Near misses - mod warning 22/04 - see OP/post 822

hesker

I lost it with a guy in a car yesterday. I mean I completely lost it. Hurled all kinds of abuse at him. I usually tell myself not to engage in situations like this but I just couldn't hold back.

Cycling along a busy city road behind a van doing about 30-35kph. No hard shoulder, footpaths either side, just wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other. Keeping pace with the van all the way, about a car length behind and I was in the centre of the lane. There were about 4 cars in front of the van. The sun was shining. Everyone was happy. Everyone was moving along nicely. Guy behind goes to overtake me. He draws level with me (nose of his car about level with my centreline). I put my arm out and motion for him to stay back. Scared the hell out of me. Thankfully he pulled back as I don't know what his next move was going to be. I gesticulated at him and he starts waving his arms back at me. I lost it completely. Gave him the two fingers and hurled abuse at him. Traffic stopped a bit up the road and I hurled more abuse at him. He motioned that he could not hear me and I hurled even more abuse at him. Went on my way after that but fairly upset. Regret losing the head so much but also feel justified in my response.

Didn't care about getting his reg or reporting him. Was way beyond that.

What Username Guidelines

hesker wrote: »

I lost it with a guy in a car yesterday. I mean I completely lost it. Hurled all kinds of abuse at him. I usually tell myself not to engage in situations like this but I just couldn't hold back.

Cycling along a busy city road behind a van doing about 30-35kph. No hard shoulder, footpaths either side, just wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other. Keeping pace with the van all the way, about a car length behind and I was in the centre of the lane. There were about 4 cars in front of the van. The sun was shining. Everyone was happy. Everyone was moving along nicely. Guy behind goes to overtake me. He draws level with me (nose of his car about level with my centreline). I put my arm out and motion for him to stay back. Scared the hell out of me. Thankfully he pulled back as I don't know what his next move was going to be. I gesticulated at him and he starts waving his arms back at me. I lost it completely. Gave him the two fingers and hurled abuse at him. Traffic stopped a bit up the road and I hurled more abuse at him. He motioned that he could not hear me and I hurled even more abuse at him. Went on my way after that but fairly upset. Regret losing the head so much but also feel justified in my response.

Didn't care about getting his reg or reporting him. Was way beyond that.

\

It really seems some drivers are just wired this way. They dont see a cyclist as a road user or vehicle, just another thing you have to pass. They never consider that a cyclist may be capable of keeping pace with the traffic. I've experienced it a few times and it is infuriating. I've been behind cars and actually coasting or even feathering brakes to keep pace, and yet you still get them nosing around you, with nowhere to go. Like another poster said, some people dont see beyond their bonnet or can't consider what's going on 15ft ahead of them. These are the drivers that need to pay attention to the RSA ads the most, but likely will never even notice or consider them.

I think the worst part about losing your cool in this situation is that the driver probably still doesnt even think what they were doing is wrong and just doesnt get it.

CramCycle

Happens regularly, they are so used to poor driving and being on someones bumper that they don't realise that the car space in front of you is actually breaking distance.

coco0981

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Look at this for a close pass :eek:

https://twitter.com/VicentAnglada/status/996770301471068160

That's unbelievable, cyclist extremely lucky to be alive

Kaisr Sose

hesker wrote: »

I lost it with a guy in a car yesterday. I mean I completely lost it. Hurled all kinds of abuse at him. I usually tell myself not to engage in situations like this but I just couldn't hold back....... Scared the hell out of me.....I lost it completely. ...... Went on my way after that but fairly upset. Regret losing the head so much but also feel justified in my response.

Didn't care about getting his reg or reporting him. Was way beyond that.

I would not regret loosing it. You say he scared the hell out of you. Why be civil of this person has no regard for you?

Sorry it caused you upset but that’s also a normal reaction to a scary situation. Had he been more aware of you, none of this would have happened. Unfortunately, we have all met him or someone like him.

A call from AGS would have been a cherry on top for you but you really need video footage for them to be remotely interested.

andy69

coco0981 wrote: »

That's unbelievable, cyclist extremely lucky to be alive

:eek::eek::eek:
I see that's in Catalonia? The wife and i are headed over there in July (but up the other end of the region, west of Girona) - hope that's not a common driving style! :eek:

hesker

Thanks for the messages of support. I’ve thought about getting a video cam and will if I keep encountering crap like this. I live outside of Dublin and it generally is nowhere near as bad but deep down people are the same everywhere I guess.

There is a real need for more instructional ads for drivers letting them know what is legal and what is not. As well as guards on the ground putting a stop to this crap.

Felexicon

hesker wrote: »

I lost it with a guy in a car yesterday. I mean I completely lost it. Hurled all kinds of abuse at him. I usually tell myself not to engage in situations like this but I just couldn't hold back.

Cycling along a busy city road behind a van doing about 30-35kph. No hard shoulder, footpaths either side, just wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other. Keeping pace with the van all the way, about a car length behind and I was in the centre of the lane. There were about 4 cars in front of the van. The sun was shining. Everyone was happy. Everyone was moving along nicely. Guy behind goes to overtake me. He draws level with me (nose of his car about level with my centreline). I put my arm out and motion for him to stay back. Scared the hell out of me. Thankfully he pulled back as I don't know what his next move was going to be. I gesticulated at him and he starts waving his arms back at me. I lost it completely. Gave him the two fingers and hurled abuse at him. Traffic stopped a bit up the road and I hurled more abuse at him. He motioned that he could not hear me and I hurled even more abuse at him. Went on my way after that but fairly upset. Regret losing the head so much but also feel justified in my response.

Didn't care about getting his reg or reporting him. Was way beyond that.

Being honest it seems like you've massively over reacted here. The guy made a silly attempt to overtake, you signalled for him to hold off which he did and then you, in your own words, hurled abuse at him twice.

selwyn froggitt

andy69 wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek:
I see that's in Catalonia? The wife and i are headed over there in July (but up the other end of the region, west of Girona) - hope that's not a common driving style! :eek:

Being a cnut driver is not unique to Ireland is it?

I have cycled in Spain many times before in lots of different locations, the only really scarily close pass I ever had was with a UK registered Range Rover near Benidorm.


West of Girona you say,not a bother.Quiet enough roads and respectful drivers

rushfan

coco0981 wrote:

That's unbelievable, cyclist extremely lucky to be alive

One of the worst, if not the worst, I've seen to date.

mackeminexile

2 separate close passes today on the commute in and out of town. First was on the way in, down the Strawberry Beds, about 1km from the Anglers Rest. Clipping along well and was nicely passed at the straight where the house is on the left by 3 cars in a row, all on the other side of the road. Not the lad in the silver pre2010 Passat who decided that about a foot of space between the car and my bars was fine. Put the foot downup towards the lights hoping to see him up there but he must have had a green as it was clear. The worst was coming home and by far the closest I've ever been to being hit. Coming down the slight dip of the N4 at the Spa hotel when the car at the Dodsboro turn looks straight at me and pulls out right as I get level with him. Let out a bellow and he stopped an inch from hitting me. Gave me what I can only imagine was a conciliatory wave and then wouldn't come near me all the way up the slip.

sy_flembeck

selwyn froggitt wrote: »

Being a cnut driver is not unique to Ireland is it?

I have cycled in Spain many times before in lots of different locations, the only really scarily close pass I ever had was with a UK registered Range Rover near Benidorm.


West of Girona you say,not a bother.Quiet enough roads and respectful drivers

+1. You won't have an issue. In fact, you'll be stunned at the space you'll get

site_owner

Not me, but this is nuts

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dublincycling/permalink/243673486370224/

hesker

Felexicon wrote: »

Being honest it seems like you've massively over reacted here. The guy made a silly attempt to overtake, you signalled for him to hold off which he did and then you, in your own words, hurled abuse at him twice.

Yeah maybe but you’ve nicely cut it short there to place me in a worse light. Unless you experience that situation you can’t know what it feels like.

Felexicon

hesker wrote: »

Felexicon wrote: »

Being honest it seems like you've massively over reacted here. The guy made a silly attempt to overtake, you signalled for him to hold off which he did and then you, in your own words, hurled abuse at him twice.

Yeah maybe but you’ve nicely cut it short there to place me in a worse light. Unless you experience that situation you can’t know what it feels like.

Ah I've experienced that and worse plenty of times.
If you feel it's justified or it's the way you want to deal with it that's up to yourself and who am I to tell you you're wrong. Just giving my 2 cents worth.

site_owner

first time driving on the southside in a while, cyclists really rile up the natives it seems

"stuck" behind cylist for 48 secs in total. car overtakes 4+ cars on solid white line to avoid further delay (which was a truck parking about 2 mins later where we all got stuck again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2l6TNa-ey0

crossed the white line, about overtake, blind bend, 2 cylists, nowhere to go.
N driver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcqSmY4QkFI

and a traiditonal left hook attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjZck7NtJs8

hesker

Felexicon wrote: »

Ah I've experienced that and worse plenty of times.
If you feel it's justified or it's the way you want to deal with it that's up to yourself and who am I to tell you you're wrong. Just giving my 2 cents worth.

In fairness you can’t know it’s worse. I’ve experienced plenty of silly overtakes too that are downright dangerous and I just shake the head and carry on. You’d have to know the road to know how stupid his overtake attempt was. Cars do not overtake other cars on this road unless they’re stopped. Also thought he was just going to haul right on top of me when he got his nose in front.

I also didn’t just shout abuse at him off the bat. I waved my hand to ask him what he was doing. If he had waved an apologetic hand that would have been the end of it but he didn’t.

Anyway that’s enough of that. I’ll try to be more calm in future when someone endangers my life.

micar

site_owner wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjZck7NtJs8

That last is shocking......imagine what could have happened if the cyclist was going straight on.

magicbastarder

that very thing happened me at that junction about two weeks ago - a van pulled alongside me indicating left and went to make the turn only i knocked on his window.

Lambay island

micar wrote: »

That last is shocking......imagine what could have happened if the cyclist was going straight on.

I could be wrong but from the jerky type movement by the cyclist, I think he may well have been going straight on until he realised to protect himself he had to go left.

RacoonQueen

Lambay island wrote: »

I could be wrong but from the jerky type movement by the cyclist, I think he may well have been going straight on until he realised to protect himself he had to go left.

Yeah thats what it looked like to me. Has happened to me a few times where I've had to just take the turn with them. They see me, panic and stop and I have to cycle round the front of their vehicle to get back around them and go straight again.

Felexicon

hesker wrote: »

Felexicon wrote: »

Ah I've experienced that and worse plenty of times.
If you feel it's justified or it's the way you want to deal with it that's up to yourself and who am I to tell you you're wrong. Just giving my 2 cents worth.

In fairness you can’t know it’s worse. I’ve experienced plenty of silly overtakes too that are downright dangerous and I just shake the head and carry on. You’d have to know the road to know how stupid his overtake attempt was. Cars do not overtake other cars on this road unless they’re stopped. Also thought he was just going to haul right on top of me when he got his nose in front.

I also didn’t just shout abuse at him off the bat. I waved my hand to ask him what he was doing. If he had waved an apologetic hand that would have been the end of it but he didn’t.

Anyway that’s enough of that. I’ll try to be more calm in future when someone endangers my life.

Ah relax yourself pal you seem highly strung

Kaisr Sose

Felexicon wrote: »

Ah relax yourself pal you seem highly strung

Do you really need to post that? He was there, you were not. Any of these situations can be very scary and a split second can be the difference between using a different form of two wheeled transport to get about every day.

hesker

Felexicon wrote: »

Ah relax yourself pal you seem highly strung

Yeah right. Thanks for that pal.

Pinch Flat

Bit of a weird one this morning. Heading down to Castleknock gate, tipping along 30kph plus Center lane in between traffic when the car in front of me suddenly stops. I indicate to pull around. Motorist is hanging out the window as I pass.

“There’s no need for those strobe lights”. “Yeah sure thanks” I say as I pass him. I pull in front of him to continue on my way and he tailgates me, blowing his horn all the way to the gates, exchanged an expletive as he heads towards the navan road. All on camera.

Ar$eholes driving 181-D E class Mercs. Who would have thunk it?

site_owner

tight squeeze this morning, followed by some abuse about needing to get off his road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioxI3MQ12sI

view from the front of the oncoming campervans that caused him to squueze me over

average_runner

micar wrote: »

That last is shocking......imagine what could have happened if the cyclist was going straight on.

The driver should of assumed the cyclists was going straight on as there was no signal from the cyclist. Really bad driving

Pinch Flat

average_runner wrote: »

The driver should of assumed the cyclists was going straight on as there was no signal from the cyclist. Really bad driving

You can never win though. I had a near miss with a motorist 2 weeks ago - merging from a bus lane to a traffic lane to proceed straight through a narrow roundabout in a housing estate. Turned around,indicated in plenty of time. He continued on, speeding up in fact, to cut me off.

His excuse? I was giving the wrong signal apparently. How did he know I wasn’t turning right? He would have definitely hit me then.

CramCycle

I let a roar ( I knew what she was going to do) at the first photo, and she kept looking the other way. I shook my head as I went behind but I could see the look of confusion in her head, wondering why I was shouting coming from behind.

Look right please.

ED E

CramCycle wrote: »

I let a roar ( I knew what she was going to do) at the first photo, and she kept looking the other way. I shook my head as I went behind but I could see the look of confusion in her head, wondering why I was shouting coming from behind.

Look right please.

Its amazing how without even putting much attention into it you instantly know the idiot that'll nose out directly in front of you.