Spat at by Merc driver

DadaKopf

I don't know exactly what situation the OP experienced, but it is a familiar one. Perhaps it's personal perception, but I do find Merc (and BMW) drivers pushy and arrogant on the roads. That said, their lumbering driving style, for the most part, makes them predictable and slow, hence often safer to negotiate.

Personally, when I'm cycling, I adopt the attitude that I'm traffic just like cars, trucks and motorbikes. Where it's safe, legal and sensible to advance along the left, I do so. If it's not, I wait in line with everyone else. It certainly helps me calm down, and it's safer in the longrun. I also think drivers can respect cyclists more that way.

What I cannot abide is drivers parking in or infringing into cycle lanes and cycle boxes at lights. This is unacceptable and I have begun reminding drivers who do it about the rules of the road, particularly on the basis of safety and their part in making the roads more unsafe.

But how do you reprimand drivers when they're not in their cars, parked in a cycle lane? Ranelagh is one blatant example. I think it would be good for the cyclists to politely remind them by slipping a notice under their windscreen wipers. Perhaps the Dublin Cycling Campaign could do up a basic template.

Traumadoc

Perhaps you should repremand/remind fellow cyclists who do not have lights at night or who do not observe traffic signals, or the cyclist that nearly knocked my son over at a pedestrian crossing (lolly pop lady)- I bet you wont

Civilian_Target

Traumadoc wrote:

Perhaps you should repremand/remind fellow cyclists who do not have lights at night or who do not observe traffic signals, or the cyclist that nearly knocked my son over at a pedestrian crossing (lolly pop lady)- I bet you wont

If you were a regular reader of this forum you would note the strong distaste of the majority of users for those who break lights, cycle unlit at night or generally become a hazard to other road users. Many of the "worst" road users out there are cyclists

Traumadoc

As a cyclist I am a regular reader - that said an infrequent poster.
Just if you are going to have a campaign to reprimand drivers, should drivers have a campaign to reprimand cyclists??

I have just come back from a cycle where I witnessed suicidal behavior by a cyclist, a car had to break suddenly coming over Harolds cross bridge because the cyclist could not wait for the light to turn green( he was turning left from the canal and heading towards the city center).

Civilian_Target

Drivers already reprimand cyclists, usually completely incorrectly. Twice today on my way into central London I was beeped. On both occasions I had right of way and was obeying the law, and on both occasions both of those drivers beeping me were breaking the law (one was parked in a cycle lane, the other coming across a junction on a red light).
Unless you're holier than thou, or lucky to be alive, leave reprimanding other road users to the police!

Traumadoc

Agree

DublinWriter

dodgyme wrote:

and I thought 'Instant Car Ma' is something a spoilt southsider gets for his 18th birthday

Sir, we salute you!

Honestly OP, touching his mirror wasn't big or clever. Spitting back for sure wasn't big or clever and really doesn't help your case at all.

All the righteous indignation in the world isn't going to save your ass when one day you do the same thing and some driver goes postal. Just remember: you on bicycle, him in one-tonne metal box capable of squishing you plus bicycle.

Was the 15 nanoseconds you would have lost waiting behind the Merc worth all of this hassle in the end?

DadaKopf

Civilian_Target wrote:

Drivers already reprimand cyclists, usually completely incorrectly. Twice today on my way into central London I was beeped. On both occasions I had right of way and was obeying the law, and on both occasions both of those drivers beeping me were breaking the law (one was parked in a cycle lane, the other coming across a junction on a red light).
Unless you're holier than thou, or lucky to be alive, leave reprimanding other road users to the police!

Maybe it's better for cyclists to reprimand other cyclists?

Dirk Gently

DadaKopf wrote:

But how do you reprimand drivers when they're not in their cars, parked in a cycle lane? Ranelagh is one blatant example. I think it would be good for the cyclists to politely remind them by slipping a notice under their windscreen wipers. Perhaps the Dublin Cycling Campaign could do up a basic template.

Forget the note Ghandi, call the clampers.

RainyDay

clown bag wrote:

Forget the note Ghandi, call the clampers.

Does anyone know if the Dublin clampers will respond to such calls? If yes, please let me have the number for my speed-dial.

cyclopath2001

RainyDay wrote:

Does anyone know if the Dublin clampers will respond to such calls? If yes, please let me have the number for my speed-dial.

The rules on parking in cycle tracks have lots of exceptions, for example, for loading and unloading.

daymobrew

Traumadoc wrote:

Perhaps you should repremand/remind fellow cyclists who do not have lights at night or who do not observe traffic signals, or the cyclist that nearly knocked my son over at a pedestrian crossing (lolly pop lady)- I bet you wont

I do. Most react very aggressively. Others ignore me.

Stereophonic

I know know what goes through the head of some cyclists on breaking a red light? Some cyclists don't even consider looking out for danger... regardless of breaking the light.

I cycle regularly and I'd never dream breaking a red light even if traffic is low. The worst thing is when the traffic light sensor can't sense the present of a cyclist so I kinda have to break the red light with caution... kinda contradicting myself in fairness.

Civilian_Target

Stereophonic wrote:

I know know what goes through the head of some cyclists on breaking a red light?

A truck

daymobrew

Stereophonic wrote:

The worst thing is when the traffic light sensor can't sense the present of a cyclist so I kinda have to break the red light with caution... kinda contradicting myself in fairness.

To avoid breaking the law, get off the bike, walk past the light and the remount. Report the issue to the Dublin City Council Traffic Management Centre at 1800-872-345 (or equivalent in other local authority areas).

The DTO Journey Planner mentions the concept

DTO Journey Planner wrote:

Tip for Cyclists: Compare your route with that for walking. You may save some time by dismounting and walking with your bike, crossing as a pedestrian, through a banned right turn or along a one way street.

NewDubliner

daymobrew wrote:

To avoid breaking the law, get off the bike, walk past the light and the remount.

I don't think that avoids breaking the law. Your'e still driving a bicycle through a red light.

Cabaal

NewDubliner wrote:

I don't think that avoids breaking the law. Your'e still driving a bicycle through a red light.

if for example if he is making a left turn and he dismounts turns the corner and then gets on and cycles away then there's nothing illegal about what he's just done

Drivers are just unhappy that they can't get out push their car around the turn and drive off ala Mr Bean

el tel

As the OP hasn't yet responded to about 100+ posts on the thread I have a strong suspicion they are a troll.

But for what it's worth, and I speak here as both a cyclist and a driver, if I was stopped in traffic in a position that I had every right to be in and some insolent gimp did what the OP did I would be fuming and would honestly want* to beat their f*****g head in. The OP seems to have had a totally "f**k you" attitude to the driver who apparently had done nothing wrong. This was well out of order and does no favours to fellow cyclists.

*merely want, not actually do

DadaKopf

RainyDay wrote:

Does anyone know if the Dublin clampers will respond to such calls? If yes, please let me have the number for my speed-dial.

Hehehe, fair point.

There may be plenty of exceptions for infringing on a cycle-lane, but it's often that people will just park thier cars there as if the lanes didn't exist at all. Then there's the issue about whether it's OK to park on cycle lanes with broken white lines, or whether it's just OK to infringe upon them at particular spots.

daymobrew

NewDubliner wrote:

I don't think that avoids breaking the law. Your'e still driving a bicycle through a red light.

How about:
Dismount bicycle and walk onto footpath with bicycle. Walk bicycle past traffic lights. Remount at a safe location on the opposite side of lights or junction.

Garth

ballooba wrote:

I had a cyclist make a face at me last week for changing lanes at the front of the queue for the lights. Fair enough, I ended up in the bicycle box as a result of a mistake. He then proceeded to break the red light. :eek: Standards.

I think this is the best post to remember from this thread. Cyclist and motorists both make mistakes. There are always times we are not paying as much attention to the situation as we could be. We get distracted.

In traffic we don't have time to say, "oh, sorry, I didn't look carefully enough" or "oops I was in the wrong lane, it'd have taken ages for me if I continued and turned around, really sorry" or "****, I didn't even see that roundabout ahead"

I've been driving for decades and cycled a lot on major roads as a teen. It's easy to make mistakes and impossible to apologise or explain them. People (pedestrians, motorists, cyclists) will all sometimes make mistakes when on the roads. It's (not legally, but rationally) up to the rest of the road users to be paying enough attention to compensate for these occaisional lapses. I've seen some of the best drivers I know do stupid things...

It's always possible that what appears to be a poor decision on another road user's part has been precipitated by yet another road user... being too far over on the left could be that minutes before, someone was overtaking an obstacle in the opposite direction lane. It's impossible to always know where people are coming from so mostly it's best just to laugh to yourself and get on with things than to get upset.

Aggro is never going to solve the problem but paying attention will help.

cyclopath2001

daymobrew wrote:

How about:
Dismount bicycle and walk onto footpath with bicycle. Walk bicycle past traffic lights. Remount at a safe location on the opposite side of lights or junction.

You're still driving a bicycle whether you choose to ride it or walk with it. There may be a loophole if you carry it though.

ballooba

Gil_Dub wrote:

A 6 x D Cell maglight was quickly produced from under my seat, and while I was jumping out of the car he saw the light (har har) and took off at speed to make his escape down Newtown park avenue.....I'm not telling a work of a lie, but if I'd have caught him I'd have served time for what I'd have done.

Funnily enough my brother and I carry MagLites also. I'm far from a violent person but if someone chooses to go down that route I will respond in kind when forced.

blorg

RainyDay wrote:

Does anyone know if the Dublin clampers will respond to such calls? If yes, please let me have the number for my speed-dial.

I don't, but I do know that they are clamping in Ranelagh pretty regularly now. It's a bad idea though (combination cycle path and parking) and badly signposted regarding the times, I think a lot of the people parking there don't realise - there are car parking spaces painted on the lane, and so you see a space... I have seen people fiddling with the meter during the time of the cycle path's operation, they don't seem to understand why it isn't working.

ballooba

Like the above case, I would have thought that as much if not more problems faced by cyclists are caused by poor engineering as by driver behaviour. In a lot of case there is not enough room for the cycle lanes that are painted onto the road.

cunnins4

a bus driver pulled out without looking while i was going along his rhs today. he was talking on his mobile as he pulled out. I let a roar at him and he turned around and gave me the finger. nothing unsuspected tbh. Happens all the time so i expected it and was unphased. i just cycled fast out in front of the bus and went dead slow, and he drove up really close to me trying to intimidate me. He didn't.

Then the white van nearly cleaned me out of it because i was looking over my shoulder too much to check on the bus. Lesson learned. There are idiots out there that'll do stupid things like pull out without looking, not give enough space at lights etc.... We've enough danger on the roads without doing things like concentrating on spitting at merc drivers or pissing off bus drivers.

Watch yourselves lads and keep your attention to staying safe and enjoying cycling. Asseholes are everywhere in life, not just driving mercs!

Dirk Gently

yeah, bus drivers are a danger all right. The majority of them are more aware of cyclists than other road users but there is the problem of overtaking them at bus stops. after a few times having the bus pull out without looking while I was overtaking on the rhs I've decided to just wait behind it until it pulls off again even if it means waiting a couple of minutes. Some of them tend to cut more than halfway into the cycle lanes while driving too but as I said the vast majority are very aware. best to keep well clear and wait if neccessary unless there's about 4 million people trying to get on the bus and it wont be pulling out any time soon.

I've done the oul cycling really slowly in front trick a couple of times too but as you say, it's not too clever to have a pissed off double decker driver coming up your rear. (no pun intended)

dermot_sheehan

RainyDay wrote:

Does anyone know if the Dublin clampers will respond to such calls? If yes, please let me have the number for my speed-dial.

this is the crowd you want 602 2500

http://www.dsps.ie/site/index.htm

daymobrew

cunnins4 wrote:

a bus driver pulled out without looking while i was going along his rhs today. he was talking on his mobile as he pulled out. I let a roar at him and he turned around and gave me the finger.

Report this to Dublin Bus. Using the mobile is totally unacceptable from a customer service point of view and a driving law point of view.

Wishbone Ash

daymobrew wrote:

Report this to Dublin Bus. Using the mobile is totally unacceptable from a customer service point of view and a driving law point of view.

He/she didn't state that it was a Dublin Bus! It may have been a privately operated bus.