Buffalo & Doozerie - The mild musings of two grumpy old men!

Kav0777

buffalo wrote: »

It's been a long time since I was the receiving end of any abuse on my ten minute commute, but thankfully one Dublin driver wanted to show that there's still an occasional prick out there.

Toddling along behind three other commuters on Custom House Quay, I check behind - lots of space, indicate, move out, overtake. *beep* I pass him less than 100m later where he's sitting in his Landrover in a queue of cars.

"There's a f**kin' cycling lane."

Resist urge to key his car, smile instead, wave jollily, and cycle on.

Oh, I love that game.... "There's a f**kin' cycling lane." "there's a f**kin' seagull...your turn"

Seve OB

buffalo wrote: »

It's been a long time since I was the receiving end of any abuse on my ten minute commute, but thankfully one Dublin driver wanted to show that there's still an occasional prick out there.

Toddling along behind three other commuters on Custom House Quay, I check behind - lots of space, indicate, move out, overtake. *beep* I pass him less than 100m later where he's sitting in his Landrover in a queue of cars.

"There's a f**kin' cycling lane."

Resist urge to key his car, smile instead, wave jollily, and cycle on.

Have to say, to even bring up the implication of keying his car doesn't say much for your self respect.

Also, he was right, if there was a cycle lane, why were you not using it. As both a driver and cyclist around the city, I see all to often the dangers on our roads. Fair enough, yer man may have been a bit OTT, but really you need to take a look at your own actions.

Leroy42

Seve OB wrote: »

Have to say, to even bring up the implication of keying his car doesn't say much for your self respect.

Also, he was right, if there was a cycle lane, why were you not using it. As both a driver and cyclist around the city, I see all to often the dangers on our roads. Fair enough, yer man may have been a bit OTT, but really you need to take a look at your own actions.

He didn't say he wasn't using the cycle lane, he said he indicated, moved out, passed.

As a cyclist and a driver I would have thought you had some rudimentary knowledge of overtaking procedures.

rollingscone

Seve OB wrote: »

Have to say, to even bring up the implication of keying his car doesn't say much for your self respect.

Also, he was right, if there was a cycle lane, why were you not using it. As both a driver and cyclist around the city, I see all to often the dangers on our roads. Fair enough, yer man may have been a bit OTT, but really you need to take a look at your own actions.

As a professor I see the world differently.

I think you need to have a look at hundreds of pages of explaining to previous experts "who also cycle" about this sort of baseless pontificating.

droidus

Leroy42 wrote: »

He didn't say he wasn't using the cycle lane, he said he indicated, moved out, passed.

As a cyclist and a driver I would have thought you had some rudimentary knowledge of overtaking procedures.

Maybe this is why he has such a poor understanding of cycling - every time he comes to an obstruction in the cycle lane he simply shrugs, looks confused, and gets off his bike.

Seve OB

Leroy42 wrote: »

He didn't say he wasn't using the cycle lane, he said he indicated, moved out, passed.

As a cyclist and a driver I would have thought you had some rudimentary knowledge of overtaking procedures.

fair enough, i'm not familiar with the stretch or road/cycle lane

it still doesn't excuse his want to key the blokes car. that is just thuggery carry on

BoardsMember

rollingscone wrote: »

As a professor I see the world differently.

As a matter of interest, what's that supposed to mean?

Are we supposed to be impressed, or regard your opinion more highly? Or do you just like to get that out there? If you're implying that your opinion is more informed or should be more valued, surely the faculty/discipline your background is in would matter? If not, why post it? It sounds a little conceited, at best.

For what it's worth, I think he op was perfectly correct in his actions...

rollingscone

Seve OB wrote: »

fair enough, i'm not familiar with the stretch or road/cycle lane

it still doesn't excuse his want to key the blokes car. that is just thuggery carry on

Lord save us from imagination thuggery.

I blame the computerised games.

wanderer 22

Seve OB wrote: »

it still doesn't excuse his want to key the blokes car. that is just thuggery carry on

Have you ever exaggerated or perhaps said something for comic effect? It's quite popular.

quozl

Seve OB wrote: »

it still doesn't excuse his want to key the blokes car. that is just thuggery carry on

Have you never had the urge to do something in-appropriate yet stopped yourself from doing it?

That's normal human behaviour.

You're coming across as a bit strange here...

droidus

Seve OB wrote: »

fair enough, i'm not familiar with the stretch or road/cycle lane

it still doesn't excuse his want to key the blokes car. that is just thuggery carry on

Woah, woah, hold on there. What does the stretch of road have to do with it?

Do you understand the basic principle that when you come to a slower cyclist or obstruction in the cycle lane that it is entirely legitimate and reasonable to leave the cycle lane to overtake or go around?

Do you also understand that there is absolutely no legal requirement for any cyclist to remain in a cycle lane and that there are countless reasons, including overtaking, making a right hand turn, taking the lane to prevent a left hook etc. to leave it and anybody who ever says to a cyclist 'there is a f**kin cycle lane' is a cretin who doesn't deserve his license?

rollingscone

BoardsMember wrote: »

As a matter of interest, what's that supposed to mean?

Are we supposed to be impressed, or regard your opinion more highly? Or do you just like to get that out there? If you're implying that your opinion is more informed or should be more valued, surely the faculty/discipline your background is in would matter? If not, why post it? It sounds a little conceited, at best.

For what it's worth, I think he op was perfectly correct in his actions...

Hint: I'm not a professor...

It may have been a reference to baseless sanctimony. Who knows, who knows!?!

*Also a highly trafficked advert on TV

Chips Lovell

Zzippy

Seve OB wrote: »

Have to say, to even bring up the implication of keying his car doesn't say much for your self respect.

Also, he was right, if there was a cycle lane, why were you not using it. As both a driver and cyclist around the city, I see all to often the dangers on our roads. Fair enough, yer man may have been a bit OTT, but really you need to take a look at your own actions.

Seve, you're about a mile out of bounds today.

Fore!





Whaddaya mean this isn't the golf forum?

Seve OB

Zzippy wrote: »

Seve, you're about a mile out of bounds today.

Fore!





Whaddaya mean this isn't the golf forum?

Yea I know! :rolleyes:

I just seen some poor bastard the other day who got his car keyed. Actually it wasn't just keyed, it was destroyed, every single pannel. Kinda infuriated me that some prick did that to the poor guy.

Apologies, I know Beasty would never do such a thing

doozerie

I had a similarly “enlightening” encounter with a soap-dodging motorbike courier recently (what is is with some of them, they look like they’ve had their faces shoved up a chimney regularly, maybe it’s from face-butting exhaust pipes or something). He was stopped at a random point along a cycle lane, probably to adjust the large chip on his shoulder. I looked behind, pulled out and overtook. All this at about the same time as he gunned his bike and took off, apparently without even a glance behind, on a collision course with me.

I swung further out, and as he swung alongside me, on my inside, I looked at him and shook my head. He exploded in an impressive fit of indignation. He swung behind me, came up fast on my right, leaned in, and yelled something about “*mutter mutter* should *mutter* be in da *mutter* fookin’ *mutter* CYCLE LANE!”.

His body language and position screamed threat and intimidation as much as his voice. I responded in kind, with “you should have fookin’ LOOKED!”. As with anyone that likes to throw their weight around he was confused by this, he wasn’t expecting resistance. Juggling the act of controlling his motorbike with the desire to respond seemed too great a challenge, he pulled further right and slowed down, a perplexed expression on his angry face.

He then raced past again, not so close this time, and let rip with a verbal “*mutter* *mutter* *MUTTER*”. I have absolutely no idea what he said. Or even what language it was spat out in. It bounced around inside his helmet but never escaped beyond it. It’s probably still stuck inside there, some incoherent angry babble struggling to get out and be understood. I hope it makes his scalp itchy regularly.

He rode off, gesturing wildly at me, breaking a red light and veering randomly between lanes as he went. Another “considerate” and “safe” road user having accomplished his noble mission of the day to educate other road users on proper usage of the roads. His lesson for that day was that cycle lanes are for fookin’ cyclists, except when they’re not, and other lanes are for motorists, when it suits them, and any queries relating to such matters should be directed to YER ARSE! Maybe he’s serving an apprenticeship for the RSA*, if so it’s clearly going well.

(*my impression of the RSA is at (another) all time low at the moment. They visited my daughter’s school recently and the single strongest message she came away from it with is that it’s not safe to cycle a bike without a hi-viz vest. Well done RSA, take a class full of impressionable 6yr-olds and impose on them the mantra that hi-viz is the be all and end all of road safety.

Another day another demonstration of the glaringly obvious fact that the RSA needs education on the realities of using the road before they inflict their ignorant views on very young kids!)

doozerie

BoardsMember wrote:

As a matter of interest, what's that supposed to mean?

Are we supposed to be impressed, or regard your opinion more highly?

Well, I was impressed, for one.

rollingscone wrote:

Hint: I'm not a professor…

…but now I’m outraged too.

Curse you faceless Internet, you toy with my emotions. I key in your general direction.

Alek

“*mutter* *mutter* *MUTTER*”. I have absolutely no idea what he said.

I'm sure he's German.

doozerie

Alek wrote: »

I'm sure he's German.

He might even have been a Volkswagen salesmen trying to drum up some business in anticipation of their current rough period. Maybe he was just trying to get me interested and it was all a misunderstanding on my part (“Vorsprung durch Technik” does sound a lot less friendly in a strong Dublin accent).

Further evidence of this is that his belching motorbike looked like it should have failed the emissions test of an NCT years ago, but apparently didn’t.

cdaly_

Had my own little moment this morning. Approaching the one-way-at-a-time* section of the roadworks at St Anne's Park, there was a queue of cars. I rode up on the left and, as the queue now had the green, slotted in to the line of cars in front of a renault. On we go, past the line of cones on the right before swinging out to the right and what do I see? Yer man in the renault has gone outside the line of cones presumably in the hope of overtaking me and is now trying to merge back into the line. I nipped out smartly in front again and proceeded my merry way, taking the lane all the while.

Got to the bit where it widened out to two lanes again and renault man overtakes to the back of the queue at the traffic lights...











*Sweet Jesus

buffalo

The system works... just rather slowly...

I got in touch with DCC back in January to ask for an ASB at the bottom of Gardiner St, at the junction with Beresford Place where one then crosses the Luas tracks and heads onto a 5 lane expanse.

I wish to inform you that the Traffic Advisory Group at its meeting of 18th August, 2015, recommended the provision of an Advance Cycle Stop Line on the inbound side, at the southern end of Gardiner Street Lower.

This measure will be implemented subject to the completion of the necessary statutory consultation process.

There's hope yet!

mathie

I was taking a right turn off a main road onto a lane the other night.
Pedestrians tends to cross the road without paying too much attention so I was ready as usual and had slowed right down.

So just as I start to turn I notice a guy and think "Surely he won't cross". He's made eye contact with me at this stage.
Nope he still goes for it.
So I'm slowing even further down at this stage.

Then a woman who was about two metres behind him proceeds to cross and I have to swerve (nothing major as Im going quite slow)

"Idiot!" she shouts.

Just another pedestrian who thinks they own the road.

So if I'd hit her no doubt I'd be the bad guy?
I assume she's off telling her friends about the lunatic cyclist they should all watch out for.

De Bhál

Pedestrians have right of way in this situation I think unless they're crossing against a red light

mathie

De Bhál wrote: »

Pedestrians have right of way in this situation I think unless they're crossing against a red light

I was wondering that.

Do pedestrians have right of way when cross from one path to another?

If so then maybe I am an idiot :pac:

buffalo

De Bhál wrote: »

Pedestrians have right of way in this situation I think unless they're crossing against a red light

RotR:

You must always yield to:
pedestrians already crossing at a junction

If they're not already crossing, yielding would only be courtesy.

Fian

If i remember correctly (and if it hasn't changed in the decades since i learned the rules of the road for my driving test) Pedestrians who are already crossing the road have the right of way if a vehicle is turning left. By your description the second pedestrian was not already crossing the road and you were turning right.

Having said that rights of way should always yield to common sense anyway.

mathie

Fian wrote: »

If i remember correctly (and if it hasn't changed in the decades since i learned the rules of the road for my driving test) Pedestrians who are already crossing the road have the right of way if a vehicle is turning left. By your description the second pedestrian was not already crossing the road and you were turning right.

Having said that rights of way should always yield to common sense anyway.

Yeah she was on the path when I started my turn. As was the first guy.
I wasn't about to hit either of them.

Uno my Uno.

mathie wrote: »

Yeah she was on the path when I started my turn. As was the first guy.
I wasn't about to hit either of them.

Pedestrians may have the right f way but the laws of physics still apply.

Bloggsie

Fian wrote: »

If i remember correctly (and if it hasn't changed in the decades since i learned the rules of the road for my driving test) Pedestrians who are already crossing the road have the right of way if a vehicle is turning left. By your description the second pedestrian was not already crossing the road and you were turning right.

Having said that rights of way should always yield to common sense anyway.

common sense, it appears to me that very few people use common sense and even fewer have it and I include cyclists in the generalisation!

doozerie

Summary: It’s a wonder that some people are allowed out without adult supervision, the fact that they’ve actually lived this long is a source of constant amazement.

I have at least a few weeks worth of pent-up shock and amusement which is bursting to get out, so here goes:

* Within the last 2 weeks I’ve seen two cyclists rear-end buses. The first guy was cycling a bit like a loon to start with, it was unlikely to end well. His grand finale was to cycle no-handed behind a moving bus, unfazed by anything at all it seemed. Bus’s left indicator came on, guy didn’t react. Bus’s brake lights came on and it clearly slowed down, guy didn’t react. He did actually manage to get to his brakes at the very last moment, so he managed to slow a bit before hitting the back of the now stopped bus. His face was a picture, a blend of surprise, annoyance, and presumably embarrassment.

The second guy was truly cycling like a loon, ignoring red lights, riding on the pavement, weaving between traffic. He seemed to expect the stopped bus to suddenly disappear from his path as he tried to ride through the space it occupied. The bus chose to observe the laws of physics though, and yer man piled into it. Only his dignity took a battering, that fact was well disguised by his indignation though. “How dare the bus stop at that red light along with all the other traffic!”, etc., screamed his face.

* There was the usual motley crew of regular cyclists who cut up my inside or (literally) skimmed my right elbow to get past me as I had the sheer nerve to stop at a red light. I dunno, maybe these red lights are actually insidious fascists, randomly subjugating us to their will. Maybe I lack the insight of those others who fully understand this. Maybe I’m part of “the problem”. Lacking such enlightenment I guess I’ll just have to persist with my boring reluctance to throw myself at pedestrians and other cyclists, and my unwillingness to throw myself under or over moving cars.

I’ll probably get my comeuppance in the end. In the meantime I’ll just have to live with the inconvenience of getting from A to B faster and more safely than those others, and without choosing to be an obnoxious gob****e to every other road user in the process. Makes me feel awful, really. Down with those of us with even a glimmer of a sense of social responsibility.

* And as for yer man on a bike near Harold’s Cross earlier this week, the guy who tried to overtake the taxi that was slowing down in the bus lane, I’m still struggling to understand why you thought it reasonable to try to pass the taxi on the right, via the rapidly shrinking gap between the taxi and the (indicating) car in the right lane that the taxi driver was slowing to allow into the bus lane. Your exasperated yell of “For FCUK SAKE!!” was a curious response to a dangerous situation that you yourself created. The RSA would have been proud of you though, your helmet and high-viz jacket ticked all of their essential criteria, they don’t request that you have an ounce of common sense or awareness and fair play to you you didn’t offer any.

You weren’t alone though, I was directly behind the taxi and I slowed as it slowed, …because why wouldn’t I. Plus I had seen the glaringly obvious sight of the car ahead pulling into our lane so the taxi slowing down was to be expected anyway. The person on a bike behind me saw nothing at all apparently as they almost ran into my right leg as they slammed on their brakes, displaying a reaction spead that would make a hungover sloth blush.

* Or the cyclist that tried to shove past me to squeeze between the moving articulated lorry and the traffic in the lane to the left. The lorry was angled across both lanes at the time, there was absolutely nowhere to go but under it. Maybe I should have let the cyclist past me just to see what he was planning, but given that he’d have had to shove me into the van to my left to do so I opted to hold my ground instead. He wasn’t happy about it.

* And the cyclist yesterday evening between Rathgar and Terenure. I stopped at a red pedestrian light, he rode onto the footpath behind me to get past, he cycled past/through the bus shelter on the footpath ahead but still hadn't managed to make it back onto the road before the light went green so he had to wait while I went past on the road before he could get back onto the road himself. I said "That was pointless" as I passed him, his response was to laugh. Apparently I'm unintentionally hilarious. Go me.

* The bizarre antics weren’t limited to cyclists of course, there were the usual odd pedestrians that stepped out in front of me either without looking or having spotted me and deciding not to care. Most people stop believing at an early age that not looking at a danger means that the danger doesn’t exist, but clearly not everyone. Some of them turned their eyes even further away when I yelled, without making any further effort to avoid a collision, demonstrating a degree of blind optimism that I might applaud in other circumstances. But not in these ones.

Then there were the motorists like the one that entered a busy main road from a side road and drove the wrong way up the other lane in the hope of finding a gap to slot into before encountering oncoming traffic. Or the guy that pulled out of a side road right in front of me and then veered left further into the cycle lane as I tried to get past. In his determination to point out that I was the real scourge of the roads he drove right through a solid red light while yelling something or other at me, and struggled to control his car as he took the immediate left turn at excessive speed - that’ll teach me, or something.


We all make mistakes, every last one of us. I certainly know that I’ve made some stupid spur of the moment decisions in traffic at times, in some/many of those situations I’ve come through unscathed because those around me were aware enough, and considerate enough, to take actions to avoid a collision. I try to acknowledge such mistakes and learn from them, I’ll live a lot longer and I’ll be less of a danger to others if I can be mature enough to do that.

Some of those people above made stupid decisions in the heat of the moment but reacted with pure indignation, and sometimes pure aggression, when things didn’t work out for them. Others just did crazy and dangerous things casually and routinely, suggesting they’d probably do the very same again next time. I’m not sure if it’s possible to appeal to reason with such people, they’ll just stick their fingers in their ears and yell “La la la la!”. So I can’t be arsed even trying, to those people my only plea is to just grow up and recognise that the roads are for all of us, not just for you. The rest of us at least are making an effort, even if we don’t always succeed, it’s time you made an effort too.