Haven't been commuting much recently for the reasons known, but my first road ride on Sunday with the camera caught two moron drivers either not paying attention or behaving badly.

I'd be inclined to try to stay off major routes as a matter of course and seek out back ways on residential streets if that's at all possible.

If you think it's poor now, just wait until the first week back from school holidays. You'll get to deal with all the mums distracted by the whining in the back seat, in their 4WDs driving their little darlings to school ... because the media has conned us into thinking it's not safe to let them walk the 400m or catch the bus.

http://youtu.be/ajC-a2K6OeE

http://youtu.be/zdpQRQAkPJQ

I had a Bus pull clean into me on the Pac Highway, basically just merged straight into my lane, without looking or anything. Lucky not to be knocked off my bike really.

It wasn't Forest Coach Lines by any chance?

Pommy expat Dave Bristow's video of him being deliberately squeezed by an overtaking FCL bus outside Warringah Mall made front page on the Manly Daily and then Channel 7's prime-time news the following day.

FCL buses seem to have been quite good to cyclists ever since. I can't search youtube at work but it's there if you look.

It's too bad the rest of the guy's commuting videos posted since make him look like a tosser.

Was a State Transit bus, Mike Blewitt of MarathonMTB.com was (unknown to me) sat in the car infront of me and saw the whole thing happen.

Things are still pretty cruisy on the roads but, yes, that first week back at school of any term is usually a doozy let alone the first term. If it's also raining, watch out, things get even worse and I would probably even think of staying off the roads if that is the case!

Sorry Hawkeye but in that second video where you're riding through the Forestway shops carpark I'd say you're riding too fast and I'm surprised the car didn't hit you.
You need to give way to cars that have already started a manoeuvre (reversing out of a parking spot), are in a dark car park with visibility problems, and in this case their vision partially blocked by another car. Trying to zoom around the rear of a reversing car is asking for trouble and injuries to yourself with very little impact or inconvenience to the car.

I know it looks faster - due to the 170 degree wide angle - but the reality is I was doing roughly 12km/hr. Maybe 15, absolute tops.

I always assume I've not been seen, so if you look again you'll see I had fingers staged on the brakes. The woman had time to react, stop, and deliver a whole sentence before I passed. I was expecting her to keep coming actually, and could easily have stopped in the available distance, but it turned out she stopped first.

As to the theme of "Moron Motorists" the point of the clip is this:
1: Reversing vehicle always yields. Period. (NSW Road Rule 296)
2: What part of crossing unbroken double centre lines did she think was legal here? (NSW Road Rules 142 and 144)
3: Regardless of whether the view is blocked or not, it is the responsibility of the driver entering traffic to yield to everything else (NSW Road Rules 74 and 75)

So... "Oi was coming out first, mayte!" is a bit of a silly thing to say. The first driver had no problems complying with the above.

In my experience most drivers have little knowledge and less regard for the road rules, and so for self preservation you need to proceed on the assumption car drivers haven't seen you.

What an entertaining world it would be if we only did what the rules said, and didn't use our judgement!

I think her comment was in response to your ejaculation, not just a "bit of a silly thing to say". The first driver was in a vehicle without a boxter engine, that has a much tighter turning circle and thus could negotiate a tighter turn out of the parking space in the shared zone.

Hawk' just get some red paint and paint the bullseye on next time

Nobody died, nobody cried G.O.I

The reason most "drivers" dont know the road rules is because they are to bloody long and boring to know every single one and I as a "driver" and a "cyclist" have far more important things to worry about than road rule 72.5.8.4 about whether I can cross a double-single-one larger-one smaller type line or not.

Yes there are idiots on the road and people don obey the rules, but I have no doubt that other cylists as "drivers" dont obey all the rules either when they are driving, I certainly dont. Just use a bit of commonsense out there people, it isnt hard.

Deleted

Yes I have been caught speeding, I made a mistake and I paid the fine. I never claimed I was whiter than white, so I don't really see what my speeding offenses have to do with the above post, apart from being brought into the public domain.

Lets agree to disagree. I have a different view on crossing double centre lines: the RTA puts 'em down for a reason.

I have been commuting (cromer to north sydney) a few days a week (fair weather commuting) for just over a year now, I keep to the back streets (hoorahhh more hills for me.. and much less CCR) and really only have the one or two places that I mix it with traffic, generally I have had very few issues with cars.

I still shake my head everyday when I see guys on their afternoon commute heading north spinning to the spit with a bus on their ass.. I just don't get risk/benefit of doing this?

Perhaps my observations of holiday traffic is just a statistical anomaly? but my theory on regular commuting hour car traffic is that they seem to be the better drivers (they all just want to get home and do it everyday) where as the random holiday drivers seem unpredictable (same as the weekend drivers) and generally not very community minded drivers.

As for shopping center car parks.. well you just gotta expect cars reversing out (the odds are stacked against you here) and that they may not bother to look for and or give any ground to us crazy cyclists.