The clear and present danger of irresponsible cyclists

The bane of powered vehicles

Beyond the terror of devil dogs that I wrote about recently, it is electric-powered bicycles and scooters that have become a menace on our roads. That fact that the human-powered element of pedalling or scooting means that the concentration of thought and process in the engagement of muscle is diverted elsewhere and that, in itself, becomes a kind of distraction.

Blog - Opinion: Public safety is paramount regardless of your cuddly dog

The bicycles or scooters whiz off at speed with the riders literally oblivious of the responsibility and due concern that comes with being in charge of such a vehicle. That and their inclination to ignore traffic and road usage rules along with pedestrians being terrorised on the pavements makes them a clear and present danger to others and themselves.

An uncaring cohort for safety

What baffles me and I have written about this having lived in Amsterdam is how riders can ply busy streets or pavements at night without lights. Usually, the riders are in dark clothing, and you are usually unaware of their proximity to you until they are so close, you have to avert a collision if they are totally uncaring.

I could go on about my concerns and bugbears, but the reason for this blog is a rather close encounter for which I should curb the urge to be dramatic even as my recollection of it leaves me in a shudder as to how it could have been a lot worse and it does not bear thinking of apart from lifting up hands in gratitude for being spared an inauspicious ending.

What just happened?

I was at a bus stop leaning on the inside wall of the enclosure with a foot out speaking to my friend on the phone, when suddenly I had a knock on the outside of my left knee and sudden surge of pain over the top of my midfoot, the shock with a directed gaze to a young man crashing off his bicycle as he came to find out if he had hit me.

“Are you crazy?” I shouted out at him, a bystander who saw everything was totally nonchalant that I wonder if I had taken the full impact of that collision whether she would have bothered to help or call for any help. She was in a Tesco supermarket top, my views of that are best left off this blog.

An entrenched lawlessness

However, the lawlessness of the whole encounter and how one was ill-equipped to find any sort of redress and sanction just left me wanting to nurse my bruises than do much else as very little would have been learnt by the cyclist as I upbraided him.

He was riding a hired electric bike on a busy road against the traffic, and he decided to cut away unto the wide pavement to take another shortcut over the pavement to ride against the traffic avoiding an intersection or junction. As he tried to mount the pavement, he hit the kerb, lost control, and ran into me and crashed some 10 metres further on before coming over to find out if I was okay.

He would have done this weaving through obstacles and dangers, hardly slowly down to assess the full risk of any manoeuvre, a young exuberance overwhelming any sense of caution or responsibility to others, daring to do rather than caring at all, I could have lost it and decked him, but that was unnecessary.

But for the grace of God

As he left to pick up his bicycle and ride away, I remembered I was still on a call with my friend and continued the call. However, when I thought about it this morning, this chap is probably doing an electrically propelled 30 mph or 48.2 km/h. A full-on collision or if I had been pinned against the wall of the bus stop could have wiped me out, needing hospital care. It was a close shave.

There is no doubt that the law has to catch up with this the road usage of electrically propelled bicycles and scooters, I also wonder of a new set of rules need to be written and there is no doubt that policing with the strict enforcement of the said rules is essential for adherence and deterrence. There have been too many accidents, some resulting in fatalities and many attributable to irresponsible road usage. It needs to be addressed with alacrity.

You can be minding your own business and out of nowhere danger invades your space, it is the grace of God that keeps us. For that, we are very thankful.

It's walking and I'm balking - X

Lawless on scooters

I guess there are two things that are my bugbears when I go out on my walks, the first that has become both a menace and a nuisance on our streets and especially on our pavements are the electric scooters or e-scooters, that are left strewn about the place abandoned by riders very much in the ilk of car drivers who discard their banana skins out of the windows are part of the problem.

Sadly, the traffic laws have not kept up with the invasion of these vehicles has allowed impunity to reign in their usage. They whizz by at speed completely oblivious of pedestrians who are almost always startled by the event, the riders do not even care to have a view of what they have done, you would think the things have no brakes.

Bad behaviour about

The other day, one just came out of nowhere and passed in front of me, there was hardy a foot distance between us, I felt the air turbulence on my face. Had I been slightly faster, I would have been knocked down by someone travelling at over 40 kilometres an hour on a pavement, when there is a clearly delineated cycle lane on the same road. It makes going out for a walk a dangerous exercise because careless and carefree people have become the kings of the pavement.

Then it is dogs, dogs out of the control of their owners that scurry or run into your path sometimes snarling and not reacting to the calls of their owners who after that encounter cannot apologise for the behaviour of their canine companions. It should not be lost on anyone that canine behaviour reflects the handler.

Just a second of terror

I sometimes wish when the dog approaches, I momentarily shapeshift and transmogrify into blood thirsty lion just for a split second that it cannot be captured, but effective enough to put the fear of all creation in the dog and the handler, just the change from snarling to whimpering would be a great pleasure and moderator. I need those powers.

On other paths, it is owners that do not have the civic responsibility of cleaning up after their dogs, there are fines for this, but they need to be caught. Maybe one last thing is cars that park on pedestrian crossings, the right of way is for pedestrians first and then it is an inconvenience for wheelchair user because there is a ramp from the pavement onto the road that is blocked off. Such people should receive heftier parking fines. I see this too many times that I wonder, does the council really care about this?

Electric push-biking in Berlin

Expensive loyalties dispensed of

I have let my Accorhotels card subscription lapse and really I cannot justify that amount spent to retain membership against the benefits one seems to get for EUR 260 a year, there are other loyalty schemes that are free and offer very good deals.

The one advantage I had with the Accor Favourite Guest Card was the late checkout – giving me up to 16:00 hours on the day of departure. The problem with late checkouts is you vegetate rather than attempt to be productive with the time you have before going to the airport.

Novelty bikes and rides

I was out of the hotel by noon, stowed my baggage with the hotel porter and walked up toward Berlin Zoologische Garten when I decided to rent a bicycle instead and arranged to meet up with my friend at Alexanderplatz in the East.

I had the choice of a blood-and-guts pedal bicycle or an electric bicycle, I decided on the novelty of the latter and what a ride it was, by the second stroke the electric motor kicked in and it was a whizz. Berlin has a good few bicycle tracks, it is quite safe to ride without helmets – Tut! Tut!

Met, reclined and visited

We then decided to meet at the Brandenburg Gate, which after going off in some strange direction, I found my bearings enough to get back on course. We met just beside the luxurious Hotel Adlon and the reclined in the tiergarten for about an hour during which we visited the homomonument and the Global Stone Project before going for coffees and blackforest cake in the Moabit area.

It was a pleasant day and on pleasant days one should indeed hire a bicycle, we returned in time to pick up my baggage, checked in early at the counter and had a latte at Starbucks with the utterly creamy carrot cake – not good for the heart at all but wonderful to taste apart from the cream.

Now, I walk through to customs and wait to board my flight back to Amsterdam.