Car drivers should become cyclists first.

thebirdman

What is the feasability of new drivers logging up 50/100 hours of push bike riding, after they pass their learners permit, but before they get behind the wheel of a car or on a motorbike for their first lessons.

This of coarse excludes those living 20 or 30 km outside major towns and citys.

Jeytown

sounds like you have a personal story to share

were all listnening......................................

LeojVS

yeah man, give us some more details. You could be on to something. Make people realise how venerable we can feel out there, b4 they get a full lisence

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy

mikesbytes

in NT, wouldn't some of them be so slow that they be at risk of being taken by crocks?

Also, why exclude rural residents? Give those roo bars on the road trains another purpose.

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Training Log

Archibald

definately make truck drivers do it!!
had two potentially bad incidents on last night's ride home.
one was a clown pulling out from a side road that forced me out into the next lane on footscray rd (my only other option would have been to go under the semi)
the other was a semi who nearly lost his load cornering in a cloud of rubber smoke and locked brakes - if he hadn't used both lanes in the road, i swear that the shipping container on the back would have toppled the trailer right onto me...

thebirdman

I apologise for thowing an idea out into the ether and not adding any body to it. So here goes.

My thinking goes something along these lines.

If a person wants to pilot a Boeing 747 ((jumbo Jet')they can not rock up to their local airport with their private pilots licence and wods of cash, hire a 747 and go out and fly it.

They have to 1st learn to fly low powered single engined aircraft and graduate though various types of aircraft to the point where they qualified to fly 'heavy metal'. My understanding is that it takes the average pilot at least 10 years of commercial flying to get to this stage. ( I know there will be/are exceptions, but this seems to be the norm.)

In the case of singing, I would suggest that to improve your accuracy of reaching musical notes and with timing, amongst other things, it would help if you learnt another musical instrument.

In both these cases, training in other related, but different areas, you aquire a broarder spectrum of knowlege and skills to help you out with your ultimate goal, be it piloting a 747, singing in your favorite genra of music, or for that matter driving a motor vehicle.

With both flying and singing you are usually sharing space and time with other users, just as motorists and cyclists (should) share the road. So if we had to graduate from the simpler through to the more complex machines we, hopefully, would learn about the inherant advantages and disadvantages of each type of road vehicle and take this into concideration when driving or riding.

Walk a mile in my shoes and maybe we would treat each other with respect.

A system like this should also only allow people to graduate to the most complex machinery that they show competence in handling.

thebirdman

Hi Mikesbytes

If you notice I put a distance on that exclusion of 20-30km from a major community.

Having lived in the north west of Western Australia for a long time. A major community, in this part of the country, is any settlement over 300-400 people. So, as there are very few Australians who fall into this catergory the overwhelming majority would be covered.

I chose this distance because, other than us keen cyclists, 20-30km is an unreasonable distance.

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Ride a 'kay' in my shoes.

Jeytown

while i agree in all cases

if you use the road

you should shoulder some responsibilty of it

so as confusing as that statement is i feel that there should be at least some form of trainng beginnig at a very early age........

something like some profeciency at school everyone brings there bike ride a course they get a badge collect a series of badges get a certificate while it does not go in any specific directon teh outcome would be to educate younger riders that tehre are different styles these could be
having a road bike
having a bmx
having a mtb
even a tandem

overall training would take a semester or a year involving real or simulated events on a road

so myabe that would be the first step

i guess also there is teh stigma the media has that if yo own a bicycle you must be two things

14yrs old
or
massbug psycho
cheers

thebirdman

Please go out and hire the largest truck or bus your drivers licence allows and drive around Melbourne for even 1/2 a day and understand what truck drivers have to put up with. You would be suprised to find out that they have many of the same problems as us cyclists have to put up with only in their case it's usually because they're so large.

And being human, like me, truck drivers do make mistakes. It's up to us, for our preservation, to have situational awareness and ride accordingly, and avoid other operators goof ups.

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Drive a mile in my boots.

Sarah23

Drivers ARE cyclists before they become riders...haven't you seen those kids without helmets, riding the wrong way, cutting across traffic, riding down the middle white line, on and off footpaths with no concern for being predictable for other motorists...

As for truck drivers...If I have to put up with another driver who refuses to fully change lanes, even though it is early in the morning on a two-laned road...Not the first time I have been surprised by a rush of wind extremely close and not realised it was actually a B-double...nasty..

Not the last time either I imagine...*sigh*

chuckchunder

hhmmmm........... i've commuted for a long time, the only vehicle to ever actually hit me was a car, the only vehicle to have deliberately run me off the road such that my life was threatened was a semi, and i've recently had two very close calls with bicycles............ drivers and riders are people and there are half-wits in every group....... i'll try and not be a half wit if you will, actually i'll just try and not be one regardless.......

Jeytown

look truck drivers are there own species

they have way different road rules so they have a thousand different things going on

show me how many truckies have killed cyclists and how many cars kill cyclists

im not justifying truckies either just seems that its an easy target its cars that are the bigger problem.

Archibald

cars.. trucks... i don't care. both are motorised transport that are recklessly driven and endanger the lives of cyclists (and people in their homes if you notice the continuing trend on the news with people parking in lounge rooms).

people need to realise that driving a vehicle is a privilege not a right.
it is far too easy to obtain a drivers licence - harder to obtain a firearm licence, yet motor vehicles have killed more people on this earth than firearms have...
the previous example of pilot's licences is another example of how poorly the distribution of drivers licences are...

Jeytown

no argument there


im just saying that overall truckies are in the same boat as us believe it or not


the need to be taken seriously on the road

other than tha i totally agree