Bad Driver Awards 9/8/05

Andrew Blake said:

I'm going to counter Tamyka's Good Driver awards with some seething rage.

A big shiny turd coloured star to the [censored] in the Blue Falcon towing a
trailer who thought he'd turn left while overtaking me on quiet end of
Vulture St (West End, Brisbane), forcing me to go with him around the
corner, simultaneously panic braking and fighting to stay upright whilst
bumping off the car and trailer.

Abject terror gave way to white hot fury as I bombarded him with abuse,
which was returned in kind with no apologies when he pulled over and got
out. Stupidly I didn't think to get his name/licence # or look for a witness
as I thought all was ok, did remember his rego and car description though.

Got home and lodged a complaint (07 3864 6464 I think), chose not to make it
official as I was untouched, but later discovered a dirty great gouge in my
brand new wheel, with barely 10km on it. Rocked on down to the copshop today
and filed a crash report, with the intention to swap details and claim on
his insurance (which is the most expensive bike store in Brisbane to get a
quote from? ;-), so we'll see what happens now.

Plus on the same commute I had 3 other idiots just pull out right in front
of me, so I'm assuming that I used fairy dust as spoke lube which makes me
invisible.

Regarding my new wheels, I was loving them, built them myself on the
weekend, IRO fixed/free hubs, double wall eyeletted Rigida rims, DT spokes,
strong and awesome, now only slightly out of true (guess I did ok!) and
gouged.

On the plus side, plenty of people are changing lanes to go around me on
Wynnum road which is nice, perhaps I should strap a sign on my back saying
'thanks for giving me room' or something.

I guess if you *have* to choose how to be hit by a car, this was probably
the best way.

Andrew.

I just blogged my incident from this morning at
http://blindrapture.blogspot.com/2005/08/work-and-frustration.html

It's an interesting one because it supports my belief that most bad
drivers are just not thinking rather than not caring.

Your story sucks. Hey nice pic in UQ News a while back hahahaha.

As for the sign on your back, I like it but had a different idea... Do
you think if I paint a big target on myself, motorists will understand
the point?

Quoted message said:

I just blogged my incident from this morning at
http://blindrapture.blogspot.com/2005/08/work-and-frustration.html

It's an interesting one because it supports my belief that most bad
drivers are just not thinking rather than not caring.

I think that this guy totally didn't see me. But he also didn't care that he
almost injured me (damaged his trailer) by running over me.

Quoted message said:

Your story sucks. Hey nice pic in UQ News a while back hahahaha.

Shaddup. They keep choosing bad photos (after making me pose for atrocious
ones). They did use a better one for the online edition though.
http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.phtml?article=7443. The photo for another
story in 2003 wasn't much better.

Quoted message said:

As for the sign on your back, I like it but had a different idea... Do
you think if I paint a big target on myself, motorists will understand
the point?

Maybe a shirt with a big "Give Way" street sign on the back? Or would that
just induce more rage?

Quoted message said:

As for the sign on your back, I like it but had a different idea...
Do you think if I paint a big target on myself, motorists will
understand the point?

Reminds me of the Gary Larson "Farside" cartoon:
"Bummer of a birthmark Hal"
http://www.artistsuk.co.uk/acatalog/ARTISTS_UK__GARY_LARSON_127.html

p.s The target should be reflective for use at night.
p.p.s. Don't wear it on an army base.

On 2005-08-10, Andrew Blake (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Shaddup. They keep choosing bad photos (after making me pose for atrocious
ones). They did use a better one for the online edition though.
http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.phtml?article=7443. The photo for another
story in 2003 wasn't much better.

Why you trying to help make better cars?

Give me a magnesium bike 🙂

--
TimC
About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a
blunt ax. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead.
-- Edsger Dijkstra

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As for the sign on your back, I like it but had a different idea...
Do you think if I paint a big target on myself, motorists will
understand the point?

Reminds me of the Gary Larson "Farside" cartoon:
"Bummer of a birthmark Hal"
http://www.artistsuk.co.uk/acatalog/ARTISTS_UK__GARY_LARSON_127.html

p.s The target should be reflective for use at night.
p.p.s. Don't wear it on an army base.

I was thinking the big archery targets. Should be okay on an army base
as long as they're not yellow. Army doesn't work on archery so much
these days.

Tam

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As for the sign on your back, I like it but had a different idea...
Do you think if I paint a big target on myself, motorists will
understand the point?

Reminds me of the Gary Larson "Farside" cartoon:
"Bummer of a birthmark Hal"
http://www.artistsuk.co.uk/acatalog/ARTISTS_UK__GARY_LARSON_127.html

p.s The target should be reflective for use at night.
p.p.s. Don't wear it on an army base.

I was thinking the big archery targets. Should be okay on an army base
as long as they're not yellow. Army doesn't work on archery so much
these days.

Tam

Quoted message said:

Why you trying to help make better cars?

Because that's where the money is. Get an extra kg or two into one or two
models of car and worldwide consumption would increase hugely. The the
trickle down effect will result in better alloys, cheaper raw metal, more
processing knowledge etc etc.

Quoted message said:

Give me a magnesium bike 🙂

And I'll give you a frame that will fracture in short order.

Of course Mg has great damping properties, good strength/weight, so some
more alloy development to increase the ductility/fatigue life/strength and
you can have your bike. But think how big the tubes will be!

Quoted message said:

Why you trying to help make better cars?

Because that's where the money is. Get an extra kg or two into one or two
models of car and worldwide consumption would increase hugely. The the
trickle down effect will result in better alloys, cheaper raw metal, more
processing knowledge etc etc.

Quoted message said:

Give me a magnesium bike 🙂

And I'll give you a frame that will fracture in short order.

Of course Mg has great damping properties, good strength/weight, so some
more alloy development to increase the ductility/fatigue life/strength and
you can have your bike. But think how big the tubes will be!

Andrew Blake said:

And I'll give you a frame that will fracture in short order.

Of course Mg has great damping properties, good strength/weight, so some
more alloy development to increase the ductility/fatigue life/strength and
you can have your bike. But think how big the tubes will be!

I've got a Mg stem on my mountain bike which is pretty nice and has
sucked up the abuse well to date.

Brett