Has anyone ever seen.....

Huggles

The girl that cycles up Amien street every morning about 7.45am? She is on a very old, in very bad condition racing bike and has a three foot piece of wood attached to the back of her seatpost and hanging out to the right hand side of her bike, into the lane, with "LIFE" written on it in tippex this morning.

The reason I ask is because I witnessed a near terrible accident this morning due to her and aforementioned piece of wood. A guy on a colnago was overtaking her at the very moment she decided to go around a car coming out of one of the roads on the left near where the strand bowl used to be. The piece of wood nearly got him in the leg, he let a roar at her and continued on.

Personally, whilst I understand her reasoning for having such a contraption, I think its complete overkill, unnecessary and bloody dangerous for other cyclists and herself. Is such a device even legal?

CheGuedara

I've never seen that (or anything like that!)

It sounds pretty mad - guess that's her enforced safety bubble to make sure nobody blows past her too close, which I too appreciate - she prob cant move to evade things properly quickly if she's a good age - but it sounds kinda reckless.

Can't see it going down well with the fuzz if they came across it while trying to pass her.

It does answer the question 'what is the measure of life?' though - well it's about three foot long and has a sort of woody quality to it.

Huggles

Not to mention the word LIFE tippexed onto it. jaysis.

CheGuedara wrote: »

I've never seen that (or anything like that!)

It does answer the question 'what is the measure of life?' though - well it's about three foot long and has a sort of woody quality to it.

Morgan

Huggles wrote: »

The reason I ask is because I witnessed a near terrible accident this morning

In other words you didn't witness an accident at all. Colnago guy should watch where he's going.

JMJR

I remember that these were quite popular for a while here. Never knew what they were called but apparently would be 'Safety Stick' or 'Distance Stick'.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4586454.html

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6976446.html

http://books.google.com/patents/about?id=7lstAAAAEBAJ

you get the picture.

What I remember as a product sold and used in this country is a long arm, maybe 18", which was hinged on the seatpost and swung out horizontally to the right and rested at right angles to the bike. There was a plastic disk about 3" in diameter in a vertical plane which had a reflector in the centre. The ides was to ensure that overtaking drivers did not pass too close to the bike rider.
It sounds like the OP saw a home made version of this?

Ghost Rider

I'd say you're spot on there.

And Morgan is right to point out that the responsibility for safety lay with the person overtaking, not the person overtaken. Sounds like the Colnago rider was being quite boorish under the circumstances.

JMJR wrote: »

I remember that these were quite popular for a while here. Never knew what they were called but apparently would be 'Safety Stick' or 'Distance Stick'.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4586454.html

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6976446.html

http://books.google.com/patents/about?id=7lstAAAAEBAJ

you get the picture.

What I remember as a product sold and used in this country is a long arm, maybe 18", which was hinged on the seatpost and swung out horizontally to the right and rested at right angles to the bike. There was a plastic disk about 3" in diameter in a vertical plane which had a reflector in the centre. The ides was to ensure that overtaking drivers did not pass too close to the bike rider.
It sounds like the OP saw a home made version of this?

Morgan

JMJR wrote: »

What I remember as a product sold and used in this country is a long arm, maybe 18", which was hinged on the seatpost and swung out horizontally to the right and rested at right angles to the bike. There was a plastic disk about 3" in diameter in a vertical plane which had a reflector in the centre. The ides was to ensure that overtaking drivers did not pass too close to the bike rider.

I remember those:

Lumen

Aha, finally an reason to fit a TTMPL (top tube mounted polo mallet).

Hermy

Morgan wrote: »

I remember those:

Looks like that one is designed to keep errant pedestrians at bay.

Huggles

Morgan wrote: »

In other words you didn't witness an accident at all. Colnago guy should watch where he's going.

I never said I witnessed an accident, I said NEAR accident.

Huggles

Hermy wrote: »

Looks like that one is designed to keep errant pedestrians at bay.

It didn't look like that, it was about 3 feet long and was made of wood and in defence of colnago guy how was he to know he would be skewered by another bike?

Ghost Rider

I know people can do wacky things as you overtake them - same applies in all vehices. But the rule is: if you're not sure, you shouldn't overtake.

Huggles wrote: »

It didn't look like that, it was about 3 feet long and was made of wood and in defence of colnago guy how was he to know he would be skewered by another bike?

Hermy

If Colnago guy is gonna be that careless then maybe he shouldn't be riding a Colnago!

Lumen

Huggles wrote: »

A guy on a colnago was overtaking her at the very moment she decided to go around a car coming out of one of the roads on the left near where the strand bowl used to be. The piece of wood nearly got him in the leg, he let a roar at her and continued on.

He wasn't in full Milram kit by any chance?

niceonetom

Morgan wrote: »

I remember those:

The thing is though, that reflector-on-a-stick is flexible. If someone rides into it, they get a shock, nothing more. A bloody plank on your bike? well your missing the point a bit (look wide be narrow), and making things less safe for everyone, including yourself.

Morgan

Huggles wrote: »

It didn't look like that, it was about 3 feet long and was made of wood and in defence of colnago guy how was he to know he would be skewered by another bike?

Because he has eyes (I assume) and it was a big lump of wood.

cosmic

Morgan wrote: »

I remember those:

Someone in the bike shed in my work has one of those! I saw it only yesterday and thought how retro it was!

Huggles

You are just being argumentative for the sake of it now.

Generally when overtaking other cyclists I personally don't expect to be hit by a length of wood, attached to a persons bike. Do you?

Morgan wrote: »

Because he has eyes (I assume) and it was a big lump of wood.

Hermy

Huggles wrote: »

You are just being argumentative for the sake of it now.

:eek: Oh no we're not!

alfalad

Huggles wrote: »

You are just being argumentative for the sake of it now.

Generally when overtaking other cyclists I personally don't expect to be hit by a length of wood, attached to a persons bike. Do you?

Bit of a dangereous thing to have on a bike, no doubt about that. BUT whether you are driving or cycling you have to be looking ahead of you and a good bit ahead so you see thing in time. In this case you said the lady pulled out case of a parked car......well of course she is going to pull out, i doubt she would cycle into it for the fun, granted she should have looked behind but the guy behind should have seen that she was going to move out cause of the car and that if he wanted to go by her at the same time he would have to give a lot more room. Again you need to be able to look ahead for the dangers and adjust accordingly, in case seeing there was a parked car and that she would need to pull out.

So i reckon although the lady is not blameless, the guy on the Colnago is more to blame, as he should have seen the danger!

Hermy

I don't think you're allowed to overtake someone who is overtaking so it might be all Colnago guy's fault.

Lumen

Cars are required to be constructed in such a way that pedestrians are not torn to shreds in the event of an accident. If that's a good idea, I can't see that it's a good idea to attach a large piece of wood to your bike.

You're far more likely to whack a dozy pedestrian than avoid a sideways collision with a car, and whilst dozy pedestrians are irritating, whacking them with planks seems disproportionate.

Greyspoke

If the piece of wood took a hit from a car, bike or pedestrian, is that not likely to tip the good lady into the road anyway?

DirkVoodoo

Jackass style BMX jousting anyone?



Having a rigid object as your "safety" device isn't very smart. There is no failsafe.