Munich road accidents involving cyclists

I would say the same thing about seat belts. Once you are an adult, you should be able to decide for yourself. And I agree, the state should pick up the tab. That is the price we should all be willing to pay to live in a free society where we are able to make our own choices.

Hutch, It's true people should be able to choose. Problem is that when they get wiped, their families are the ones left with a brain damaged person to look after. A big load to carry for all of them, I've seen it. Make it a legal requirement. To many idiots around

Then their families should try to convince them otherwise. People have to take some responsibility for themselves, and just because it is a law doesn't mean people will follow it anyway. I basically just don't like such rules on the principal of the matter.

Nice somewhat related video. And I got the number of passes correct those sneaky bastards!

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

So do the test peoples.

A bit late with that one...

But one thing worth pointing out - at this time of year, ie. spring when all the wobbly summer-only cyclists start clogging up the paths, the Polizei do lots of checks on cyclists, things like shooting red lights (bastards got me last week while it was still winter), cycling at night without lights and so on. Especially in areas like Schwabing they do spot checks making sure your bike is suitable for the road. While walking home on Saturday night about midnight I saw a couple getting booked for cycling with no lights. Generally this is a good thing, until you get caught, so be careful to follow the rules, for a while at least .

Damn I saw the ad yesterday and did a search here. I can't believe it was in this thread and I missed it.

My damn Dynamo lights on my used bike were fine, then randomly died. I'll have to fiddle some with the wires I guess.

The thing I don't get is what happens if I'm on my road bike and get stopped randomly for a check during the day? I have no lights on my road bike (permanently attached, as required) nor do I have reflectors on my pedals (also required) because they are clip pedals. Are they really going to write you a ticket for this?

AFAIK technically they could for the lights, reflectors and bell - this has been discussed before. There is some exception for sporting bikes, like lightweight racing and mountain bikes but how this works I don't know. In my experience of the plod they're pretty reasonable and probably won't get upset about not having lights at midday, but if your bike has a dynamo then it must work... I have a mounting for a battery front light and if questioned would always tell the plod it was just stolen while I was just shopping.

A Dynamo is one of those lights powered by your turning wheel, right? I have two lights - one normal around town (ie I won't blind anyone if they look directly into it) and another light for mountain biking (ie real trail riding) at night - this one will blind you if you look directly into it. I heard it was illegal to ride with this strong lights in Munich too. But, I certainly won't attach a Dynamo to either of my two 'good' bikes.

Yes, and you're right, there's a maximum as well as a minimum light output specification for battery lights, although I'm heartily sick of being blinded by stone age dynamo lights that are poorly focused. Again, technically, your bike lights must have the right stamp on them, TUV or similar, to be StVO legal although I can't imagine even in Germany anyone being so anal. Having lights at night really seems like a very sensible thing to do... You see so many idiots dressed head to foot in black, no lights, no reflectors, headphones firmly stuck in their ears, cycling along at night and probably surprised that motorists don't treat them with respect

Is it just useful at the end around dusk? Mountain biking at night sounds hardcore


I like to ride with one earbud in I like to think then I could still hear the brakes of a car squeal or a bell ring a dinging but maybe I'm just kidding myself

Mountain, or more accurately trail, biking in the forests around Munich at night is excellent - all you need is a decent light and off you go. The trails are all but empty, and in summer it's far too hot during the day but a nice cool after sun-down. Once I got followed by an owl which was really cool, scared the crap out of me the first time it swooped. It's a good idea to take a second light with you though, the trails are very very black at night...

I have a feeling that on a road bike under 11kg the lights don't have to be permenently attached, although you are supposed to have them with you. I'll try to find the relevent passage of the StVO.

EDIT, here it is:
"11. Für Rennräder, deren Gewicht nicht mehr als 11 kg beträgt, gilt abweichend folgendes:

für den Betrieb von Scheinwerfern und Schlußleuchte brauchen anstelle der Lichtmaschine nur eine oder mehrere Batterien entsprechend Absatz 1 und 2 mitgeführt werden,

- der Scheinwerfer und die vorgeschriebene Schlußleuchte brauchen nicht fest am Fahrrad angebracht zu sein,
- sie sind jedoch mitzuführen und unter den in § 17 Abs. 1 StVO beschriebenen Verhältnisse vorschriftsmäßig am Fahrrad anzubringen und zu benutzen,
- Scheinwerfer und Schlußleuchte brauchen nicht zusammen einschaltbar zu sein,
- anstelle des Scheinwerfers nach Absatz 1 darf auch ein Scheinwerfer mit niedrigerer Nennspannung als 6 V und anstelle der Schlußleuchte nach Absatz 4 Nr. 1 darf auch eine Schlußleuchte nach Absatz 5 mitgeführt werden."

Oh no, night riding is the best, but sometimes a bit freaky, like when you see animals looking at you - all you see is 4 or 6 or 8 red eyes in the dark. Everything looks completely different at night...in the woods. But, there is nothing like late October with a full moon in the woods in Connecticut - yeah, I miss our night rides. Just sucks if your battery dies in the middle of the ride - that's a problem.

Did any of you read the papers on Monday? 2 people were killed on their bikes in Munich at the weekend. One was an elderly person who had dismounted on the cycle track and was hit by a vehicle. The other was a 50 year old crossing the road correctly on her bike at lights. A British man didnt stop at the red lights for some reason and killed her.

And at least one of them died of the massive head injuries because she wasn't wearing a helmet.

KitKat I am all for helmets. My husband cycled to work for the last 20 years of his working life (now retired as is his bike!). What I was pointing out the original thread was about how dangerous it is to drive in Munich. These accidents were proof of this. Does anyone know whether the British man was a member of Toytown or not? He must feel dreadfull.

Most mornings I push my daughter in her Kinderwagon a total of five blocks in Maxvorstadt from our apt. to her Krippe. Hardly a morning goes by that I don't see a cyclist endanger him/herself or others by running lights or switching from the street to the sidewalk to avoid stopping for a light or weaving in and out of bike lanes to pass another bike or failing to signal turns (is this not customary in Munich? I almost never see it), etc. etc. etc. And this is only one 5 block stretch during one 10 minute stroll. I lived in Manhattan for many years where the messenger-bikers are famous for being reckless, but I never saw one race through a ped. crossing going the wrong way down a one-way street as I often see on Heßstr. at Augustenstr. I've seen more bike-related accidents in my 3.5 years in Munich than I have in all the other places I've lived combined.

Some streets are designated two-way bike streets. Look on the tarmac for a bike lane with arrows in both directions.

Not Heßstr. There's no bike lane at all. I saw an old lady step off the curb and very correctly look in the direction from which traffic is supposed to come. She almost got sideswiped by an idiot going the wrong way who then (of course) stopped his bike to yell at her. I and two other witnesses then yelled at him (businessman-type with briefcase flat over the back wheel). He snarled at us some more and then sped away. The woman was pretty upset.

Oops. I was dead wrong. There is one of those arrows on Heßstr. I stand corrected.

I thought you were allowed to ride down one way streets the wrong way on a bike...I really did. I live near Waltherstr and do this all the time if the footpath has too many people on it.

No, and you're also not allowed to ride down the tram lines either. There's a bit on Tegernseerlandstr. heading towards Gruenwald where the road goes on a long detour down a hill then back up again but the tram tracks go straight through and I've seen the Polizei catching hardened cycle criminals taking the shortcut there. Honestly maybe some crime in this town wouldn't be a bad thing...

Oh...I have ridden on the tram lines near Müllerstr recently too. But to be honest, I will probably continue in my illegal ways until pulled up by the police (hopefully never).

I'm confused, do you mean you're not allowed to ride on a street that a tramline runs through at all or are you just not allowed to ride on or between the tracks themselves?

i think he means sections where it purely a tram track and not a tram lines on a road.

Well, if you're being so stupid, then you deserve to get hit by a tram. It's exactly people like you that give the rest of us bike riders a bad name. Let me guess...you don't have a car so you ride your bike everywhere, right?

Going back to the helmet thread, does anyone know if ski helmets and cycle helmets are interchangeable? Or are the specs different?

I've been thinking about wearing a helmet cycling for a while - can I just use my ski one?

sometimes you may ride the wrong way up/down a one way street ,Legale Geisterfahre

http://www.fahrtipps.de/verkehrsregeln/fah...bahnstrasse.php