Old 35 mm movie of San Francisco

I agree Marty.
I can't understand why he's persisted even *this* long!

 

Are yer sure G-S ?

JL
(noting also that the road rules aren't truly unified yet so there may
be NSW / Vic differences still)

 

If the cyclist was not going too fast for the conditions why did he
collide with the pedestrians? Was he not watching where he was going?

 

Yah but to be fair they did retro-fit the earlier C model with one of
those after market 3 on the floor shifters so it looked like the later one.


G-S

 

Actually it's closer to kerosine...


G-S

 

There is (or at least was) a defence specifically relating to
pedestrians crossing when the pedestrian marker was red in Victoria.

I'm somewhat familiar with this because I guy I knew hit a person who
walked out on the red and she died.

Not up on the details and the guy is now in Darwin, not sure how I'd
check the court records...


G-S

 

I'm still pretty sure the vehicle has to give way to pedestrians in
all states. Yes, if someone is crossing a red light then if you hit
them, a court will exonerate you from manslaughter if it goes that
far. But the bigger nastier car has to give way to pedestrians as much
as it is possible. It's not just a legal situation, it's common bloody
sense. If you do strike a "jaywalker" then you probably won't end up
in jail. But if you ploughed into a bunch of people on a green
pedestrian light I think you might have a little while of very bland
food and a small room.

Kev

 

I was under the impression it was a bicycle. Whereas 40 is a fairly
achievable rate of travel on a bicycle, it requires a fit person to
maintain that speed. I would think 50 would be beyond 95% of cyclists,
except when riding down a steeep hill. 700? Unlikely. I understood you
to be crossing the road away from a marked pedestrian crossing, you
didn't pay appropriate attention, and you probably were partly the
cause of the cyclist being distracted enough to have a subsequent
accident. Was the speed limit less than 40 km/h and do you think it
would have been inappropriate for another vehicle to be travelling at
or near the posted speed limit?

Theo

 

I kinda thought Kev just made up the second incident (to demonise the
cyclist) but for the sake of the argument there could be a few reasons
other than speed.

Of course we've already mentioned the most obvious; that the crash was a
result of him being out of control after having to swerve to avoid Kev.

He might also have turned his head to give Kev a long withering-stare
and not looked back in time.

He may have even just become so angry at meat-head pedestrians that he
decided to ram the next one he saw!

The fact that he was turning when he collided with them tends to
indicate that speed *wasn't* much of a factor (hard to speed around
right-angle corners on a pushie)

 

Yes they should not have crossed the crossing when the lights were green.

 

They don't have to leave clearance for the pedalling!

 

cornering speed is a function of grip, which is entirely down to the
coefficient of friction between the tyre and the road, limited by how
far over you can lean the bike / how far over you can get the centre
of gravity of the bike/rider combination. You should be able to lean
a road pushbike on grippy rubber a fair way over, so you should be able
to get around corners pretty quick. Has almost nothing to do with
weight, the extra sideways force from momentum is exactly countered
by the extra grip from the extra mass. Which is why they put wings on
F1 cars - extra grip without using stickier rubber (that won't last
as long)

 

You go really fast round corners on a pushie by coasting with the inside
pedal raised to the top - massively more clearance than any motorcycle on
the planet. Where on earth did you go to school that you didn't learn
that?

 

If you read what Kev actually wrote, rather than what he implied, you'll
see that nowhere does he say the pedestrian lights were green. If they
were, since you never have a Walk / Don't Walk without a matching set of
traffic lights, the cyclist went through a red light.

 

He was turning from a street with a green light with pedestrians
having an associated green as well. But I cannot recall whether there
was a red arrow at the intersection for a right turn. I don't think
so. But he still has to wait for the pedestrians.

Kev

 

I'm aware of that but the fact that you can't pedal while hard cornering
means that you're losing speed (compared to a motorcycle; the example
Nev was using).

 

When they're not pedalling yes.

 

I'm guessing that the reason is related to the relative masses of the
machinery.

Maybe kinetic energy to friction ratios.


BTH

 

Psst BT; I think that was Nev's oh-so-subtle point! (in response to the
"weight's not a factor" post).

 

I also think that solar flares might have something to do with it.

Neutrino emissions and all that.


BTH