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

Kop Idol

Not only is that Mondeo driver hanging just off the back of the trailer but they look like they almost brush mirrors with the oncoming car who is nearly on the white line themselves to avoid parked cars on their side of the road. Absolutely bonkers !

John Hutton

That's a few videos from that stretch of road in Baldoyle. I cycle it regularly and I try and take the lane there due to idiots like your driver and other idiots pulling out of Lidl

site_owner

John Hutton wrote: »

That's a few videos from that stretch of road in Baldoyle. I cycle it regularly and I try and take the lane there due to idiots like your driver and other idiots pulling out of Lidl

its me posting most of them i'd say !
i've tried every tactic and they all lead to dodgy overtakes on certain occasions. its only ever in hindsight that i can say something would have worked better. dragging a large trailer means different decisions than if i was just sprinting through.

for example, taking the lane on that speed bump usually means a sharp deceleration and acceleration from the car in front. i can be rolling at 35k as seen in this video, but i cant accelerate to that as quickly as a car once weve stopped dead, leaving me exposed to aggressive driving from behind. i also have to weigh up where they are going to try their next overtake if i try hold the lane here.

the constant in every single incident i've had is that its drivers behaving impatiently, not my position, speed, acceleration, visibility, maneuvering, whatever.

comanche_cor

site_owner wrote: »

its me posting most of them i'd say !

I've seen you post a few of these and that one was genuinely scary!

First off I believe that this warrant a report to the guards as its dangerous driving.

Secondly, it seems like no change in behavior on your part is having any effect on drivers behaviour on this stretch of road. You should not have to change behaviour but from the clips shown I fear that if something does not change that then you will be involved in an incident. Is there an alternative route you can take, can you travel at a different time? I'd assume you are having the same thoughts?

site_owner

comanche_cor wrote: »

. Is there an alternative route you can take, can you travel at a different time? I'd assume you are having the same thoughts?

thanks for the suggestions. unfortunately the route is the safest option open to me. mostly due to bad suburban planning.

the council have designed all parks around here with "kissing gates" and have not responded to my requests to remove them
and iarnrod eireann designed clongriffin dart station like a bike proof fortress rather than a nice open plan plaza (leading to more anti-social behavior IMO)

the alternate route would be to head out towards portmarnock and then back down the moyne road....

time wise, my videos are from every hour of the day, that doesnt make a difference unfortunately. one thing that sometimes helps with the overtakes is heavier traffic, but that has other negatives (blocked roads, blind junctions, etc)

since i started cycling i now see 3 other trailers and 2 cargo bikes on the route along with a lot more child seats so i like to think things will get better

comanche_cor

site_owner wrote: »

the council have designed all parks around here with "kissing gates" and have not responded to my requests to remove them

Have your contacted your local TDs offices with a copy of the original communication and the video evidence of why you would like the gates opened?

site_owner

comanche_cor wrote: »

Have your contacted your local TDs offices with a copy of the original communication and the video evidence of why you would like the gates opened?

No, but I will give it a go

Corca Baiscinn

site_owner wrote: »

thanks for the suggestions. unfortunately the route is the safest option open to me. mostly due to bad suburban planning.

the council have designed all parks around here with "kissing gates" and have not responded to my requests to remove them

since i started cycling i now see 3 other trailers and 2 cargo bikes on the route along with a lot more child seats so i like to think things will get better

Was it council officials you were in touch with or elected councillors? Local elections coming up next May. If there is any way you could make contact with your fellow trailer and cargo bikers? You could probably put on pressure between you if you all live in same council area,. Also, is there a Joint Policing Committee you could contact. Clearly route you take would be ok if there was meaningful enforcement of driver behaviour but you're entitled to go about your business without harrassment whether its through improvig your current route or providing a safe alternative.

site_owner

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Was it council officials you were in touch with or elected councillors? Local elections coming up next May. If there is any way you could make contact with your fellow trailer and cargo bikers? You could probably put on pressure between you if you all live in same council area,. Also, is there a Joint Policing Committee you could contact. Clearly route you take would be ok if there was meaningful enforcement of driver behaviour but you're entitled to go about your business without harrassment whether its through improvig your current route or providing a safe alternative.

A couple of local councillors. Response has been that "due to anti social behaviour the gates are needed" and "engineering have reviewed the road and there are no additional measures that can be taken" - This was in response to photos of cars parking 50:50 on the path and cycle lane all over baldoyle.

That was before I had the onbike cameras so maybe if I put together a little compilation and send it on. It's just me Vs NIMBYs tho and people don't want their perception of security (kissing gates) gone it seems.

I gave up contacting the gardai about close passes a while back

Corca Baiscinn

site_owner wrote: »

A couple of local councillors. Response has been that "due to anti social behaviour the gates are needed" and "engineering have reviewed the road and there are no additional measures that can be taken" - This was in response to photos of cars parking 50:50 on the path and cycle lane all over baldoyle.

That was before I had the onbike cameras so maybe if I put together a little compilation and send it on. It's just me Vs NIMBYs tho and people don't want their perception of security (kissing gates) gone it seems.

I gave up contacting the gardai about close passes a while back

So you and fellow bike-riders are being ACTUALLY endangered so that park-users aren't POTENTIALLY endangered by quad or motor bikes in the park? I do have some sympathy for gardai and officials in that it's so hard to deal with anti-socal youth via law-enforcement but check out who' on the jont policing committee anyway

buffalo

Big shout-out to the motorcyclist who wanted my line between the speed cushions going downhill on Whitworth Road. A beep of the horn and then skimmed past between me and an oncoming car. Apparently he did the same thing to the cyclist behind me too.

Ended up next to him at the next three sets of lights. His head seemed to be stuck in a rigid forward-facing position, which probably isn't ideal in traffic.

Seth Brundle

buffalo wrote: »

Ended up next to him at the next three sets of lights. His head seemed to be stuck in a rigid forward-facing position, which probably isn't ideal in traffic.

Out of curiosity, did you say anything to them?

p15574

site_owner wrote: »

i should have just kept the lane, i didnt expect the car hanging out in the cycle lane or the mondeo to be inches off my wheel. got a proper fright.

passed the mondeo 40m ahead (along with plenty of other cars) and didnt see it again until the hill, when i lost some steam

I don't suppose you could extend a flag or something a metre or so out 90 degrees sideways from your trailer? Or something painty-scratchy...is that legal? If so, then how about those 'chariot spikes' like in Ben Hur?

Duckjob

site_owner wrote: »

i should have just kept the lane, i didnt expect the car hanging out in the cycle lane or the mondeo to be inches off my wheel. got a proper fright.

passed the mondeo 40m ahead (along with plenty of other cars) and didnt see it again until the hill, when i lost some steam

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

It takes an extra special breed of self important ars*hole to buzz past a kid being pulled in a bike trailer.

site_owner

p15574 wrote: »

I don't suppose you could extend a flag or something a metre or so out 90 degrees sideways from your trailer? Or something painty-scratchy...is that legal? If so, then how about those 'chariot spikes' like in Ben Hur?

nah, i make up way too much time when the cycle lane is clear and traffic is at a standstill to make myself any wider these incidents are few and far between, i can cycle the route 20+ times a week and its only the 500m from that speed bump to the lights where there are multiple obstacles that i have issues

ive never hit the entire sequence but it would go like this:

• bus stop
• speed bump on bend / pinch point
• cars poking out of lidl
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn into lidl
• speed bump and pedestrian crossing
• cars turning in or out of school
• car parked in cycle lane
• car coming in or out of church
• bus stop
• speed bump
• traffic island pinch point coming onto speed bump
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn
• pinch point coming off speed bump
• 1 or more cars on path and cycle lane
• traffic lights
• cars moving into cycle lane to pass cars turning right
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn or
• car trying to make the turn across me because traffic is stopped
• last pinch point before road widens
• bus stop

comanche_cor

Duckjob wrote: »

It takes an extra special breed of self important ars*hole to buzz past a kid being pulled in a bike trailer.

Oblivious to everything around them, wouldn't even know its a child trailer ... so yes ars*hole!

The problem as I see it here was because of the cycle lane the driver was not paying attention to site_owner and therefore did not anticipate that the would move out to overtake the parked car ... as to their actions after that, who the fu*k knows!!

The crux of the problem here is that The driver did not register site_owner as another road user ...

site_owner

Duckjob wrote: »

It takes an extra special breed of self important ars*hole to buzz past a kid being pulled in a bike trailer.

well, in fairness to him i could have just been lugging tools around to piss people off /s

Author Eoin Colfer then relayed an anecdote about seeing a carpenter being given a wide berth on a city street by motorists because they were under the misapprehension that he was carrying a baby in his bike-mounted work basket.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/late-late-show-incited-hatred-towards-cyclists-claims-group-1.3355815

cdaly_

site_owner wrote: »

nah, i make up way too much time when the cycle lane is clear and traffic is at a standstill to make myself any wider these incidents are few and far between, i can cycle the route 20+ times a week and its only the 500m from that speed bump to the lights where there are multiple obstacles that i have issues

ive never hit the entire sequence but it would go like this:

• bus stop
• speed bump on bend / pinch point
• cars poking out of lidl
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn into lidl
• speed bump and pedestrian crossing
• cars turning in or out of school
• car parked in cycle lane
• car coming in or out of church
• bus stop
• speed bump
• traffic island pinch point coming onto speed bump
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn
• pinch point coming off speed bump
• 1 or more cars on path and cycle lane
• traffic lights
• cars moving into cycle lane to pass cars turning right
• oncoming car crossing over white line to make turn or
• car trying to make the turn across me because traffic is stopped
• last pinch point before road widens
• bus stop

Funny that. I ride that road regularly (only occasionally past the church) and it's only when you list all 20 obstacles that I realise how many there are. Even then, you didn't mention the soccer mom/dads parking in the cycle lane and on the footpath outside either park (mostly on sunday mornings but some evenings also) before the first bus stop.

When I'm bringing bottles to recycling on the shopper bike, the last pinch point is usually the worst bit. The traffic light junction is long enough that I cannot clear it before a car can overtake so it's hard to occupy the lane before the pinch.

Then there's the same set to deal with going the other way with the extras of

• Cars swerving left into the cycle lane because there's something turning right in front of them (mostly they can't get past and just block the cycle lane) x3
• Cars cutting the corner left onto Willie Nolan Road which has a smooth manhole cover in just the wrong location on the turn. I always take the lane approaching that turn and take the turn late to avoid the corner-cutting...

site_owner

its mad for such a short section. and theres probably more i'm subconsciously missing, for the most part infrastructure around here is decent

cdaly_ wrote: »

Cars cutting the corner left onto Willie Nolan Road which has a smooth manhole cover in just the wrong location on the turn. I always take the lane approaching that turn and take the turn late to avoid the corner-cutting...

i hate this junction, even on the path its dodgy, i'd say once a week a car clips the kerb. i just dont understand how some drivers cant cope with that bend. it needs wands or bollards but its one of the requests the council rejected

mr spuckler

comanche_cor wrote: »

Oblivious to everything around them, wouldn't even know its a child trailer ... so yes ars*hole!

The problem as I see it here was because of the cycle lane the driver was not paying attention to site_owner and therefore did not anticipate that the would move out to overtake the parked car ... as to their actions after that, who the fu*k knows!!

The crux of the problem here is that The driver did not register site_owner as another road user ...

it's just basically sh1t roadcraft isn't it? like whether I'm driving or cycling I'm constantly scanning the road ahead for potential obstacles / danger / pinch points etc. I also always assume that other road users will do something I don't want them to do or that they wouldn't do in a normal scenario.

in this case the driver should have seen the car parked in the cycle lane and been aware that site_owner would need to pull out as a result and then given adequate space to safely do so and return to the cycle lane before passing safely. couda woulda shoulda eh...

CramCycle

Duckjob wrote: »

It takes an extra special breed of self important ars*hole to buzz past a kid being pulled in a bike trailer.

I think that is what shocked me most about the video, close passes are par for the course in my mind, had two this morning, both intentional although oblivious to the danger they put me in. It is a child trailer though, it shouldn't be different but it is, it really takes a special breed of sociopath not to give a kids trailer space.

Alanstrainor

CramCycle wrote: »

I think that is what shocked me most about the video, close passes are par for the course in my mind, had two this morning, both intentional although oblivious to the danger they put me in. It is a child trailer though, it shouldn't be different but it is, it really takes a special breed of sociopath not to give a kids trailer space.

Ignorance is bliss. Honestly I think we give to much credit to how much thought most give us. Trailer or not. I have bad passes all the time, and watching people as they go by they just seem completely removed from thought.

CramCycle

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss. Honestly I think we give to much credit to how much thought most give us. Trailer or not. I have bad passes all the time, and watching people as they go by they just seem completely removed from thought.

I agree, the two close passes this morning, it wasn't malicious, they just did not realise. Pretty sure both seen me, but alot of drivers seem to have no concept of how much "sway" is in a cars movement, and also the potential lateral movement of other road users for whatever reason. The first skimmed me with a few cm to spare, I overtook him at the next lights as he was going left but he had seen me and moved over after the close overtake to give me more space. It was weird.

buffalo

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Out of curiosity, did you say anything to them?

Nope. I pulled up next to him and looked straight at him for a solid ten seconds. His eyes flickered back and forth to me, but he didn't acknowledge my presence let alone offer an apology. If that's his attitude, nothing I say will change it, so I didn't bother.

cdaly_

site_owner wrote: »

i hate this junction, even on the path its dodgy, i'd say once a week a car clips the kerb. i just dont understand how some drivers cant cope with that bend. it needs wands or bollards but its one of the requests the council rejected

It's such a shallow bend that it's almost a straight line (said he exaggerating slightly) so it gets treated like a chicane. The safest treatment for it would be to push the kerb out in Willie Nolan road so that it becomes a corner. It could very easily have a cycle lane cut the bend incorporated.

It doesn't help that Baldoyle is the default route from all of Howth/Sutton to the M50 so everyone is racing through the pinch point.

cdaly_

mr spuckler wrote: »

it's just basically sh1t roadcraft isn't it? like whether I'm driving or cycling I'm constantly scanning the road ahead for potential obstacles / danger / pinch points etc. I also always assume that other road users will do something I don't want them to do or that they wouldn't do in a normal scenario.

in this case the driver should have seen the car parked in the cycle lane and been aware that site_owner would need to pull out as a result and then given adequate space to safely do so and return to the cycle lane before passing safely. couda woulda shoulda eh...

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss. Honestly I think we give to much credit to how much thought most give us. Trailer or not. I have bad passes all the time, and watching people as they go by they just seem completely removed from thought.

I'm of the view that anything not directly in a driver's eyeline* just doesn't exist. Something on the footpath is not going to impede progress so it disappears. Similarly, something in the cycle lane is not going to impede progress so it also disappears. When the pedestrian, cyclist, other car "appears from nowhere" it's just that it has moved from the invisible zone¹ into the driver's eyeline. I address this issue by occupying the expected eyeline of a following/turning/emerging driver so that they have to account for me...


*For 'eyeline' read "the bit of road my vehicle will actually roll over"
¹ For "invisible zone" read "any part of the environment that my vehicle will not roll over"

mloc123

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss. Honestly I think we give to much credit to how much thought most give us. Trailer or not. I have bad passes all the time, and watching people as they go by they just seem completely removed from thought.

People say punishment pass, but I agree I think most of them are ignorance passes..

mloc123

Cycled from Baggot bridge to the N4 along the canal and through Kilmainham yesterday evening. I had to stop at around 5 sets of lights along the way. The number of cars jumping red lights is staggering, to the point that when I had a green light I slowly proceed while checking the other approaches are clear (common sense I know).

site_owner

mloc123 wrote: »

People say punishment pass, but I agree I think most of them are ignorance passes..

i call them hostile passes nowadays. punishment implies i did something wrong or that, even if i did, a car driver is authorized to threaten me with severe bodily injury

mloc123

site_owner wrote: »

i call them hostile passes nowadays. punishment implies i did something wrong or that, even if i did, a car driver is authorized to threaten me with severe bodily injury

You had the gall to delay their trip by 20-30 seconds. The ones that get me most is the person that just HAS to pass you only to turn off the road 100m later.