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

Rechuchote

It's our culture, boss.

Gotta get there, gotta get there fast,
Gotta get there, gotta get there fast,
The journey doesn't matter,
The destination's vital
Gotta get there, gotta get there fast,
Gotta get there, gotta get there fast.

Wishbone Ash

Deleted User wrote: »

That's the junction of Belvedere Place and the NCR. To get onto BP and be facing that direction, you must come from Mountjoy Square Nth. If you were leaving town and heading that direction, there is a split in the traffic for those heading left down BP and right, down Fitzgibbon St.

I've often been on the bike in between two lines of traffic heading in both directions, plenty of driver's side mirrors accessible....

The taxi driver has claimed it happened on Talbot Street when he was dropping off a fare and the cyclist was passing.

Weepsie

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The taxi driver has claimed it happened on Talbot Street when he was dropping off a fare and the cyclist was passing.

He chased him a long way then, plenty of cameras too to confirm or deny this.

Wishbone Ash

Weepsie wrote: »

He chased him a long way then....

Yes, as he said....

“I was really infuriated. I was willing to go any length to get him,” he said.

rubadub

https://www.buzz.ie/news/taxi-driver-centre-viral-video-claims-cyclist-smashed-wing-mirror-302007

“I was at a taxi rank in Stephens Green. I was coming to Talbot Street. So I came to Talbot Street, pulled on the side to drop off the girl and then a cyclist that was passing, stretched out his hand, and smashed my side mirror,” claimed Mr Ukachukwu, who lives in Clonee, west Dublin.

Conor McGregor would love to have fist of steel like that.

“I dropped the girl and followed him. He didn’t stop,” he said.

“So I followed him, I tried to get his attention and there was no police. So he went through a red light, (and so did I) hoping that the police would see me and say what’s going on here.

Mr Ukachukwu showed The Star the damage to his wing mirror — which he claims was caused in a collision with the cyclist.

He says he chased after the cyclist, even dangerously crossing the other side of the road, in a desperate attempt to apprehend him.

“I was really infuriated. I was willing to go any length to get him,” he said.

“When I passed him on the North Circular Road I got him on the next street and he said ‘you think you can catch me, you can’t catch me.’

And when asked what he would have done had he actually caught the cyclist, Mr Ukachukwu said: “I would have called the police.”

He claims the cyclist swerved around him on purpose in an attempt to taunt him — with the footage showing him manovering around his taxi as he drives at him and continuing to cycle off.

“If that cyclist didn’t do anything wrong, when I was stopping him, he would have stopped and challenged me,” Mr Ukachukwu alleged.

“You saw how the cyclist was maneuvering around me. If you’re a cyclist and a taxi man comes to you and blocks you in the road you would stop and say sorry.

“But you wouldn’t say ‘you think you could stop me’. No.”

The Garda Press Office stated that it was aware of the incident from media enquiries but the matter had not been reported to officers.

It stated that if the matter was reported it would then possibly be the subject of an investigation.

Mr Ukachukwu said he wants to contact gardai and hopes that maybe CCTV will exonerate his actions.

It would not be out of place on some surreal comedy sketch.

Seth Brundle

Mr Ukachukwu said he wants to contact gardai and hopes that maybe CCTV will exonerate his actions.

What's stopped him contacting the gardai before now?

Fighting Tao

Seth Brundle wrote: »

What's stopped him contacting the gardai before now?

Knowing that he could possibly be done for attempted murder.

MojoMaker

Isn't it accepted by now that the taxi driver made up the mirror story in an attempt to defect scrutiny when approached by authorities and journalists?

I mean...come the fcuk on people please....

buffalo

rubadub wrote: »

“ So he went through a red light, (and so did I) hoping that the police would see me and say what’s going on here.

Love this. "I only broke the light to attract the attention of the police." Reminds me of the guy last week who broke stop signs, mounted a footpath and drove down the wrong side of the road... to try to catch up with the postman to tell him he had delivered a big package of drugs to him incorrectly. Nothing to do with the Gardaí chasing him.

rubadub wrote: »

“If that cyclist didn’t do anything wrong, when I was stopping him, he would have stopped and challenged me,” Mr Ukachukwu alleged.

“You saw how the cyclist was maneuvering around me. If you’re a cyclist and a taxi man comes to you and blocks you in the road you would stop and say sorry.

That's certainly what I do when someone drives their car at me. I stop and say 'excuse me please, would you mind awfully not doing that?'

Duckjob

I hope the prosecuting barrister has a copy of that newspaper handy when the defense spews out the inevitable line of horsesh*t to the judge about how it was all in the heat of the moment and the defendant has been racked with remorse since the incident.

Going whining to a tabloid afterwards pointing to a broken mirror proves nothing. It does however, paint a rather interesting picture of a man who, on "mature reflection", STILL thinks he was totally justified in driving 2 tonnes of metal up the wrong side of a street and up onto a footpath, endangering many peoples lives all because of a car mirror.

Weepsie

I'd wonder how many other laws he broke, and lights too.

To have followed him from Talbot Street he would've only had 2 places to turn right towards mountjoy square. He's likely have had to have stop at least once if not more at one of the five or so sets of lights he'd have met . Unless he took some illegal turns and went another way.

RacoonQueen

Talbot Street to Dorset Street, where the 'chase' ended. Is a long way to chase a cyclist. Who is this super fast cyclist, who managed to evade this madman for over a kilometre?
Strange that there doesn't seem to have been anything from the cyclist or other witnesses to backup the Taxi drivers story. Sure the cyclist did 'something' to provoke that reaction, but probably not what the taxi driver said he did.

Wishbone Ash

Duckjob wrote: »

....Going whining to a tabloid afterwards......

I'd imagine he was 'door stepped' by the tabloid rather than going to them. (Not that that justifies anything).

I'd imagine the guy on the bike hasn't come forward for similar reasons and doesn't want the spotlight on him.

Rechuchote

What part of Talbot Street? Isn't most of it pedestrianised?

rubadub

Rechuchote wrote: »

What part of Talbot Street? Isn't most of it pedestrianised?

a c'mon, a minor issue like that is hardly going to stop our Felix, now is it!

Weepsie

Rechuchote wrote: »

What part of Talbot Street? Isn't most of it pedestrianised?

None of it is pedestrianised other than footpaths. North earl street is, but that barely qualifies as a street given that's it about 50m long.

It's entirely one way, and once you pass Gardiner street you have to keep going until you get to Marlborough Street and then there's only a left turn. It's mostly taxis and buses on the street

Even with that, there's only one place where you can pull in on the left without obstructing traffic and that's outside the hardware store so in my experience cars (generally taxis) that do stop along there, generally just stop dead to drop off while obstructing traffic at the same time.

I'd also wonder if he passed the cyclist befor the drop off as it's one way, and narrow and generally unsafe to do so. Could've been initiated by a close pass, a cyclist retaliation and then a complete loss of the plot

beauf

Looking at these incidents what's most disturbing for me is...

They don't seem shocked by their behaviour or reactions. Its like it's become normal to drive at people, and threaten and even attack people.

This is a result of lack of enforcement. People have learnt there is unlikely to be any repercussions. The complete lack of interest from the Garda suggests they are right about that.

ED E

beauf wrote: »

Looking at these incidents what's most disturbing for me is...

They don't seem shocked by their behaviour or reactions. Its like it's become normal to drive at people, and threaten and even attack people.

This is a result of lack of enforcement. People have learnt there is unlikely to be any repercussions. The complete lack of interest from the Garda suggests they are right about that.

Sure you can drug deal from your cab, be convicted, then keep your taxi licence.

Pinch Flat

Two this morning.

Motorist strayed onto my side of the road in clonee, narrow road, quick correction when he saw me. Definite glow of a phone in his hand - probably whatapping the lads about the mcgregor fight.

Second one was a motorist overtaking at fairy house - over a continuous white line, straight at me. Had to stay extreme left - almost in the ditch — to let him past. Car he was Overtaking slowed right down when he saw me to give overtaking tool more space. Bright strobe on the front of my bike obviously meant nothing.

That was at 8.20am

CramCycle

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Second one was a motorist overtaking at fairy house - over a continuous white line, straight at me. Had to stay extreme left - almost in the ditch — to let him past. Car he was Overtaking slowed right down when he saw me to give overtaking tool more space. Bright strobe on the front of my bike obviously meant nothing.
That was at 8.20am

Some people really just don't give a flying f*** about the world outside of their own bubble. Once came round a corner in Ballycanew in Wexford to a car overtaking 4 others, only 50m from the right angle, blind bend. The car in front dropped anchor when it realised what was happening and I thank him to this day. I was in a car as well and dropped anchor as well but the speed of him, there was a good chance my two kids in the back would have been witnessing the death of both their parents. Car driver in the other car looked so shocked, I was concerned that it had happened and my mind was just protecting me from the shock. The overtaking car swung in between us but the space that was there, it was a tight enough space if you took your time at it, most spatially aware people would find it tough to make it through easily.

Danjamin1

CramCycle wrote: »

Some people really just don't give a flying f*** about the world outside of their own bubble. Once came round a corner in Ballycanew in Wexford to a car overtaking 4 others, only 50m from the right angle, blind bend. The car in front dropped anchor when it realised what was happening and I thank him to this day. I was in a car as well and dropped anchor as well but the speed of him, there was a good chance my two kids in the back would have been witnessing the death of both their parents. Car driver in the other car looked so shocked, I was concerned that it had happened and my mind was just protecting me from the shock. The overtaking car swung in between us but the space that was there, it was a tight enough space if you took your time at it, most spatially aware people would find it tough to make it through easily.

Jesus that’s lethal, that bend is in the middle of the village too!

Weepsie

Not a particularly bad one, but the car has gone from the right most lane, to going for the bus lane without any indication and without looking.

This is very regular here

Taxi gave me loads of room (fish eye lens is deceptive)

ED E

What setup are you using? Thats on the very wide end of the spectrum.

Weepsie

ED E wrote: »

What setup are you using? Thats on the very wide end of the spectrum.

It's a Shimano CM1000. I've only just dug it back out after a long time in storage. Need to play around with it to get the aspect/angle right. Otherwise it's still a very neat little camera.

ED E

Ahh, an unusual one that. Nice cams though.

What Username Guidelines

Have had a rough couple of days on the bike, mostly mornings and probably down to being darker and busier on the roads. Mostly just silly things but at a much higher frequency.

Had a ‘patient’ driver sit behind me for a good bit this morning on Cyprus Grove road, I was happily keeping up with cars ahead so they’d nowhere to go anyway, but they then decided to overtake at the point where a bin truck was collecting on the opposite side, leaving maybe 20-25cm. Stuck in trafffic, I passed again seconds later and got a blast of the horn from them, followed by the passenger opening his window asking what my problem was (err...you’re the one beeping) and telling me to use the cycle track.

It’s all just so unnecessarily impatient. Can they really not see that the 4 or 5 cars queuing at the roundabout are the ones holding them up, not the guy on the bike doing 40kmh in a 50kmh zone. Danger aside, this sort of stuff just puts such a dampener on commuting by bike.

Weepsie

Weepsie wrote: »

It's a Shimano CM1000. I've only just dug it back out after a long time in storage. Need to play around with it to get the aspect/angle right. Otherwise it's still a very neat little camera.

Shame about those unwrapped cables though :pac:

p15574

ED E wrote: »

Ahh, an unusual one that. Nice cams though.

I got a Chinese GoPro clone a while back and it’s great. The best part was it only cost less than €30. I think if everyone knew about these, cams would become more mainstream, as standard as a helmet. I know I certainly feel naked if I ever happen to cycle without the camera on (“just my luck, this’ll be the day”). If drivers knew that chances were that the cyclist he’s about to close-pass has a camera that will capture his license plate, he’s likely not to do it.

Zulu

p15574 wrote: »

I got a Chinese GoPro clone a while back and it’s great. The best part was it only cost less than €30. ....

link pls?