EUC fashion...

[on one]

I wish he would have been stopped because great injury would have been prevented.

[Funky]

2 hours ago, techyiam said:

Interesting that you mention dogs.

For some unexplainable reasons, dogs on or not on leash don't bark or be bothered with me, anymore. Not 100%, but almost. I don't know what changed.

They got update - EUC not enemy. Few still haven't updated their dogs..

Edited July 10 by Funky

[Anthraksi]

On 7/10/2024 at 2:37 PM, techyiam said:

This very fact is actually quite alarming, especially when the perpetrators are full grown adults, not toddlers nor teens.

However, because I have witnessed this kind of behaviour all the time for so many years, and I see others, mostly drivers have also, most cyclists get to live another day because "others" save their ass by driving defensively.

Having said that, I would also add that, in addition to what had been said above, there can be additional risks one can get exposed to on an euc.

Yeah most of them are in fact grown ass adults that should know better, most of them even have a drivers license which would presumably mean that they know the rules of the traffic and are at least somewhat aware of the risk, but no. Most of the time it seems to be because they don't want to stop and lose the momentum. And I do kinda get it, it's a pain in the ass to get back up to speed on bicycle but I'm not sold on the idea if it's worth risking your life over not having to slow down or stop.

They get saved a lot because of others' defensive driving, but if they keep it up the 0.2% chance of something happening starts adding up and the luck will run out eventually. Just hopefully they are the only ones getting hurt.

On 7/10/2024 at 2:50 PM, Funky said:

Luckily i have no other people on sidewalks - where i ride. (One pro not living in big/busy city.) And if there are some pedestrians - i normally slow down around them.. Especially if i'm coming from back and they haven't notices me coming. Who knows.. Maybe they sidestep out of nowhere - who knows! Gotta be ready for that!

Yeah absolutely. No need to haul ass at 40km/h on a sidewalk or a combined sidewalk/bike path (lot of these here where there are pedestrians and bicycles on the same road) past people who are probably unaware that you are coming. Also a safe distance while passing is crucial, you never know if they suddenly turn to your direction, no matter if they are walking or on a vehicle of some sort.

But that said, even though I have a bicycle bell on my left index finger that I can just flick with my thumb to let someone know I'm coming, I rarely use it unless I absolutely need to. Reason being that more often than not the pedestrians start absolutely spasming out on the road and become absolutely clueless on which side they want to be on. Some stay on the middle of the road, some go to the left side and then jump onto the right, some give you a shoulder check and dont move at all cause they are too busy staring at you trying to figure out what the fuck is the vehicle that you are riding on etc... Sometimes it just turns into more of a hassle than it would be if you just silently passed them at a safe distance. And I noticed that it happened pretty often so unless they are blocking my path, I wont ring the bell.

20 hours ago, techyiam said:

Interesting that you mention dogs.

For some unexplainable reasons, dogs on or not on leash don't bark or be bothered with me, anymore. Not 100%, but almost. I don't know what changed.

I have had a theory for a long time that dogs hear the engine sounds very clearly and since its a high pitched noise, they absolutely hate it with a passion. However over the years as PEV's have gotten more common they have gotten used to it more or less and dont become completely unhinged anymore when you pass them. There are exceptions absolutely, but in the bigger cities it seems that most dogs really don't care anymore.

It was completely different back in 2019 when I got my first PEV and had to actively avoid dogs. 2019 was early enough that people had no idea that their dog would react to an electric vehicle that way, so most of the time they werent prepared for it and sometimes if they had a bad grip on the leash (or worse, no leash at all) you found yourself suddenly being chased.

[Funky]

2 hours ago, Anthraksi said:

Yeah absolutely. No need to haul ass at 40km/h on a sidewalk or a combined sidewalk/bike path (lot of these here where there are pedestrians and bicycles on the same road) past people who are probably unaware that you are coming. Also a safe distance while passing is crucial, you never know if they suddenly turn to your direction, no matter if they are walking or on a vehicle of some sort.

I'm going 45km/h.  At fun rides - when i gear up. Otherwise i'm ridding round 20-30km/h on my daily commutes. (Yup i ride 45km/h on sidewalks - when people are not around and road is straight and empty.. Also no blind areas..)

2 hours ago, Anthraksi said:

But that said, even though I have a bicycle bell on my left index finger that I can just flick with my thumb to let someone know I'm coming, I rarely use it unless I absolutely need to. Reason being that more often than not the pedestrians start absolutely spasming out on the road and become absolutely clueless on which side they want to be on. Some stay on the middle of the road, some go to the left side and then jump onto the right, some give you a shoulder check and dont move at all cause they are too busy staring at you trying to figure out what the fuck is the vehicle that you are riding on etc... Sometimes it just turns into more of a hassle than it would be if you just silently passed them at a safe distance. And I noticed that it happened pretty often so unless they are blocking my path, I wont ring the bell.

Waa - i never encountered anything like that over my 3 years of ridding. If anything most times people hear me coming and they move out of the way themselves. Or simply same as you - i pass them at slower speeds.. If i can't get past them, i simply ride right behind them at walking speed and ask them "May i pass, followed by thanks". Nothing more or less.

Or if i'm in somewhat bad mood - i simply smack my wrist guards half a mile behind them - they hear noise and look back - same time they notice me and move a side.  They don't know what made that sound... They simply looked back and saw me coming half a mile behind. (I'm not doing that right at their backs..)

Edited July 11 by Funky

[Anthraksi]

3 minutes ago, Funky said:

Waa - i never encountered anything like that over my 3 years of ridding. If anything most times people hear me coming and they move out of the way themselves. Or simply same as you - i pass them at slower speeds.. If i can't get past them, i simply ride right behind them at walking speed and ask them "May i pass, followed by thanks". Nothing more or less.

Or if i'm in somewhat bad mood - i simply smack my wrist guards half a mile behind them - they hear noise and look back - same time they notice me and move a side.  They don't know what made that sound... They simply looked back and saw me coming half a mile behind. (I'm not doing that right at their backs..)

Depends a lot where you are riding. On the streets there might be just enough noise that they don't hear the tire noise (and this is usually the case), but while on unpaved roads they will hear you since the gravel makes enough sound. But if I can pass safely without ringing the bell, I won't ring it.

Before I attached the bell to my finger I also just smacked my wristguards. I didn't do it often though, only if someone was blocking the road and not considering that someone may want to pass them. Which means that they deserve it.

[Cerbera]

I feel 'incomplete' if I ever leave for a ride and forget my finger bell, so much so that I will always go back and get it as soon as I notice it isn't there.

There are the odd people who staunchly ignore it, and not sure people on headphones hear it, but I get enough thanks and waves of appreciation from pedestrians on the local (shared) cycle path when I use it to convince me it is better to do it than not. Most people here do the right thing on hearing it and just move to one side of the path.

And dogs (on leads or not) are best advised of your presence sooner rather than later, when there is still distance between us, and we have time to watch their behaviour in response to it. Also we guarantee we don't surprise them by just appearing suddenly.

But if I am wheeling round, say, a picturesque lake on a Sunday afternoon where there can be a lot of people out for a peaceful stroll, then I am thinking much more about not disturbing them if I don't absolutely have to, so bell use gets dialled right back. Although one time, my decision to not ring a bell as I passed some people and a dog stopped on a boardwalk across a lake, resulted in me getting bitten by the surprised dog (for which I held myself largely responsible) !

 

Edited July 11 by Cerbera