It’s dangerous riding a bike in the city—crazy drivers swerving in and out can seriously hurt you. So the next time a crazy jerk cuts you off and almost kills you, throw this magnetic yellow card at his car.
It’s a warning that I imagine to be fairly effective. If I saw this on my car, I’d definitely try to be more cautious of cyclists while driving. Well, unless that stupid cyclist was a complete tool bag that was hogging up the entire road. There’s a friggin’ bike lane for a reason you idiot! Then, it’d just infuriate me.
Still, if you ride a bike, print the PDF out and attach a magnet to it. [Peter Miller via BoingBoing]
Ben Thomas
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 8:48 AMExcept most “crazy jerks” don’t care if they just cut you off, so it’s a waste of money.
Your mate alex
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 9:17 AMDear cyclist,
I saw you weaving in and out of peak hour traffic and forcing cars to repeatedly pass you. I truly had no option but to run you over. Don’t worry, my car is ok. It was just a minor scratch. I wish you all the best in your recovery. Stop wriggling about. It’s hard to write neatly on your back when you won’t keep still.
olearymo
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 9:48 AMDAMN STRAIGHT.
I’d really like a magnetic version for idiot cyclists. You know, the ones who ride their bikes to cross the road (get off it, walk across). The ones who, at lights, drift down BETWEEN the cars, so they can be in front. Or the ones who, at lights, get off their bike, walk it around the corner, and hop back on.
My card would read: STOP BEING A DICK.
Mogwai
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 1:33 PMDunno where your from but this is legal in my part of town.
Stinky
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 7:08 PMYou need to brush up on your road law.
matt h
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 9:47 AMCasey obviously IS a cyclist, ’cause there was nothing about the majority of cyclists who weave in and out of traffic without ANY regard for cars or lanes. Taking off from blind spots and so on. And I didn’t even mention bike couriers yet…
Dexx
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 9:49 AMI’d prefer a dart gun that I could use to stick darts to stupid bike riders. That’s just the stupid ones, not all of them.
Sultan
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 9:54 AMMaybe cyclists shouldn’t ride on the road then and go to a bike track if they don’t want to get hit by a car! As a driver, it is very annoying when they think they own the road and ride 3 bikes wide and take up the whole lane. They are supposed to ride single file to allow the cars to pass easily. And let’s be honest, there are no people that will want to drive 40km/h on a main road which is 60 or 70. So maybe this magnet should be altered and slapped on the rider’s back to tell them to stop holding up traffc. If they want to be treated as a normal vehicle on the road, they must travel the speed limit like everybody else, because cars can get a fine for travelling too slow and holding up traffic, so that should apply to cyclists as well!
John
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 11:09 AMaaaaactually the law states cyclists can ride two abreast, and we can take up an entire lane. In fact it is often safer for cyclists to take up an entire lane rather than leave enough space for a car to go by — not everyone is a good driver and some seem to think skirting by with barely inches to spare is perfectly safe.
That said, it is really annoying when some hipster without a helmet rides at walking pace down a single lane road, and even I (an avid cyclist) get pissed at that kind of anti-social behaviour. Which is pretty much the whole problem — there’s plenty of anti-social behaviour from both sides, cyclists and drivers alike. And this magnet is the kind of uppity bs that gets drivers pissed off with cyclists in the first place. If everyone just takes a breath and stop with the “it’s my right” bs and just respect each other’s space on the road everyone will have a safer trip.
Nodeity
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:16 AMThis would just be a “RED” flag to most of the Assholes that do the things worthy of this silliness.
Data-Cain
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:23 AMThere are a lot of bad drivers around, yes.
But there are also a lot of terrible cyclists around. >.<
The amount of cyclists that have made me feel unsafe for myself and\or others is unreal.
Slow moving, unstable riders who don't follow the road rules should not be on the god damn road – purpose built bike lanes are acceptable. No cyclist should ride down thin single lane roads though. You fkn dead shits!
midtoad
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:37 AMyes, another opportunity for the unthinking majority to vent their hatred against a visible minority. Racism is alive and well in America.
Cyclists account for, what, 5% of the traffic on the road? Surely you would do better to look at yourself and the rest of the 95% of the road, and tone down the threats of violence a little.
Nick
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:57 AMCan we have something to throw at crazy cyclists who run red lights and don’t ride in their bike lane?
DR
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 12:03 PM“It’s a warning that I imagine to be fairly effective.”
.. fairly effective at being headbutted for throwing something at some psycho’s car. This has Road Rage Incident written all over it.
simulacrum
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 12:04 PMProblem is most cyclists don’t realise that they are a vehicle and need to follow the same rules as cars do. Most assume they are neither vehicles nor pedestrians and have the rights of both and the responsibilities of neither.
baz
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 12:48 PMWell said.
Your comment sums up the attitude of almost all city cyclists perfectly. In Sydney, anyway.
Peter
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 1:07 PMAll cyclists should have the right to bear arms and shoot motorists randomly too. Oh, and that’s not malicious, it just happens.
Steve
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 2:44 PMCars should come with a helpful guide in their glove compartment
SO YOU MURDERED A CYCLIST: 10 STEPS TO AVOIDING DETECTION AND KEEPING THAT BUMPER A-OK!
Chapter One: Garbage bags and lime are your very best friends!
Anthony
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 4:37 PMCyclists do not pay registration fees to use the roads, therefore, they have no right to complain.
Damion
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 6:59 PMYou don’t pay ‘registration fees’ to use the road either:
http://ipayroadtax.com/
Alex
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 5:34 PMCyclists are neither pedestrians nor full vehicles..
We are something in-between and obey subtly different rules..
We cant ride on the footpaths because we will hurt people.
Sometimes we split lanes because it keeps traffic moving (just because your jammed doesn’t mean everyone needs to be)..
We take the lane because we are less likely to be run over from directly behind than we to be doored by someone getting out of a parked car or clipped by someone doing the impatient overtake.
Sometimes we blow reds because we are dicks, but most of the time its so we have a head start on the traffic so we don’t hold you up as much..
But at the end of the day, if I hold you up for a few seconds, tough luck. Traffic is give and take, your trip is no more important or urgent than mine..
The insane video game like detachment that some of you guys see us through is disgusting.
It reminds me of some nasty aboriginal jokes people used to make in the schoolyard back in the early 80s…
Completely unacceptable now, yet somehow ok if someones mode of transport is annoying to you..
Sam
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 10:54 AMExactly right.
If motorists drove with the slightest bit of respect for cyclists it would be a different ball game. Riding in the middle of a lane is not because cyclists are being dicks, it’s defensive riding so that cars will see you and slow down, usually this is only done for a very short period of time until the cyclist can duck back over to the side of the lane, but with parked cars etc and drivers trying to “sneak” past at speed sometimes you have no choice but to hold your lane until it is safer.
I drive, I cycle and I pay tax that pays for roads (and to all the idiots that think rego pays for roads, you are wrong, look it up) We all have equal rights to use the roads and it works very well when people respect each other. Try yelling at a bus or tram next time for slowing you down!
Either way, this magnet would do nothing except cause fights (which the cyclist would probably win because they would be stronger and fitter!)
James
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 12:06 AMEasy to tell that most people here aren’t cyclists. I’ve been hit by cars twice now living in Brisbane, both times while riding in a clearly designated bike lane. The first time was caused by a car swerving in front of me and slamming on his brakes, and the second by a car pulling out of stopped traffic right across my lane. The hell of it is that neither time did the car stop to help, leaving me with broken bones. Id like to throw something a hell of a lot more damaging than a magnet at them, thats for sure.
John
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 9:54 AMThe comments along the lines “don’t pay rego, shouldn’t use roads” is hilarious.
So how much of the annual budget for road construction and maintenance do you think the $300 non-insurance part of your annual rego actually pays for? LOL!
Fail basic maths at high school, did we? I guess that explains the lower socio-economic quartile these entitlement mentality comments usually come from.
wayfarer
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 9:30 PMFunny how they cry and carry on when a cyclist cuts in front of a lane, its because they’re a ‘bloody cyclist’, but when an SUV soccer mum tailgates them for 5k’s on a 100km/h road, sports car burnouts around corners and almost crashes into and kills them, or v8 steals carparks, noone says “bloody soccer mums, sports drivers and v8′ers”. Wouldnt have the balls to talk spit to any sports car drivers aye.
Im a road builder, and it costs $1,000,000 to build just 1km of road. Not a cent of this comes from registration.
Rego is to own an engine, not a vehicle. That’s why rowboats don’t need rego but speedboats do. Or perhaps you thought the council spends money to build the oceans too?
Stats tell us 10,000 more bikes on Sydney roads would equate to no traffic. Ever. Or lets ban bicycles and have an extra 100,000 cars on the road during peak hour? That’d be about 15 minutes/trip more for everyone. Then we dont have to yell ‘get out the way bro, i gotta get home to watch neighbours! its about to start and i wanna know if that chick dies!’