UKC

Hi

I've just come back from a week there and witnessed a very close call between a scooter and a bus. The bus was following the one-way system when a scooter came round a tight bend on the Myrties Massouri lower road. Bus and scooter collided, but luckily the bus was going so slowly the only damage was a missing wing mirror and some skin. Please, be careful if you go the wrong way round that system, we don't need a fatality.

In reply to kipper12:



Fixed

In reply to kipper12:

Was Ronnie Pickering driving the bus?

In reply to kipper12:

Try obeying the one way system, its there for your safety and mine.

In reply to Mike N:

My point is that while there last week I saw many scooters, and cars, violating the one-way system. I witnessed a close encounter between a climber on a scooter taking going the wrong way and I want to bring thos to the attention of UKC users to ensure we all stay safe.

In reply to kipper12: All part of the Greek island holiday experience, I'm delighted to say.

In reply to kipper12:

If they jumped off a bridge would you copy them?

In reply to radddogg:


Maybe, if it was the Calpe bridge swing.

In reply to kipper12:
thats nothing new, for decades there have been crashes, usually involving young drunk holidaymakers on island holidays.

In reply to Pesda potato:

I dropped a 125 trailie within 20 minutes of picking it up on Zante - neither young, nor drunk, and an experienced biker. A tad embarrassing, but nothing major. I still have the scars however
JW

In reply to Mike Highbury:


Indeed. I worked beside a scooter hire place on a roundabout for many years in Greece and watched near-death experiences on a daily basis. My best effort was trashing three tourists in one go as I drove round the roundabout by stopping to allow someone to enter it and they ran into the back of me.

In reply to kipper12:

Does the one way system "officially" apply to mopeds ? I presume you're referring to the 100m or so outside the old glaros (it's been a few years since I was there). I can't even remember which was you were allowed to go, but isn't it a massive detour to take the top road ?

If you were to fine each moped 10 euros for going through Massouri you'd fix the greek debt crisis in a month !

In reply to Chris the Tall:

There are clear round red no entry signs (with a white bar across) wither side of the road, just about level with Poppis studios. These signs do not have a derrogation for scooters, or other vehicles. It isn't a 100m restricion, it runs from myrties to Massouri, where the high road and lower roads meet again (2 km?). It is a detour, but better a detout than dead isn't it.

In reply to John Ww:

I nearly crashed a quad bike within 20 minutes of picking it up on Zante - neither young, not drunk, and an experienced biker. No injuries, but my wife took a bit of calming down. Car came flying round a blind bend as I was attempting to turn left.

Later in the week, we saw a pizza delivery lad wrapped around a lamp post.

We were warned off hiring a moped on Koh Samui - local rep had seen too many accidents with tourists.

Two of my best holiday memories are hiring a Vespa in Naples with my new wife - first time I'd taken a pillion on a public road - and nicking our guide's 250 Honda to go joy-riding around Phnom Penh on honeymoon

In reply to kipper12:

I thought the only one-way bit was the fairly short section - narrow with a bend in the road - at the point where the glaros used to be, up at the north end of Massouri. Everybody ignored it. Maybe things have changed. The only reason I ever went on the high road was to to take sunset shots !

In reply to kipper12:
Take care on scooters if you're not used to them full stop. Kalymnos is one of the easier places to ride them due to there being not much traffic as long as you're not reckless. Glad nobody was hurt, its horrible to witness things like that.

I just got back from climbing in crazy horse outside Chiang Mai in Thailand. I use a scooter every day but that was the most terrifying experience of my life. I'd rather onsight an E9 in the rain with my trousers round my ankles and holding in a sneeze before doing that in rush hour again.

In reply to sensibleken:


Good advice. Warm countries are great for wearing shorts, t-shirts and sandals - none of which will give you any protection if you crash a moped.

I was chatting with a mate of mine recently - he's a road traffic cop around North London and generally looks after sorting out the aftermath of accidents. His top piece of advice for bikers is to always wear proper boots - he's lost count of the number of bikers he's seen with feet hanging off because they were wearing trainers.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

As long as I have been going there it runs (in the season) from just north of the Myrties jetty road, all the way to where the top road comes down by the bus-stop.

The locals are buggers for going the wrong way round the top road - at any time of the year and on one occasion the cops were stopping and fining people who were going the wrong way along the bottom road.

Chris