This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I heard someone (@Clockwise maybe) say that they like the big "ding-dong" style bells because they sound friendly and are very clearly make a noise that could only come from a bike.

I have a bell on some of my bikes, but it's only there for politely asking pedestrians to move out of the way. In actual oh-shit situations I find myself saying 'mmmmAAAHHHH' because they happen too quick to ring the little bell.

if someone wants to get on a bell / alarm that sounds like a divebombing Stuka with machine gun fire sounds effects i'd throw money at that.

There's a stupidly designed crossroads where the cycling path crosses the zebra crossing. So of course no pedestrian looks for cyclists. IDK how it would be when you hit a pedestrian there because there is no zebra crossing on the cycle path itself which suggests the cyclists have priority.
I always watch out for crossing pedestrians as they have their eyes either on the crossroad lights/their phone. But this motherfucker was just standing there. Standing on a cycle path casually looking something up on his phone. I already slowed down so I ring my bell. Nothing. I shout. Nothing. Absolutely nothing until another pedestrian behind him shouts at him and gives him a push. Actually gave me a chuckle.

https://www.thehornit.com/the-mini-hornit-black

25 fucking sounds. go for it.

http://mybell.co/

I agree to a point, but I think most people seem to know what a bicycle bell is, and react accordingly. I don’t use mine aggressively either, just as a polite warning. Since I buggered my left elbow up a couple of years back I’ve not been able to ride on drops, so all three of my daily bikes have flat or riser bars, which also means my brakes are much quicker to reach if it goes tits up. Really wouldn’t go back to drops now, even if I could.

Heh. I’m already thinking about scattering phone zombies at Ludgate Circus with a good burst of Jesus Built My Hotrod.

Usual "let's squeeze you" close pass this morning. Finely tuned UK hazard instinct calculating car distance via sound of it coming behind me predicted it. So I pulled closer to parked cars to give me 2ish feet to make it less scary.

Slow clap. Just cos there was a parked car and a traffic island and they could not wait a whole 5 seconds.

Further down the road some excellent driving with a motorist resisting the "let's pull out cos I can" urge and actually saw me/waited for me.

I find that on quiet Belfast paths loud tongue clicking works if the bell dinging doesn't register.

i have a spurcycle style bell on my drop bar bike, and a traditional 'ring, ring' bell on my flat bar.
i find the traditional bell a lot better for alerting people to my presence than the 'ting' of the spurcycle one, which people tend to regularly ignore.

maybe people are more used to the traditional bell sound?

So many people running reds this morning it was ridiculous.

He’s on here! Goes by @Archibald

maybe people are more used to the traditional bell sound?

Having watched something about the thought process behind the Jaguar iPace safety sounds, there's (probably) something in this.

Edit: link - https://media.jaguar.com/news/2018/10/sound-jaguar-i-pace-protects-road-users

agreed, when i had one i don't remember anyone taking any notice of it either so just resorted to shouting when closer, unfortunately someone is still yet to make a nice looking(compact) bell that works as well as traditional ones.

loud tongue clicking works

... er, could I have a demo of this please?

wow! i had no idea this was going to be a legal requirement on electric cars.
not sure how this can be enforced as a global requirement...

does this mean that it'll apply to electric scooters / motorbikes / skateboards as well? - i'd imagine not, but perhaps it should apply to all road going vehicles that need to be registered to use the roads? i'll do a bit of digging on the legislation.

i guess the issue is that if all electric vehicle manufacturers are left to implement their own warning sounds, then people aren't going to be universally aware of all of the differing sounds (much like the problem with the bells) - maybe they've all got to be based on similar frequencies or something?

interesting!

Audi eTron also has something similar: https://www.audi.co.uk/electric-car/sound.html

as do;

bmw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKSmr9gW8dE

nissan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJTc6ZrODOY

the regs kick in frim july 2019 in the EU and apply to electric vehicles with four or more wheels.

https://newatlas.com/eu-ev-acoustic-noise-avas/60022/

Oh for the love of christ, why?! Bikes can travel almost noiselessly, so why would you make it a requirement for electric cars to make extra noise, since the absence of noise cannot be a cue to step into the road.

because visually impaired people rely on their hearing to avoid getting run over?
as a cyclist it's pretty useful to be able to hear cars approaching from behind as well, no?

because visually impaired people rely on their hearing to avoid getting run over?

the absence of noise cannot be a cue to step into the road (because there could be a bike coming). Also, the regulations don't cover electric motorbikes, so there could be one of those coming as well.

as a cyclist it's pretty useful to be able to hear cars approaching from behind as well, no?

Deaf people can cycle. The most useful thing (I find) about car noise is not that it alerts you to the presence of a car (because you should be looking anyway), but that it lets you know what kind of driver is behind you.

Surely 'Just One Fix' is far more appropriate for this forum?

You're going the wrong way. Move closer to the middle of the lane if you think someone is going to risk squeezing.

If the blind person is at a street with no light, then he or she can simply listen for any oncoming vehicles. If no cars are heard, then they can go ahead and cross.
https://sandysview1.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/how-do-people-who-are-blind-know-when-it-is-safe-to-cross-the-street/

i guess it can...

You're going the wrong way. Move closer to the middle of the lane if you think someone is going to risk squeezing.

This, absolutely this.