So I hit my first pedestrian today...

Ste.phen

(as title says)

Coming down Gardiner St (Southbound) this morning in the cycle lane and a pedestri-lemming steps out suddenly in front of me. Jammed on both brakes, shouted, but t'was a bit too late, smacked him fairly hard.

The fecker just wandered back onto the footpath and kept going while i was picking back up the bike so I didn't get a chance to scream at him, but he did eventually cross at the pedestrian lights, so maybe i did some good in the world, i dunno.

Anwyays, I've been cycling almost every day for 2/3 months now and i've yet to have even a near miss like that before today, I wasn't going too quickly (20KPH, tops), and i thought i had a decent clear run, but seriously, he practically jumped onto the road, *smack*

The people in the car whose bonnet my back wheel landed on were fairly sympathetic though, which was nice, i was half expecting them to shout at me.

So how do you guys deal with it when it happens, and any tips to prevent it happening again?

On the stretch in question, a lot of the pros (you guys, i'm guessing :P) seem to cycle down the middle of the 2 traffic lanes, which are usually stationary. I don't personally like doing that, as I lose the range of vision to my left and i'm not terribly comfortable with that yet...

Hagar

Well done, the first one is the hardest, it gets easier.

irishmotorist

Are you OK? It sounds like you came off reasonably hard.

I've had a few near misses myself but nothing as dramatic as that sounds. Depending on where I am, I find I tend to watch pedestrians closer than traffic. If I'm coasting alongside stopped traffic and there's a pedestrian on the edge of the path, then there's a good chance he's going to jump. Shouting is my defence, but it seems you tried that.

Shout louder is my best suggestion!

Ste.phen

irishmotorist wrote: »

Are you OK? It sounds like you came off reasonably hard.

I've had a few near misses myself but nothing as dramatic as that sounds. Depending on where I am, I find I tend to watch pedestrians closer than traffic. If I'm coasting alongside stopped traffic and there's a pedestrian on the edge of the path, then there's a good chance he's going to jump. Shouting is my defence, but it seems you tried that.

Shout louder is my best suggestion!

Ah it wasn't too bad, i'd slowed down a fair but when i hit the guy, the problem was the back wheel coming up rather quickly (It's a fairly heavy bike)

I've already been told to work on my shouting skills, not sure I've the lungs for it yet (still getting used to the cycling!)

dmigsy

Jaysus. It is scary stuff. I nearly hit an old fella last week. On Bachelors Walk he stepped out from behind a Bus Eireann bus about 3 metres in front of me. I snatched at the brakes and nearly went over the handlebars but stopped centimetres from him. He was easily in his 80s. It wouldn't have been pleasant. Didn't have the heart to roar at him.

I don't think there's a lot you can do to prevent eedjits stepping out in front of you. I have a bell (Sad, I know) but I think I'll be removing it because it only seems to entice pedestrians into the road.

I behave like a car when traffic is moving at a pace where I can keep up - cycle in the middle of a lane. When it's stationary I do cycle between lanes but take it fairly handy. Just keep your wits about you.

PeadarofAodh

I hit a pedestrian last year in the middle of the road surprisingly enough. He looked both ways, right at me (I was moving into the middle of the road to take a right hand turn), stopped, looked right at me again, then stepped out right in front of me despite me giving him a warning shout! Luckily I was on a crapbox mtb not the road bike so wasn't moving too fast, but still gave him a fair smack in the ribs with my handlebars. Managed to land on my feet miraculously, could have been a lot worse with fast oncoming traffic in the next lane.

Guy I hit (was about the same age as myself, early twenties) got a bit of a fright when confronted with a very pissed off 6ft 5" me looming over him, really had to resist punching him. Gave him a point-blank screaming instead and he scampered away bleating sorry's :mad:

Bicyclegadabout

You have to assume it’s going to happen.
I try to ride as close to the right of the cycle track as I can get away with, which might just give you the space you need to avoid someone.
Shouting is very important. Something monosyllabic that you can easily blurt out with some force, I say “YO!!!!” myself. If that doesn’t work I say “MOVE!!!”. I seem to be rather loud.
Going between lanes or with traffic can be daunting, but if you think you’re coming up to a spot where peds are likely to walk out in front of you, you kinda just have to find a space and push into the traffic. Motorists will give you space when your there. It get’s easier with practice.

oriain

ah, I remember my first casualty...... memories! The first is the worst though, you tend to get a little more thick skinned about it the more it happens. Think I've hit 4 people in 5 years of cycling which ain't bad! (i hope...) First girl ran across the road in front of me without looking. I would have felt sorry for her but I was pretty hurt myself and a truck was coming.

You really have to have your wits about you because it's a very difficult thing to avoid. Shouting at people works a treat though, especially the idiots that don't look. Although my pet peeve is the idiots (I am sticking with idiots) that look, see you, you can see them thinking about going for it, and then at the last second decide to run. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Malari

I almost hit a postman getting out of his van once. He was indicating to pull in to the laneway on his left so I went around him on the right - only he never actually pulled in, he just got out of the van right in front of me. It was two lanes of traffic so I couldn't avoid him.

Thing was he pulled out in front of me a few weeks previously and I shouted at him. When I went crashing into his van door as soon as he opened it, the look on his face was so panicked I couldn't do any more than beg him to look in his mirror in future.

cunnins4

Put your foot out next time: protect the bike!;)

beans

3 or 4 near misses, all of them dead-stops a few mm from disaster bar one, which involved dodging through a gaggle of teens running across the road from the cinema on Parnell St in Dublin. It reminded me of the scene in Pulp Fiction when the guy pops out with the hand-cannon and misses with every shot. I couldn't believe no-one had been hit

My first though... woman pushing a pram across from Talbot St to Connolly Station, the old stick-the-pram-into-the-traffic trick; I'll never forget that. I always keep my brakes in good condition as a consequence!

lukester

Sounds a bit hair raising that. Like others have said, in slowish moving traffic, I join the traffic flow for as long as I can keep up, and just keep eyes peeled for lurchers.

I had a close one a few months back, girl just veered off the footpath on O'Connell Street in front of me. I sort of braked and cursed gibberish at the same time, didn't have time to shout a warning. I was on the MTB hack at the time and going fairly slowly, so just bumped into her with the bars and ended up in this awkward 'shall we dance' pose, hard to explain, but kinda funny in retrospect. She was very apologetic.

What kills me every day is the peds crossing O Connell Bridge, when I'm heading East on the North Quays, they're crossing from the Bridge to O' Connell St and vice versa. The lights are green for cars and they just saunter out in front of traffic, all lemming like and suicidally cocky. Feckin mentalists- I regularly have to shout and brake at that junction. Actually, if I'm honest, I don't shout, I just glare at them and will them out of my way, which doesn't work often, so I brake.

Rob_l

I hit a guy on the rathmines round he just stepped out in front of me seen the light on the front of the bike and got startled couldn't decide whether to go back to where he came from or continue across the road I was going too fast to stop hit the brakes hard and came over the handle bars at him, he provided me with a softer landing and then got a lot of abuse

cormie

See this is why I don't like wearing cleats I've had a million near misses in my time and if I had cleats on them times, I probably would have just fell over like a domino and be crushed by an oncoming car:eek:

Cabaal

I've had a few near misses over the years, mainly going around corners were pedestrians just step off the footpath without looking (just using their ears listening for cars), in two situations I actually felt their clothing hit off me....I'm sure it scared the **** out of them

Other then that I've been lucky and have not had a bad bike crash since I was about 9 or 10 years old, though I did hit somebodys car door back in 2002 when they opened it infront of me..that was fun

Ciaran B

I’ve had one collision and a few near misses over the years. I was riding down the North Quays between the Ha’Penny Bridge and O’Connell Bridge one morning and a girl stepped off the pavement right in front of me. Amazingly she looked to her left, the way the traffic was flowing, not to her right. We both ended up in a heap but we were OK. I couldn’t bring myself to angry with her because she was smoking hot and quite apologetic.

Anyway, my advice for the OP is fairly obvious; try to know any potential black spots were people might step off the path without looking. For me it’s anywhere on the quays and all of Lombard St/Westland Row. I ride as far out as I can there.

daymobrew

Igy wrote: »

So how do you guys deal with it when it happens

Very loud abuse - but make sure it's relevant i.e. mention not looking, danger etc, not their sex, race etc.
Release all your built up anger on the idiot. Works for me. And it might be educational to those in ear shot.

I had a few 'touches' on O'Connell Street ~12-13 years ago. I found that turning your head, as if you are not looking where you are going (but you could still see ahead in the corner of your eye), made people stop. Though it's a lot busier and people more stupid these days.

beans wrote:

the old stick-the-pram-into-the-traffic trick

My 'favourite' was booting through College Green heading to Westmoreland Street. As I passed the ped crossing and was going around the bend I was in a decent lean. A couple were moving their buggy to the edge of the footpath. I was leaned over the buggy - scared the hell out of them. As much of a thrill it gave me, I now realise that it was very risky.

milod

Welcome to the club OP - cycle in the city at more than 10mph and you'll eventually hit some dickhead.

I've got three notches on the handlebars... first time I parked my bike in some young lady's asscrack when she hopped off the pavement into the cycle lane. Second time I creased some drunk crossing Aston quay - landed on my feet so no harm done. Third time (in London) I actually fractured a guys skull, buckled my front wheel and landed on my back - a bit sore but otherwise ok.

A loud Oi! is my usual warning (I'm too old to shout Yo...). There's never enough time to blurt 'Wanker!'

mikemac

Was flying down the cycletrack by Sutton on Sunday and an old guy crossed it to walk down the steps to the main road. Never looked behind him.
If you know the long cylcetrack you’ll know what I’m trying to describe.
Slapped on the brakes but I couldn’t stop in time so I had to swerve around him. If you lose control there you could drop a few metres down into the water (except there usually isn’t water there)

I turned around to let rip but he was very apologetic which defuses the situation immediately.

Tell me this, what’s with people pushing prams into traffic to test if they will stop or not? I’m seeing this a lot and I can’t think of anything more dangerous. It’s difficult enough to stop on a racing bike so I can envisage myself running into a pram at some stage :eek:
Edit: This has been raised already

Oink

You see, it's like dogs. The order of "due respect" between me, a chihuaha, and a rottweiler goes : 1. Rott 2. Me 3. Chihuaha. We all owe respect to the one "above" you on the scale. Failure to comply = severe pain. That's basic Darwin.

On the road, it goes like this 1.Truck 2.Car 3.Bike 4. Pedestrian

If you disrespect someone higher than you on the scale by acting like an eejit, you get a taste of natural selection (in this case it tastes a bit like chrome and rubber). End of story.

Chips Lovell

I reckon a lot of pedestrians cross the road with their ears and not their eyes. They just step out if they don't hear a vehicle coming. I've had a few near misses with people who just don't look.

micmclo wrote: »

Was flying down the cycletrack by Sutton on Sunday and an old guy crossed it to walk down the steps to the main road. Never looked behind him.

Which is why I avoid that cycle track like the plague. Had way too many close shaves there with pedestrians, roller bladers etc.

theboytaylor

Ran into a guy getting off a dublin bus.

Braked well and he basically ended up straddling my front wheel
millimetres more and he was mayor of pain town.

In my defense, the bus was stopped in traffic and not at a bus stop
and the driver must have just decided to let him off there.

It was glares all round and then I cycled off, was too surprised to shout.

bobtjustice

The amount of clowns that walk in the cycle lanes up round Dundrum and Beacon Hotel is insane.
I cycle through the Industrial Estate daily up past the Beacon and up towards Lamb Doyles.
I've hit 1 person and had about 5 near misses in 3 months. It tends to be people not looking behind them and just walking straight into the cycle lane to get to the edge of the road.
I really up-ended the guy I hit, I was raging but I really felt sorry for him when I got off the deck because he was badly scratched up. In fairness he acknowledged it and apologised, I was going pretty fast but any faster I would have launched him into the middle of the road, I was literally 2 feet from him when he decided to step out.
Scary stuff.!

P.s... this crash was a best case study for wearing a helmet, because if I hadn't had my lid on, I woudn't be typing this. So people put a hard cover on your dome.!

Harpz

I whistle, Initially it took me a good two weeks of squeezing and dribbling with contorted lips but I now can do a fairly loud whistle (comparable in volume to a whistle where you need fingers in your mouth).
It just makes people look up. I also do it when I am going by a junction and the driver looks like they may not have seen me.
Im fairly liberal with it, you also come across less crazy than bellowing at cars

Bambaata

milod wrote: »

Welcome to the club OP - cycle in the city at more than 10mph and you'll eventually hit some dickhead.

I've got three notches on the handlebars... first time I parked my bike in some young lady's asscrack when she hopped off the pavement into the cycle lane. Second time I creased some drunk crossing Aston quay - landed on my feet so no harm done. Third time (in London) I actually fractured a guys skull, buckled my front wheel and landed on my back - a bit sore but otherwise ok.

A loud Oi! is my usual warning (I'm too old to shout Yo...). There's never enough time to blurt 'Wanker!'

I'd be getting at them for any scratches on my bike if it was their fault. New parts if need be.

avalanche

I hit a a female tourist in her fifties just after the bridge on oconnell street. she looked the wrong way up the road and stepped out right in front of me. I was going pretty fast, slammed on the brakes and ended up balancing on the front wheel whilst headbutting the woman pretty hard. I felt pretty bad about it but she seemed to be ok. it was a full headbutt though so im sure she felt it - to think you can kill people like that is scary. what can you do though?

Malari

I sometimes find myself stepping out on the road because i know there are no cars coming without checking if there is a bike. Something I scream at pedestrians for doing! It's 2nd nature. But mostly cycling has made me a more tolerant motorist AND pedestrian!:D

simonw

I've been cycling years, but only started working in the city centre 6 weeks ago, and i've hit 2 people already. The first was an asian tourist when i was coming down nassau street at the crossing there at molly malone. i wasn't cycling as defensively as i probably should have been, because i expected people would, you know, try and avoid steeping out into traffic... anyway as i passed through the crossing, this woman actually stepped into me, nearly knocking me off the bike. i shouted a few things and cycled off, but when i got to the next traffic lights my legs were jelly.

The second time was coming around stephens green by the luas stop at about 9.20am. I was more wary this time and made eye contact with the crowd looking to step off the platform to cross the road. They all stopped to let me go, so i kept pedalling, but some idiot stepped out from behind the crowd without even looking and i went straight into her. I was only doing maybe 12-15km/h but i barely had time to brake so she got most of it. She stumbled back on the platform and started blaming me, asking what i was doing cycling there. I pointed out its actually a road and she should watch where the f**k she's going, so she changed tact telling me i was going too fast... I just shouted some more at her to pay attention crossing the road and went to work, but stuff like that leaves you in a bad mood, and to be blamed for it as well left me fuming the whole morning.

Now I probably spend as much time anticipating pedestrians as i do anticipating what the cars are going to do. You have to note all the blackspots on your route and if you go anywhere within 750m of o connell bridge expect the unexpected. particularily watch out for pedestrians blindly stepping out from behind big vehicles like buses and trucks...

blorg

cormie wrote: »

See this is why I don't like wearing cleats I've had a million near misses in my time and if I had cleats on them times, I probably would have just fell over like a domino and be crushed by an oncoming car:eek:

You really need to try SPDs, I have crashed in them several times, to the extent of writing off the bike, and you always sort of automatically come out.

blorg

I've had plenty of close shaves but in 15 years I don't think I've ever actually hit anyone. Peds that is, as I have collided with cars.

seamus

blorg wrote: »

You really need to try SPDs, I have crashed in them several times, to the extent of writing off the bike, and you always sort of automatically come out.

Indeed, even when you're only about to fall over, if you REALLY shouldn't be falling over, you'll find that you manage to exert enough pressure to pull your feet out at the very last second.

If you're not all that concerned about looking silly, you'll just flop over.