 7 times out of 10 that I have scares on the road it's because I was riding too far to the left and it made motorists do retarded shit because they thought they could squeeze through.

+1

happybaboon wrote:I'm sick of that "keep as far left as possible" bullshit.

It is bullshit
See page 21 of the road code
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/cycli ... 9-high.pdf
Road rules state that road users should keep as ‘near as practicable’ to the left side of the roadway. This means that you should keep left, but not to the extent that it compromises your safety.
Ride in a position where you have a good view, and where other road users can see you. Cycling in a straight line (ie not swerving in and out) will help other road users predict your movements.
Never ride so closely to the kerb or edge of the road that you are in danger of cycling into the kerb or off the road.
Never ride in the ‘door zone’ (the space where car doors open) when cycling past parked cars. Allow at least one metre between you and a parked car.
If the road is too narrow to safely allow vehicles to pass, you are in danger of being run off the road or hit by a passing car. In this situation it is acceptable to move further out into the path of traffic to prevent other users from passing you. If you do have to move further out, remember to find a gap, signal your intentions and move across when it is safe. Once you have moved out try to ride as quickly as you can and allow the following traffic to pass when the road widens.

Actually... this is quite scary. It saying that a cyclist should not ride in the door zone. So a driver does not have to look for a cyclist before opening the door because the road code says the cyclist shouldn't be there. If you get doored its your own stupid fault.

znomit wrote:Actually... this is quite scary. It saying that a cyclist should not ride in the door zone. So a driver does not have to look for a cyclist before opening the door because the road code says the cyclist shouldn't be there. If you get doored its your own stupid fault.

I don't think that's the correct interpretation. The point is that you can't rely on people to check before opening the door, not that they don't have to, so you should practice common sense. You can usually see if there's someone in a car anyway, and therefore know when to move right.

some examples

Jan1965 wrote:some examples

Has Hummer-Man been out with his paintbrush?