Request from the Oak Bay Police regarding our Tuesday ride

[John D]

Hi all;

I had a conversation with a representative from the Oak Bay Police yesterday morning. Apparently they received a complaint from the driver who witnessed the near-miss with his car as one of our B groups rounded the corner from Lansdowne onto Henderson last Tuesday (which unfortunately also precipitated Lisa's crash). The call was very polite, but essentially the police have asked us to find a safer way to round that corner.

A couple of suggestions included (i) simply slowing down through the corner, (ii) going single file instead of 2-up (or more) through the corner, or even (iii) placing a sign to warn southbound drivers on Henderson that there are cyclists on the road (sign could be deployed/recovered before/after the Tuesday ride). Whatever we decide, it's clear that the club needs to do something before there's a serious accident with a car. To do otherwise, having now received a formal request from the police, would be irresponsible.

So, at the very least I would request that, starting tomorrow, groups slow down before taking the right turn onto Henderson. There’s really no need for speed there anyhow as it’s at least 1.5km from the start of the sprint on Cedar Hill X-Road.

Thanks for your cooperation.

John

P.S. This message has been edited as per Rolf's suggestion below.

[Rolf]

Sorry, John. Can't resist.

Hi all;

I had a conversation with a representative from the Oak Bay Police yesterday morning. Apparently they received a complaint from the driver who witnessed the near-miss with his car as one of our B groups rounded the corner from Lansdowne onto Henderson last Tuesday (which unfortunately also precipitated Lisa's crash). The call was very polite, but essentially the police have asked us to find a safer way to round that corner.

A couple of suggestions included (i) simply slowing down through the corner, (ii) going single file instead of 2-up (or more) through the corner, or even (iii) placing a sign to warn southbound drivers on Henderson that there are cyclists on the road (sign could be deployed/recovered before/after the Tuesday ride). Whatever we decide, it's clear that the club needs to do something before there's a serious accident with a car. To do otherwise, having now received a formal request from the police, would be irresponsible.

So, at the very least I would request that, starting tomorrow, groups slow down before taking the right turn onto Henderson. There’s really no need for speed there anyhow as it’s at least 1.5km from the start of the sprint on Cedar Hill X-Road.

Thanks for your cooperation.

John

[John D]

I stand corrected. Interesting that about 40 other people read this but nobody else pointed out the error! I guess I was overly focused on getting the tone of my message right, at the expense of my geographic accuracy.

Thanks Rolf.

[Bosie]

Is it worth posting this in the lower section? I nearly missed it as I only check the last posts.

[John D]

It was intentionally posted "globally" so that it shows up at the top of every page on the Forum (i.e. where all the important stuff goes).

J.

[Paula]

We had a lovely Farm Team ride today.

A few specific things that made it so 'lovely' was that we stopped for cars when they had the right of way, and stopped at red lights, even when the first part of the group had gone through.

Perhaps this is the 'post-50', 'post- crash Paula' speaking (I like to think a wiser Paula), but it really is nice to be on a ride when those you are riding with are watching out for their safety and the safety of others.

I know I can only control my own actions (that doesn't mean I won't try and control others), but I think that once one or more people start to ride looking out for their own safety and those around them, it will spread.

Be the change you want to see on the ride.

[Curran]

So any announced changes for tomorrow?

[trevor]

Just seeing this now John. Thanks for posting.

The A group corners that location pretty fast. This is a good reminder to be safe, use your wits, and follow the rules of the road. I'll be sure to remind the guys in the coming months to be aware and cautious.

Cheers.
Trevor

[AJ Neale]

Reminder for the B1 group ( Tuesday May 24 )

Maybe I was the only one that noticed but we performed a DAM ( see the recent post by Bisonesque to learn the meaning of this apt acronym ) this morning prior to the 2nd sprint. Although we were pretty much single file heading west on Lansdowne, the lead rider(s) swung into the oncoming lane slightly and went almost completely to the far side of Henderson before accelerating away to seemingly break the group apart. Not only does this fly in the face of the recent warning/instructions, it sure isn't fair to the people near the back attempting to navigate the corner safely. If you feel strong enough to break away that early, I would suggest going as soon as you complete the sweep onto Lansdowne or even at the entrance to the golf course since this is a drop B1/A2 ride. We'll catch you!

Nothing good can come from winding up the Cedar Hill sprint on the Lansdowne/Henderson corner! Please pass the word along.

As Ritchie says: Let's both rip it up and be safe

Andrew

[roadflasj]

Thanks for posting Andrew. I was near the back of the group and chased for the entire length of Henderson at 40+ km/hr and still did not reach the lead riders. About 6 people were dropped as we slowed through the Henderson corner. As always please have a look back after a corner to ensure everyone got through okay, after that it's game on