Sudenly all hell broke loose!

[jimmynoboat]

I was enjoying a glorious morning riding around the Wrekin (local big hill) yesterday. Very few cars as always on the north west side and I was pootling along an undulating straight section somewhere between 15 and 18 mph when my mind wondered to the subject of how many miles I've covered on this bike. So, i indexed the 'puter to the odometer reading ... I admit it, I was distracted and possibly shouldn't have done it. I looked up just in time to see a medium sized, untethered dog run into the road from the woods. Can't really think how far ahead it was but it was definitely close enough to hit if I did nothing about it. I braked too hard and locked the back wheel which made a brief but very loud skidding sound on the gravely surface, the dog barked but did nothing to get out of the way and a young woman screamed from the edge of the road. Her scream, from my perspective, only added to an already confusing and disorienting scene but to the person she was talking to on her mobile phone it must have been singularly alarming. After managing to swerve around the lucky mutt I rode off with him chasing me down the road and with his mistress further advertising her complete lack of control over the animal by shouting in vein for him to come back with the phone still clamped to her ear.

You can't drop your guard for a moment out there!

[661-Pete-oldversion]

Hmmm...
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

3 Keeping dogs under proper control
(1) If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place—
(a) the owner; and
(b) if different, the person for the time being in charge of the dog,
is guilty of an offence, or, if the dog while so out of control injures any person, an aggravated offence, under this subsection.

Might have been worth having a 'word' with the owner, if you'd got the chance without being chewed to ribbons! .

[ed_o_brain]

I used to enjoy riding around the Wrekin.
Still not fulfilled my abition to ride up it.
Not sure I would have the [inappropriate term removed] to ride down it.

Glad you weren't seriously hurt.

[Ivor Tingting]

It's all very well posting the Dangerous Dogs Act but did the dog fall within the one of the prohibited breeds? What make was it?

Was the dog dangerously out of control in a public place or was it merely chasing after you?

Sorry to play Devil's Advocate. I sympathsize and agree with you totally and pleased you got away. I don't own a dog and 'am regularly harassed by roaming mutts and their aggressive and abusive owners on cycle paths and when running. On very hot weekends I won't cycle on cycle paths going through "social housing" areas for fear of being attacked by a roaming Pitbull killing machine or Japanese Tosa. I saw a Beeb 3 programme last week about dangerous dogs and gangs in sarf london who breed them. Apparently your average scrote turns their benefit paid pad into abreeding factory for Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. Apparently there is a new killer dog on the scene that makes a Pitbull look like a labrador pup. It is the size of a small donkey - a French Kruger. It is truly frightening. Even Pitbulls cross over onto the other side of the street to pass it .

[jimmynoboat]

Hello Ivor,
Just to clarify, it wasn't me that posted the dangerous dogs act but it was relevant. My post was really about how quickly a potentially dangerous situation can arise and I wasn't all that concerned about my safety but that of the dog itself. The lady walking the poor thing was completely distracted by her phone call while the animal in her care could have been run over. She should have got the dog under control before reaching the road. If, instead of my bike, it had been a car even without a distracted driver, I think the outcome could have been a very sorry one indeed. I have to add that almost all dog owners I meet on shared paths get their dogs on a lead long before I reach them whilst I, for my part, slow down to give them as much time as they need.
As for being chased down the road by a dog I always worry that it will bite my rear wheel with disastrous results for the animal more than for me. Probably no dog has ever done that but it always concerns me.
Anyway I did the same trip again this morning but I set out an hour earlier at 0630 and had such a wonderful ride that I went out again before lunch.

ed_o_brain,
Why did you stop riding around the Wrekin? I love that ride and most of the variations of it. Wonderful scenery, low traffic volumes and now they've even resurfaced part of Spout Lane. I don't think I would ever ride up it but I do walk up fairly often.

[Romeo Whisky]

[quote="jimmynoboat"]..............with his mistress further advertising her complete lack of control over the animal by shouting in vein for him to come back with the phone still clamped to her ear.
quote]

I so often see it when out running, people shouting at dogs they can't control; the shouting is for your benefit, to show she is making an effort. The dog always just ignores it.

[661-Pete-oldversion]

It's all very well posting the Dangerous Dogs Act but did the dog fall within the one of the prohibited breeds? What make was it?

Just to clarify:
Sections 1 and 2 of the Act refer to specified breeds of dog, ownership of which is prohibited under the Act.
Section 3, from which I quoted, deals with a separate issue and does not relate to any specific breed of dog: it can apply to any dog.
I would contend that a dog which is allowed or caused to run into a road carrying traffic is 'dangerously out of control', since it could cause an accident leading to injury.

[niggle]

I would contend that a dog which is allowed or caused to run into a road carrying traffic is 'dangerously out of control', since it could cause an accident leading to injury.

Absolutely right IMO and also to bear in mind that the groups most at risk are those on two wheels, cyclists certainly but the risk of death or permanent, life changing injuries is greatest for motorcyclists, who really cannot afford to collide with a large lump of meat and bone when travelling even at legal and apparently safe average traffic speeds and avoiding such a collision is largely down to luck if said creature jumps into your path from out of sight- as the OP described the animal will often stand in your path whether from aggression or friendliness.

My only experience of dog-to-motorbike contact was many years ago as a learner rider on a 125 in a back street in Essex: Two small dogs were playing in the gutter on my side: I slowed down and gave them a wide berth only to collect a golden retriever under my front wheel which had shot out of a garden gate to my right, presumably to join the other dogs in play. The dog was big and the bike was small so it stopped dead and I flopped upside-down over the bars, but I was young and suffered no real injury.

OTOH I am also a dog owner and do think that the cyclists' attitude on shared off road paths (never met one that was bicycling only...) is frequently poor as well, often no use of the bell when approaching and no slowing down or allowing for the risk of a dog or child wandering across their path, and yet indignation when a pensioner lets some diminutive lap dog trot in front of them, without considering that the owner may not even have been aware of their approach. When riding in such places I always use the bell if a dog owner or other pedestrians are looking the other way when I approach, I always slow down when passing an untethered dog to the point where I can stop in time if it does turn across my path and I always give dog owners who successfully call to heel or take hold of their dog a cheery 'thank you' as I pass.

[661-Pete-oldversion]

It's not just dogs of course. Cats have brought down many a cyclist. And wild animals also pose a threat to cyclists and others on two wheels. Rabbits and squirrels are the chief menace, also pheasants, foxes, deer.... I've had near misses with all of these. But not a lot the law can do about those - just need to be wary! At least we can try to keep our domestic fur and feather into some sort of order. On one of my regular routes I frequently encounter peacocks - and I can assure folks that these idiot birds have absolutely no road sense whatsoever, and their owner lets them stray out into the road willy-nilly...

[Ingenuitylee]

I must admit I had a close encounter with a squirrel the other day. It ran out and grabbed something from under my front wheel, it was that quick it was out and back before i'd even seen it properly. Maybe it was a nail and it was saving me from a puncture.

[Si]

I nearly came acropper when taking avoiding action to avoid myself when I nearly ran under my front wheels the other day...

Was just riding along then, out the corner of my eye, I spotted something that looked dog sized sprinting right into my path from the hedge- I swerved to avoid it, slamming the anchors on and doing a little slide in the gravel. Looked round and there was no sign of it anywhere. Looked back: someone had dumped a large mirror in the undergrowth - it was the reflection of my bike and legs that had caused me to take evasive action

[Edwards]

Si not having seen your legs I am wondering how they can be more scary than a large dog with big fangs.

[Si]

At the moment they definitely are - lots of pus weeping sores from insect bites.

[niggle]

It's not just dogs of course. Cats have brought down many a cyclist. And wild animals also pose a threat to cyclists and others on two wheels. Rabbits and squirrels are the chief menace, also pheasants, foxes, deer.... I've had near misses with all of these. But not a lot the law can do about those - just need to be wary! At least we can try to keep our domestic fur and feather into some sort of order. On one of my regular routes I frequently encounter peacocks - and I can assure folks that these idiot birds have absolutely no road sense whatsoever, and their owner lets them stray out into the road willy-nilly...

As you say wild animals are nobody's responsibility and I have had a very scary encounter with a wild animal when motorcycling which could easily have killed me. This was hitting a small deer at 60mph: The bike hit it squarely in the behind but fortunately the heavy old 1980s 550cc Kawasaki I was riding just went bang as the suspension bottomed out at the front then carried straight on as if nothing had happened, but I was pretty shaken by it. I have never hit anything whilst cycling, well except for the usual insects, always straight to the back of my throat or in my eye it seems.

[rbrian]

At the moment they definitely are - lots of pus weeping sores from insect bites.

What a lovely image! Moderators, please have a word with Si!