There is a serious need for defensive cycling!

willocrew

The thing about most drivers is that they are very unaware of their surroundings. They do not anticipate things. They wait till its right in their face before they react, by which time it is already too late. I suppose this stems from inexperience or complacency.

Simple things like in an estate area round a blind corner, they assume its their right of way so they go around it at 50 -60 kms...then bam a kid with her dog is dead.

And when you pair inexperience with high risk behaviour.. you get a deadly combination.


I have seen some local bike stores advertise road riding clinics.. so they probably exist around.

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thebirdman

Can you advertise the name of the organisation that conducted the courses and any contact details you have.

thebirdman

I do not see a need in drivers being able to handle vehicles at high speed in cities, although it is a good skill to have if you do alot of country driving. Good roadcraft is also about judgement about appropriate speed for the current road conditions (eg. if there are no footpaths along a roadway and there are lots of pedestrians walking on the shoulders, and the posted speed is, say 60km/h, doesn't mean you hack along at 60km/h, just because that is the posted speed.).

(Long answer)In the late 70's there was one of the best advanced driver training facilities in Australia(Western Australian Safety Council). It had a 'skid pan' and class rooms and my understanding is that most of time was spent in lectures. They trained the Police, Ambulance drivers, Firefighters and for a small fee, 'Joe or Jill Citizen'.

In 1977 I passed my drivers licence. I will be the 1st to admit that I could not drive. 3 months after getting my licence I wrote off a car, on a gravel country road, in a roll over, and was lucky enough not to write off my brother and myself. This bought home the fact that I needed to improve my driving skills.

About the same time a new state government decided in its 'infinite' wisdom to cease funding to the safety council. Of coarse an organisation with no funding soon evaporates into thin air. One of the dubious reasons given by the authorities, for removing the funds, was that people with these skills would become over-confident and drive too hard. A bit of same rationale that stopped authorities legislating seat belts in cars earlier.

At the same time I gravitated towards car rallying. This is where I learnt vehicle control.

I learnt road craft by reading books on the subject written by/for prominent racecar drivers of the era.

It is only recently, in WA, that I have heard of Driver Awarness Courses. They have been offered to employees of large organisations like Telstra, BHP and State Emergency Service WA (Designated Drivers only)to cut down insurance costs.

If some one like me, who wants to learn about roadcraft, has difficulty finding appropriate training. What hope has the ordinary mug punter, who thinks a drivers licence is a right, not a privilage, got in getting this training.

matagi

We did ours through Ian Luff here in NSW. We found the course quite good, but there are a whole raft of advanced driving courses out there based in various states.

thebirdman

Thanks for the info

chodadog

I think the safest way to cycle is to assume everyone else on the road is an idiot.

My Specialized Allez Elite, at just 3 weeks old, was written off while passing through a roundabout. I entered the roundabout and this guy stops at his entrance. I've got my lights flashing away and naturally assume the guy is giving way to me. There's no way he could not have seen me had he been paying attention to what was on the roundabout. As I pass in front of him, he pulls out and drives over my front wheel.

The pedestrian who was looking to cross the street behind his car even mentioned in her statement that she could see me, and she had no reason to even be looking in my direction. Drivers can be so oblivious it's scary.

LeojVS

Yep, I do see a need. simple. High speeds occure all the time. M4 for example. 110km/h. One day it was drizzly, I ws in the centre lane sitting on about 95/100, when some goose piled into my lane. no warning, no indicator. I has to pile on the skids, and being a Ute with shit in the tray, the back end tried to lead the way. So, here I am, in a 1300kg bobsled, doing now about 80, somewhat sideways, lotsa left lock, and pooing myself. I managed to get the car straight, with no real trouble and kept on my way. It was a case of 2nd gear, sink the right foot and wheel spin my way to recovery. I have been told by 2 instructors thats a real no-no, but its wht I was taught by my dad, and it works.
Some times wou cant avoid getting into trouble at high speeds, and is nice to know how to get outta it, and its not always a case of simply driving slow. Yeah, high speeds are dangerous, but not if you know what to do. Slow speeds in a hgh speed area are most dangerous. People get frustrated, and try to pass you. Sometines resulting in me racing (at high speed) to the fire truck

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