Reporting a near miss.

AndyPandy123

While cycling up the canal yesterday(Saturday) morning an articulated truck broke a red light and pulled out around 5 meters in front of me. As I wasn't going at any major speed I was able to stop in time to prevent any injury or worse.
Being a Saturday morning at around 06.45 he probably assumed the way was clear but it's still ridiculous. If I was 5 seconds in front he would have flattened me for sure. Luckily I captured this on camera and after reviewing the footage, it's abundantly clear that he broke a red and was in the wrong.

My question is: Whats the best way to report this? Will the gardai in my local station take a complaint like this if I turn up with footage?

I'm not looking to give this guy unnecessary hassle but he needs pulling up over this.

Any info would be great.

RainyDay

I've had better results by reporting issues to the Garda TrafficWatch helpline first (without mentioning the video footage) and then waiting for a call from the local Garda who should invite you to make a statement.

boombang

RainyDay wrote: »

I've had better results by reporting issues to the Garda TrafficWatch helpline first (without mentioning the video footage) and then waiting for a call from the local Garda who should invite you to make a statement.

+1

I've had a good experience after reporting a guy who blasted through a stop sign at speed. Although it took ages, the Guards did eventually follow it up. Basically the said they can ring the driver and give them a talking to or follow a more formal line of reprimand for which they need a statement. It would seem appropriate in this case to call traffic watch IMO.

degsie

A person may be losing their livelihood if you pursue it.

boombang

degsie wrote: »

A person may be losing their livelihood if you pursue it.

I think that's a totally misguided comment. Somebody could be killed by that driving. If the driver l losses his job he can get another: but if you're dead, you're dead. Also, the driver has a responsibility to himself to keep his own job. People have to take responsibility for their actions.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

degsie wrote: »

A person may be losing their livelihood if you pursue it.

This is an incredibly stupid comment. If the driver loses his job, and he should, then that's his problem.

The driver is in command of an extremely dangerous machine, which requires extra training and testing. He broke a red light and could have killed somebody. There's no excuse for it and it's completely unacceptable.

But because he has a job he has a free pass to do whatever he wants? Same for taxi's and buses?

OP, report this dude and follow up with it. He deserves a day in court.

Lumen

Its quite common to see heavy vehicles blatantly breaking stale red lights in the early hours.

AndyPandy123

degsie wrote: »

A person may be losing their livelihood if you pursue it.

While I'm aware of the obvious implications from this man's employer, it doesn't give him the right to act negligently with a 20 tonne vehicle. I've no interest to see anyone sacked but nasty incidents on our roads can be easily avoided a lot of the time, in this case it would have been a 30 second wait.

Wishbone Ash

If the truck is easily identifiable as belonging to a particular company, it may be more effective to bring it to the attention of the transport manager of his employer. If it's a one off mistake they'll have a word with him. If there is a pattern of similar incidents, they may take further action.

iwillhtfu

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

If the truck is easily identifiable as belonging to a particular company, it may be more effective to bring it to the attention of the transport manager of his employer. If it's a one off mistake they'll have a word with him. If there is a pattern of similar incidents, they may take further action.

I've found the above the best course of action usually followed by a note of the incident to the company on twitter and tag garda trafficwatch.

RainyDay

degsie wrote: »

A person may be losing their livelihood if you pursue it.

Yeah, it's not as if there is any specific additional responsibility arising from the size and momentum of large trucks, is there?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Em_LR2q58

Chuchote

degsie wrote: »

A person may be losing their livelihood if you pursue it.

Unlikely. He made one stupid mistake. The most likely thing is the Gardaí are going to talk to him and say "you might have killed that cyclist, you're a professional, don't drive like that again". It would be a favour to him - and to others, because he'll tell his mates.

degsie

AndyPandy123 wrote: »

While I'm aware of the obvious implications from this man's employer, it doesn't give him the right to act negligently with a 20 tonne vehicle. I've no interest to see anyone sacked but nasty incidents on our roads can be easily avoided a lot of the time, in this case it would have been a 30 second wait.

Given the propensity for cyclists to break red lights, a little leeway could be afforded. I never agree with anyone breaking red lights but there is a level of credulity when motorists and cyclists berate each other when it happens.

iwillhtfu

degsie wrote: »

Given the propensity for some cyclists to break red lights

I've corrected that for you there mate. Those gob****es should be pulled up on that also.

Lumen

degsie wrote: »

Given the propensity for cyclists to break red lights, a little leeway could be afforded. I never agree with anyone breaking red lights but there is a level of credulity when motorists and cyclists berate each other when it happens.

That is an absurd argument. You're saying that the mitigation for one person breaking the law is that the witness/victim shares some characteristic with other people who break the law.

So if I ride my bicycle while drunk and run into a pedestrian, it's not so bad if that pedestrian is from Kerry because Michael Healy Rae?

OleRodrigo

If you are to report every near miss and you're a regular cyclist in DCC, you will have your hands full in no time.

Anticipation and avoidance is better. Its not your fault if enforcement has been lax over the past few years. Breaking reds is so common that if someone stops properly it would look odd. Taxi's, man in white van, artic trucks, private company inter-city coaches, out of service Dublin Buses, aircoach, and harassed mother with kids in 4 X 4 are ( in roughly that order ) all regular offenders during rush hour.

Kicking up a fuss or investing in helmet mounted surveillance equipment is a waste of effort, IMO. Save your energy for sniggering at cyclists with hairy legs and GAA shorts.

John_Rambo

OleRodrigo wrote: »

If you are to report every near miss and you're a regular cyclist in DCC, you will have your hands full in no time.

Anticipation and avoidance is better. Its not your fault if enforcement has been lax over the past few years. Breaking reds is so common that if someone stops properly it would look odd. Taxi's, man in white van, artic trucks, private company inter-city coaches, out of service Dublin Buses, aircoach, and harassed mother with kids in 4 X 4 are ( in roughly that order ) all regular offenders during rush hour.

Kicking up a fuss or investing in helmet mounted surveillance equipment is a waste of effort, IMO. Save your energy for sniggering at cyclists with hairy legs and GAA shorts.

Agreed. I'm back on the bike now after a three year hiatus and am astounded at the amount of drivers that will purposefully pull out in front of, squeeze, block, tailgait and act aggressively towards cyclists. And that's along with the stupid ones that don't do it on purpose. As I mentioned before on another thread, the roads are different now... there's an ugly attitude coming from some drivers. Nothing can be really done about it unless it's witnessed by the Gards.

Chuchote

John_Rambo wrote: »

Agreed. I'm back on the bike now after a three year hiatus and am astounded at the amount of drivers that will purposefully pull out in front of, squeeze, block, tailgait and act aggressively towards cyclists. And that's along with the stupid ones that don't do it on purpose. As I mentioned before on another thread, the roads are different now... there's an ugly attitude coming from some drivers. Nothing can be really done about it unless it's witnessed by the Gards.

Worth a letter to The Irish Times .

rodneyTrotter.

John_Rambo wrote: »

Agreed. I'm back on the bike now after a three year hiatus and am astounded at the amount of drivers that will purposefully pull out in front of, squeeze, block, tailgait and act aggressively towards cyclists. And that's along with the stupid ones that don't do it on purpose. As I mentioned before on another thread, the roads are different now... there's an ugly attitude coming from some drivers. Nothing can be really done about it unless it's witnessed by the Gards.

George Hook doesn't help matters with his constant hate towards cycling on Newstalk

Ferrari3600

Lumen wrote: »

Its quite common to see heavy vehicles blatantly breaking stale red lights in the early hours.

It's very, very common to see cyclists blatantly breaking red lights at all hours of the day and night, in all traffic and weather conditions. HGV dirvers who break red lights are the exceptions to rule. Cyclists who do not obey the rules are the norm. Everyone who is being honest and objective knows this.

And before someone posts the usual 'but you are not comparing like with like as cyclists are vulnerable road-users' response, this includes pedestrian lights. An elderly or infirm pedestrian crossing a pedestrian crossing could easily be killed by a cyclist. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

As for the case of the cyclist who breaks a red light and is run over and killed by a motor vehicle, the driver will have this on their conscience for the rest of their life, even though the reckless cyclist is the one to blame.

Note, none of this excuses what the HGV driver allegedly did in this case.

Rezident

AndyPandy123 wrote: »

While cycling up the canal yesterday(Saturday) morning an articulated truck broke a red light and pulled out around 5 meters in front of me. As I wasn't going at any major speed I was able to stop in time to prevent any injury or worse.
Being a Saturday morning at around 06.45 he probably assumed the way was clear but it's still ridiculous. If I was 5 seconds in front he would have flattened me for sure. Luckily I captured this on camera and after reviewing the footage, it's abundantly clear that he broke a red and was in the wrong.

My question is: Whats the best way to report this? Will the gardai in my local station take a complaint like this if I turn up with footage?

I'm not looking to give this guy unnecessary hassle but he needs pulling up over this.

Any info would be great.

Please do report this. As a cyclist who has had too many near misses, you might be saving someone's life by getting this person to think again.

Ferrari3600

rodneyTrotter. wrote: »

George Hook doesn't help matters with his constant hate towards cycling on Newstalk

He goes too far at times, but the reality is he is speaking out for motorists frustrated at the authorities' ongoing, consistent and blatant failure to put manners on reckless and law-breaking cyclists.

rodneyTrotter.

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

He goes too far at times, but the reality is he is speaking out for motorists frustrated at the authorities' ongoing, consistent and blatant failure to put manners on reckless and law-breaking cyclists.

Then perhaps it's time we had a radio presenter who cycles , that speaks out for cyclists frustrated at the authorities ongoing constant and blatant failure to put manners on reckless and law breaking motorists .
I don't break ANY red lights but have to deal with the above unfortunately

CramCycle

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

He goes too far at times, but the reality is he is speaking out for motorists frustrated at the authorities' ongoing, consistent and blatant failure to put manners on reckless and law-breaking cyclists.

He is speaking out for listeners and nothing else. If you think different then you are mistaken. Authorities fail to put manners on road users of all types. I have come to accept that it not even the Gardas fault thanks to layers of pointless beuracracy layered into a once clear cut and respected profession.

John_Rambo

rodneyTrotter. wrote: »

Then perhaps it's time we had a radio presenter who cycles , that speaks out for cyclists frustrated at the authorities ongoing constant and blatant failure to put manners on reckless and law breaking motorists .
I don't break ANY red lights but have to deal with the above unfortunately

Matt Cooper clashed with Hook on TV3. I didn't see it, but from what I can gather Hook called cyclists criminals, Cooper called out Hook on his numerous driving offenses, pointing out that one judge judge who said George hook was close to being "serial" road traffic offender. Hook dug his heals in and felt his bad driving, speeding etc... wasn't dangerous, but all cyclists were criminals.

Hooks prime time drive slot was axed less than a year later.

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

It's very, very common to see cyclists blatantly breaking red lights at all hours of the day and night, in all traffic and weather conditions. HGV dirvers who break red lights are the exceptions to rule. Cyclists who do not obey the rules are the norm. Everyone who is being honest and objective knows this

If you cycled daily you'd see more cars breaking the law than cyclists. There are cyclists that overtake me and break lights, but there are far far more motorists that do the same at much higher speeds. Almost every I stop at a red light three cars breeze by my, some maneuvering out of my way to do so.

You just don't see them, cause you're four, five, six cars behind.

RainyDay

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

It's very, very common to see cyclists blatantly breaking red lights at all hours of the day and night, in all traffic and weather conditions. HGV dirvers who break red lights are the exceptions to rule. Cyclists who do not obey the rules are the norm. Everyone who is being honest and objective knows this.

Have a look at this and tell me again who breaks the lights most often?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5VGuJvOVk

And have a look at the findings from the Luas camera at Blackhall Place which showed that 87% of those breaking the red lights were not cyclists.

RainyDay

Stoner wrote: »

I'm not a cyclist and I don't have a camera in my car

I have reported three people to traffic watch. Would be more if they answered, 80 percent claimed answered calls is off imo

anyway

Last one I reported was three months ago and I got the same call more or less as one of the other ones

Garda
Is this stoner
Stoner
Yes
I've been trying to ring you for months, you reported a traffic violation on such a road on such a date, do you remember
Stoner
Yes
Garda
Are you willing to take this further , file a complaint , attend court, miss work and potentially face this man in court by being the primary witnesses
Stoner
You called me twice, once 15 minutes ago and now. I understand your approach and I assume nothing will be done to this guy and it a total waste of time and you want me drop it
Garda
Emmmmmm
Stoner
I reported this guy as I thought he might have taken part in a larger crime and my call might help put him somewhere at a certain time driving like he was fleeing the scene

This brought on a total change for the Garda he was sound then and approached difficult to get off the phone

I'd a similar one before

The other one was a guy pulling a trailer overtaking as the trailer with sheets of metal and wheels all unsecured in a flatbed trailer bouncing around, the trailer was very wobbly, this was by far the most dangerous act I reported

I reported this including the exit he got the passenger recorded him.

Rang the traffic watch, I get a call back from the Garda and they ask me what do I want them do.

I explained that at 130 km (which I drove at as I wasn't going to be behind him,)
I told the police this, this guy had wheels and metal bouncing around as he did 130km/hour imagine, I said if the wheel bounced off and hit a car behind, or worse still hopped the divider and hit a car for going the other direction at a relative speed of about 200 to 250 km/hr

He asked me again , what do you want me to do.
I told him I didn't know i wasn't him and didn't know the options, he said nothing, i asked could he at the very least call to the owner and caution them about such dangerous driving
He said he would, it was that passive

In every case I don't think I achieved anything

At the back of my mind I thought they intercepted these guys somehow and caught them in the act

But they don't have the cars to do that it's all retrospective, The guys get off anyway and you get the feeling you are only wasting another resource in court.

I know it sounds like i wasn't prepared to follow it through, but that's what these things are it's up you to report them follow it up go to court etc all on your time, that's what it's always going to be. They don't just take your deals and say we'll take it from here, with or without a video.
So its more than a phone call imo. I really only log the calls to help the police if the bad driving is part of something bigger . Otherwise I think it's just a waste of time. I'd take it further if the police gave me any indication that it is worthwhile or they wanted my help

In get the impression that they ring you back to talk you out of taking it further, and if nothing ever does happen to the offenders then I agree with them

I'd just say op be prepared to take this on like is a personal thing you will most likely me the most motivated person to prosecute the driver.

Honestly, it sounds like you had a bit of an attitude with the guards. I've reported issues, and when I've given them a clear indication that I'm happy to give a formal statement and happy to go to Court if necessary, they have proceeded with the statement. Some of these have gone to fixed penalty notices and penalty points. I've never had to go to Court. Some have got lost somewhere in the system too, so it is far from a 100% record, but it is possible to have an impact through the Traffic Watch system.

endacl

Lumen wrote: »

So if I ride my bicycle while drunk and run into a pedestrian, it's not so bad if that pedestrian is from Kerry because Michael Healy Rae?

Well, in that hypothetical situation, you'd ...

...

...

be grand?

endacl

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

He goes too far at times, but the reality is he is speaking out for motorists citizens frustrated at the authorities' ongoing, consistent and blatant failure to put manners on reckless and law-breaking cyclists citizens.

Slight adjustment. To highlight pointless nature of pointless post.

Lumen

Ferrari3600 wrote: »

It's very, very common to see cyclists blatantly breaking red lights at all hours of the day and night, in all traffic and weather conditions. HGV dirvers who break red lights are the exceptions to rule. Cyclists who do not obey the rules are the norm. Everyone who is being honest and objective knows this.

And before someone posts the usual 'but you are not comparing like with like as cyclists are vulnerable road-users' response, this includes pedestrian lights. An elderly or infirm pedestrian crossing a pedestrian crossing could easily be killed by a cyclist. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

As for the case of the cyclist who breaks a red light and is run over and killed by a motor vehicle, the driver will have this on their conscience for the rest of their life, even though the reckless cyclist is the one to blame.

Note, none of this excuses what the HGV driver allegedly did in this case.

You've entirely missed the point of my post.

J.pilkington

RainyDay wrote: »

Have a look at this and tell me again who breaks the lights most often?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5VGuJvOVk

And have a look at the findings from the Luas camera at Blackhall Place which showed that 87% of those breaking the red lights were not cyclists.

Mother of god talk about massaging facts to suit an agenda

1. That video is hugely edited so cam absolutely not be relied on to tell us anything

2. In terms of red lights you need to look at the bigger pictute.
- A much larger % of the cycling population break red lights (I rarely see a commuter cyclist who are kitted out respecting a red red light and I can see why as it breaks their stride / uses up energy(I commute along the old swords road every day which is hugely popular for commuter cyclists) than the percentage of the other motoring population. The fact that there are more cars than cyclists mean that even if 10% of cars break lights there will be more offenders than say 60% of cyclists breaking lights.

Using your post you could correctly say that Dublin people commit more crimes than Limerick people so therefore we ignore crime in Limerick.

Also a lot of cyclists not only break lights they have absolutely no regard for them. You will only see a tiny tiny % of motorists break a solid red light (as in arrive at junction and light is already red) whereas plenty of cyclists will slow down but peddle through