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

average_runner

Not a near miss but there must be something in the air this morning.

Waiting at the lights by Custom house at Talbot bridge. Lights are red for traffic going north to south, but that didnt stop the 3 cars and 5 cyclists to go through them at speed.

Seth Brundle

Saw this on twitter...
https://twitter.com/madebycliff/status/1166320421744074752

Weepsie

I had one yesterday. Car was going into a left tunring lane. Indicating for ages, started turning and stopped. They kept indicating left. I went around it on the other side where it was clear and it had a last second change of heart and decided it now wanted to get back into the space I was occupying.

A loud FFS from me, and a very irate man in the car. I was hoping we were going the same way as I had only turned my camera on then.

Also saw some of the most ludicrous red light running by some cars on the N11 near stillorgan yesterday. It was outrageously dangerous and late and there were about 3 of them.

Pinch Flat

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Saw this on twitter...
https://twitter.com/madebycliff/status/1166320421744074752

The amount of drivers with this ignorant, selfish and entitled attitude is worrying. Had it myself a while back - turning right into Merrion Row, had to depart the left turning cycle lane on Stephens Green to do so. Left plenty of time, indicated right but the motorist behind continued, accelerated and almost ran me over. It was a red light that sparked this sudden urgency on the motorists part.

"You shouldn't be on the road in a bike, you should be in a cycle lane" barked the young lady out of her window. Says I "well, if my job was left no problem, but I'm turning right. I have equal right to use the road as you". Look of bewilderment on her little millennial face.

The new rules of the road for allowing cyclists taking primary position will go largely ignored. A lot of motorists don't k now cyclists basic rights on the road, most of which are enshrined in law for over half a century at this stage.

irlirishkev

Helmets at the ready folks..
Had two near misses yesterday evening. Both from airborne conkers, still with their spikey shells on!
Some little scrotes throwing them at the luas in the park at Fatima, decided I was a more challenging target.
Luckily they missed (just!), the little bollixxes..

mr spuckler

irlirishkev wrote: »

Helmets at the ready folks..
Had two near misses yesterday evening. Both from airborne conkers, still with their spikey shells on!
Some little scrotes throwing them at the luas in the park at Fatima, decided I was a more challenging target.
Luckily they missed (just!), the little bollixxes..

The best protection my helmet ever gave me was from snowballs around that area several years ago!

navandude

Driving standards and driver behaviour on the roads must be at an all time low at this stage and it seems like there is no sign of this improving any time soon. Many drivers seem a lot more aggressive and I agree with other comments that there is a lot of distracted drivers on the roads (mobile phone use the main reason, but not sole reason).

On top of this cycle lanes are either in poor condition or non-existent and cycling across or on footpaths is both illegal and dangerous for pedestrians.

All of this makes cycling in Dublin such a dangerous thing to do and I am sad to say I could easily be put off cycling in Dublin because of this.

This post is not intended as a Dublin-bashing post. I had an unsavoury incident outside Dublin recently with a particularly aggressive and abusive van driver was just short of running me off the road (my example of a near miss).

I will also state that I am not generalising because there are motorists who drive safely and are not aggressive, unfortunately they appear to be in the minority. That is what I have observed anyway.

donvito99

At the end of the day, isn't it great to be able to get to work in a fraction of the time it would take by bus or car, for a fraction of the cost, and be able to time the journey to within a couple of minutes. Every single day, despite Dublin's delinquent motorists.

TooObvious

Near miss yesterday cycling along the strawberry beds outbound. Was stuck behind a taxi and van on the speedbumps section, when a lady driver in a Opel SUV of some sort, tries to pass me out on one of the bumps. She had nowhere to go once past me and would had to have driven me off the road to actually take the spot she was aiming for. Que huge arm waving and gesticulation from me! I took the middle of the lane and sat there all the way (whilst keeping up with car traffic) to the turn off for Rugged Lane. At which point she turned off and beeped her annoyance at me.

A little bit further on, I got a punishment pass for breaking a red light. Yes, I broke a red light on the way into Celbridge, I looked very carefully, no traffic or risk so I moseyed on. Not much further along Yaris driver sped by me at close quarters to join the queue of traffic ahead. I had words with him and the first thing he said to me was "you jumped a red light, you could have been killed", couldn't fathom that he had put my life at risk and broken a number of laws in doing so.

stryker mcqueen

TooObvious wrote: »

Near miss yesterday cycling along the strawberry beds outbound. Was stuck behind a taxi and van on the speedbumps section, when a lady driver in a Opel SUV of some sort, tries to pass me out on one of the bumps. She had nowhere to go once past me and would had to have driven me off the road to actually take the spot she was aiming for. Que huge arm waving and gesticulation from me! I took the middle of the lane and sat there all the way (whilst keeping up with car traffic) to the turn off for Rugged Lane. At which point she turned off and beeped her annoyance at me.

A little bit further on, I got a punishment pass for breaking a red light. Yes, I broke a red light on the way into Celbridge, I looked very carefully, no traffic or risk so I moseyed on. Not much further along Yaris driver sped by me at close quarters to join the queue of traffic ahead. I had words with him and the first thing he said to me was "you jumped a red light, you could have been killed", couldn't fathom that he had put my life at risk and broken a number of laws in doing so.

Why though? not justifying the actions of the driver but you've saved a few seconds at most , the same argument cyclists use against drivers every day

homer911

Twice this week there has been an Executive Express double-decker parked in the cycle lane at the petrol station in Mount Merrion on the N11 around 7:45am. It completely blocks the view of motorists leaving the petrol station - an accident waiting to happen. If he is there tomorrow it will be photograph time..

Stark

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

Why though? not justifying the actions of the driver but you've saved a few seconds at most , the same argument cyclists use against drivers every day

And for that he must have his life threatened.

Out of concern for his safety of course.

Would definitely be more than a few seconds saved by the way. On my 10km commute, the first 5km where the lights are spread far apart takes 10 mins and the second 5km takes 20 mins.

TooObvious

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

Why though? not justifying the actions of the driver but you've saved a few seconds at most , the same argument cyclists use against drivers every day

If it helps I can remove the reference to me (safely) jumping the red light, and leave you with just the endangerment of my life, but then it would lose context.

Not that it makes any difference, this was a 40km commute on which I had already had a close pass, I make no apologies for leaving traffic lights sooner than my car driving compatriots.

CramCycle

An eye for an eye leaves a cyclist dead and a smug motorist feeling it was worth it.

That is how the saying goes right?

average_runner

TooObvious wrote: »

Near miss yesterday cycling along the strawberry beds outbound. Was stuck behind a taxi and van on the speedbumps section, when a lady driver in a Opel SUV of some sort, tries to pass me out on one of the bumps. She had nowhere to go once past me and would had to have driven me off the road to actually take the spot she was aiming for. Que huge arm waving and gesticulation from me! I took the middle of the lane and sat there all the way (whilst keeping up with car traffic) to the turn off for Rugged Lane. At which point she turned off and beeped her annoyance at me.

A little bit further on, I got a punishment pass for breaking a red light. Yes, I broke a red light on the way into Celbridge, I looked very carefully, no traffic or risk so I moseyed on. Not much further along Yaris driver sped by me at close quarters to join the queue of traffic ahead. I had words with him and the first thing he said to me was "you jumped a red light, you could have been killed", couldn't fathom that he had put my life at risk and broken a number of laws in doing so.

What the car did was wrong and an idiot.
Would u be happy for cars to break red lights if safe? We all have the same right on the road.

average_runner

Stark wrote: »

And for that he must have his life threatened.

Out of concern for his safety of course.

Would definitely be more than a few seconds saved by the way. On my 10km commute, the first 5km where the lights are spread far apart takes 10 mins and the second 5km takes 20 mins.

No one said the driver was right, but we all have the same rights on the road and the rules are there to obey. Don't have a go at someone else if you can't obey the basic rules of traffic lights

average_runner

CramCycle wrote: »

An eye for an eye leaves a cyclist dead and a smug motorist feeling it was worth it.

That is how the saying goes right?

Or if you can take it don't give it! (Doesn't sound great!"!!!)

mr spuckler

average_runner wrote: »

No one said the driver was right, but we all have the same rights on the road and the rules are there to obey. Don't have a go at someone else if you can't obey the basic rules of traffic lights

Just to be clear - if you've committed a far more minor offence which endangered nobody, you're then not allowed to complain about the person who endangered your well-being? We should get this missive out to the general population immediately!

stryker mcqueen

TooObvious wrote: »

If it helps I can remove the reference to me (safely) jumping the red light, and leave you with just the endangerment of my life, but then it would lose context.

Not that it makes any difference, this was a 40km commute on which I had already had a close pass, I make no apologies for leaving traffic lights sooner than my car driving compatriots.

I can also remove the part where I do not justify the actions of the motorist if you like :pac:

average_runner

mr spuckler wrote: »

Just to be clear - if you've committed a far more minor offence which endangered nobody, you're then not allowed to complain about the person who endangered your well-being? We should get this missive out to the general population immediately!

I didnt say that at all, please show where i said that.

What I said is it ok for a car to break a red light safely like it is for a cyclists?

stryker mcqueen

Stark wrote: »

And for that he must have his life threatened.

Out of concern for his safety of course.

Would definitely be more than a few seconds saved by the way. On my 10km commute, the first 5km where the lights are spread far apart takes 10 mins and the second 5km takes 20 mins.

So you break numerous lights to save time?......leave earlier

Btw im a cyclist, im not on here trying to have a go, I cycle into Dublin city centre Monday-Friday and have had my fair share of near misses as well as twice being knocked off my bike.

I dont break lights , much to the annoyance of some cyclists, but nothing changes until something changes and all that.

Stark

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

So you break numerous lights to save time?......leave earlier

Did I say that? No I didn't :rolleyes:

km991148

navandude wrote: »

Driving standards and driver behaviour on the roads must be at an all time low at this stage and it seems like there is no sign of this improving any time soon. Many drivers seem a lot more aggressive and I agree with other comments that there is a lot of distracted drivers on the roads (mobile phone use the main reason, but not sole reason).

I had a good few hours cycling about Dublin yesterday (haven't been on Dublin roads much at all recently).

There is a marked increase in aggressive behavior across the board as well as a lot of generally sloppy/poor standard of road use. Generally:

- No one seems to be able to read the road more than 4 meters ahead (unless the road is an about to change traffic light, see below).

- No such thing as 'ambler gamblers' at all, but several full red light violations at each change of the lights (I don't think I seen a single junction where people would stop on yellow/red).

- Lots of dipsh!t overtakes to race towards a queue of traffic 20-30m up the road (while forcing me to touch brakes and scrub 1/3 off my speed).

- Moving away from junctions while still obviously checking the phone.

- cyclist overtaking centimeters away (I nearly knocked on off as when I turned to check traffic behind - he was just offside/rear of me - I got a fright and wobbled very slightly into his direction!)

- The infrastructure is struggling to cater for current traffic and everyone seems to be getting more annoyed with this.


Not saying I never make a mistake or do something silly, but it really seems chaotic out there - as if people are trying to do things in the most awkward way.

navandude

km991148 wrote: »

I had a good few hours cycling about Dublin yesterday (haven't been on Dublin roads much at all recently).

There is a marked increase in aggressive behavior across the board as well as a lot of generally sloppy/poor standard of road use. Generally:

- No one seems to be able to read the road more than 4 meters ahead (unless the road is an about to change traffic light, see below).

- No such thing as 'ambler gamblers' at all, but several full red light violations at each change of the lights (I don't think I seen a single junction where people would stop on yellow/red).

- Lots of dipsh!t overtakes to race towards a queue of traffic 20-30m up the road (while forcing me to touch brakes and scrub 1/3 off my speed).

- Moving away from junctions while still obviously checking the phone.

- cyclist overtaking centimeters away (I nearly knocked on off as when I turned to check traffic behind - he was just offside/rear of me - I got a fright and wobbled very slightly into his direction!)

- The infrastructure is struggling to cater for current traffic and everyone seems to be getting more annoyed with this.


Not saying I never make a mistake or do something silly, but it really seems chaotic out there - as if people are trying to do things in the most awkward way.

I agree with what you're saying and I too have witnessed many of the examples you have listed.
I will also add blatant widespread speeding and deliberate tailgating of others who want to drive lawfully and not want to speed.

mr spuckler

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

I dont break lights , much to the annoyance of some cyclists

Neither do I, but I never find that it annoys other cyclists? I'm genuinely curious on this - do some people pass comment, give dirty looks etc?

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

but nothing changes until something changes and all that.

Are you talking about the old story that motorists won't respect cyclists until cyclists obey the rules of the road? Because if so then reading up on the rate of offending by motorists will be quite sobering.

km991148

navandude wrote: »

I agree with what you're saying and I too have witnessed many of the examples you have listed.
I will also add blatant widespread speeding and deliberate tailgating of others who want to drive lawfully and not want to speed.

ye - few crazy amounts of speeding (again, I can be a bit heavy footed at times, so not saying I am superior in any way) - but I can't ever see the need to do over 50mph (estimated obviously) on merrion road between blackrock and ballsbridge (again, to get to another Q of traffic..).

That was one instance of a few, and my estimation was when I was traveling at about 30mph

Fian

I cycled outside cork towards the head of kinsale a months or so ago. Horrendous close passing on narrow country roads to the point i gave up and turned back. I figure drivers there are just less used to cyclists on the roads.

I was in Athens this summer. Not on a bike, in a car, thankfully. Didn't actually collide with anyone in the rental car but only because of exaggerated caution.

Anyway the point is those two recent experiences made me realise Dublin could be a lot worse. Ofc it could also be a lot better.

downtheroad

On way commute home this evening I was thinking I'll log into the near misses thread to say no near miss today but the increase in traffic today from yesterday is crazy, likely because of schools being back.

Then on the Howth Road I was cycling in the cycle lane approaching Collins Avenue when an SUV dexided to undertake a car turning into Super Valu and entered the xycle lane in front of me as a result. I had barely enough time to slow and move into the pavement while banging the rear panel of his car with my hand to draw his attention. He then drove off, but I managed to catch him on Collins Avenue where he told me I shouldn't have come up the inside of him. I told him to cop on and cycled off and am now absolutely livid with myself for not taking down his registration number because a lovely lady back on the Howth Road slowed to ask me was I ok and if I needed a witness she'd be happy to help.

What pisses me off more than the near miss is his attitude that I am in the wrong and he will continue to drive dangerously at the expense of cyclists. If only I had his details and could report him to TrafficWatch a few penalty points would have softened his cough.

Oh well, back on the saddle tomorrow!

hesker

Fian wrote: »

I cycled outside cork towards the head of kinsale a months or so ago. Horrendous close passing on narrow country roads to the point i gave up and turned back. I figure drivers there are just less used to cyclists on the roads.

Probably one of the most cycled routes in the country outside of Dublin. I've cycled those roads many times and the amount of close passing is relatively low so I find your experience a bit strange. Not that Cork drivers are saints by any means but I'd experience more close passing on my cycle to work than on those roads.

Pity you didn't get to finish the cycle as it's well worth it.

Pinch Flat

average_runner wrote: »

What I said is it ok for a car to break a red light safely like it is for a cyclists?

I’d say it is. Many countries allow for cars and other vehicles to proceed on red as long as it’s safe to do so. We just haven’t legislated for it here. In saying that, I’m not sure if Irish road users are mature enough to do this safely and considerately even if it was legal.