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

Kaisr Sose

^^^hope you are ok. You were 100% correct to follow up with the driver. Make his day by reporting him – that way he can have even more attention. Some 'professional' drivers are very unprofessional and inhuman in their attitude to other road users. Scum and low life comes to mind.

I got a "do you pay tax" comment yesterday for the first time in ages after a car that passed me then pulled in tight to the kerb at traffic lights because I was not in the cycle lane. It was downhill and I had to slam on. I gave a WTF gesture after squeezing by. On passing again, she beeped and passed close, rolled the window down and gave the tax advice while on the move.
So after that she illegally used the bus lane and parked up at the next lights, half in and half out of he cycle lane. So I stopped and has a chat. Telling her that as a tax payer too, I should not have dodge smug ignorant motorists like you that believe they own the roads because they pay a fictitious 'road' tax and this somehow gives them the right to endanger other road users that don't have to pay it. I concluded by saying the rate of respect she was showing me was the same % as the tax I have to pay to use the road – that being 0%!!

queldy

By the way, it was an aircoach; I 've read already people having problems with aircoach, and me too had many closer encounter with them in Dublin center...

Anyway, I'd like to report to the company, and maybe put someone in copy (traffic watch or who else? Could you please suggest) - could anyone please write in private to me with a "prepared" message, I am foreigner and it would take a while for me to write a formal mail (and I'd miss a bit of vocabulary).
What information should I provide?

Not that I believe it would work in any way...

Thanks a lot everyone, cheers.

ED E

Check that your colleagues are ok with providing a statement to the Gardai then call Traffic Watch, when Castlebar ask it'll be Dun Laoghaire district (obviously).

Multiple statements as to a close pass and a picture should be enough to get some points endorsed on his licence.

AndrewJRenko

Two near misses yesterday on a Dublin Bike.

I was heading down Camden St and was left hooked by an elderly lady turning into Grantham St. I had to stop and tapped her window. She stopped, and then drove off pretty quick.

Then I turned left onto Dame St from Georges St, and was met by a young lady maybe 16 or 18 darting across the road on foot against the lights. She dropped her phone, and I just barely missed riding over it with my lightening fast reflexes and extreme skill levels.

Danjamin1

check_six wrote: »

Had a weird incident recently where a fellow hit my car and then took off. There was only a scrape, but I was upset that the guy just drove off as I was standing there talking to him. The Guard I spoke to was very enthusiastic about tracking this man down, but even with the full plate and a photo of the car with the guy in it, their system only had a partial address for him and they couldn't locate it!

Sometimes all the clues still won't lead you to the door of the perpetrator. Time to start agitating for giant inflatable dayglo registration plates for all humans at all times!

But surely registration & tax is the infallible standard? Jesus lads, if that wasnt enough to bring the full wrath of Hades down on this person then the system must well & truly be f**ked!!

AndrewJRenko

Danjamin1 wrote: »

But surely registration & tax is the infallible standard? Jesus lads, if that wasnt enough to bring the full wrath of Hades down on this person then the system must well & truly be f**ked!!

I was assaulted by a car passenger a few years back, who leaned out the window and slapped my arse. Now it is a pretty irresistible arse, to be fair, but still - assault is assault. I reported it to the Gardai, who told me that the car was an insurance write off that had no registered owner.

But the cyclists....

Kaisr Sose

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

But the cyclists....

A lot of Garda don't care about cycling related incidents /complaints if nobody is hurt.it is essential to have video or an independent witness (rare) for them to take it seriously.

sy_flembeck

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

A lot of Garda don't care about cycling related incidents /complaints if nobody is hurt.it is essential to have video or an independent witness (rare) for them to take it seriously.

A) If an accident is material damage only (any type of vehicle) it is not a case of Gardai not caring, they have no role unless an allegation is made. Otherwise they are doing the insurance company's job. In this case an allegation was made but....

If a car is an insurance write off they genuinely don't have a way of locating an owner. That's a whole separate quagmire that for once is not of their making. They can only rely on the information to hand.

Kaisr Sose

sy_flembeck wrote: »

A) If an accident is material damage only (any type of vehicle) it is not a case of Gardai not caring, they have no role unless an allegation is made. Otherwise they are doing the insurance company's job. In this case an allegation was made but....

If a car is an insurance write off they genuinely don't have a way of locating an owner. That's a whole separate quagmire that for once is not of their making. They can only rely on the information to hand.

A) That's my point. Insurance companies are not relevant and I did not mention them. There does not have to be material damage for a Garda to take action. Driving without due care / dangerous driving and just plain old breaking the rules of the road are all incidents that endanger cyclists on a constant basis. I have been there, made the statements and nothing happens. I am on three strikes now and in each one the motorist lied to AGS. Motorists act with impunity because they know they can get away with it. It's as simple as that. AGS don't care once they can close the case. All those close passes mean nothing if drivers are not held to account. That is the role of AGS...

Slightly off topic: Insurance write-offs....(assume unroadworthy versus those that are economically written off in a settlement)
I was not commenting insurance write-offs either, but AGS have a role here too. I do understand that if ownership cannot be traced it's impossible to take anything further. But how are insurance write-offs, with no proof of current or previous ownership on the road and undetectable? Somebody must be the last owner of these vehicles. Where do they go after write-off? Who was supposed to handle this process? What did they do with them? Where are the destruction certs? If this car breaker/intermediary then sold the car, they should be owner of the car until they provide details on where it went. That would ensure they require buyers provide solid proof of ID rather than the anonymous cash deals that are prevalent. Black hole administration does not help law enforcement. AGS should be pushing for this sort of loophole to be closed. As long as it's open, the bill for damage caused by untraceable and uninsured motorists ends up being paid by insured motorists. I will end by saying it will be 2019 before ANPR on insurance is live and it's been fully funded by the insurance industry, not the State. It should be live now and the state should have established the system and not be relying on private industry to help it enforce the law.

Effects

queldy wrote: »

By the way, it was an aircoach; I 've read already people having problems with aircoach.

I've haven't had a run in with Air Coach on my bike but as a driver I find them to be extremely poor drivers.

AndrewJRenko

sy_flembeck wrote: »

If a car is an insurance write off they genuinely don't have a way of locating an owner. That's a whole separate quagmire that for once is not of their making. They can only rely on the information to hand.

True, but it's mad to have uninsured drivers in unsafe cars going around. They need to up their game on ANPR to get on top of this.

ED E

Effects wrote: »

I've haven't had a run in with Air Coach on my bike but as a driver I find them to be extremely poor drivers.

Better than Paddywagon but worse than BE/DB would be my description.

Tombo2001

Interesting piece of kit from Aldi for those who were interested in Cameras....

https://www.aldi.ie/camera-and-bike-light/p/079004160072600

Vel

Ah man, had a couple of ‘what the actual f*cks’ last week.

Coming up Camden Street towards the Bleeding Horse. Traffic stopped at the lights. As I come up on the inside I gently tip off the wing mirror of the car at the top of the queue completely by accident. Absolutely no damage done, I place myself in front of them and turn and give a little wave to say sorry. Not good enough for this d*ck apparently. Lights go green and I continue on around by the Harcourt Luas stop where the guy decides to pull in on top of me to, I don’t know, teach me a lesson for accidentally tapping his wing mirror, causing no damage and saying sorry. I am under no illusions it was completely deliberate as his wife had her hands covering her eyes lest she had to witness her husband knocking me off my bike. And they had 3 young kids in the back of the car. The wife later confirmed when I caught up with them in traffic that yes, they were teaching me a lesson for having tipped the wing mirror. If he is driving around with that much anger and stress I’d imagine there could be a heart attack in his future! And he was an older gent too, in his 60s so it may be come around sooner rather than later!!

Heading through Ranelagh yesterday lunchtime in the bike lane and a car overtakes me and then pulls right back in on top of me as there was a big truck coming the other side. It was the first time in all my years of cycling where I actually shouted in fear, ‘f*cking hell’ to be precise. Caught up with him in traffic up ahead, banged on his window and he drops his phone in fright. Apparently it was ‘fine’ and he had seen me and I wasn’t in any danger.

I didn’t manage to remember reg plate of either, but not sure I want to be constantly reporting to TrafficWatch either with their ‘it will be your word against there’s’ line. I feel like if I keep making reports I’ll be labelled a nuisance and they won’t be taken seriously.

I know I need a camera but I am a total luddite and totally overwhelmed by technology and also broke!

Alanstrainor

Vel wrote: »

I didn’t manage to remember reg plate of either, but not sure I want to be constantly reporting to TrafficWatch either with their ‘it will be your word against there’s’ line. I feel like if I keep making reports I’ll be labelled a nuisance and they won’t be taken seriously.

I totally get this tbh. I've only reported one incident to traffic watch, and it was handled really well by all, but it ended up being a hassle for me. Calling to the station 3 times on random evenings wasn't ideal. And I definitely don't want to become 'one of those people' in the local station.

I am now keeping all close pass videos and compiling them. I found a handy app to do it, where it only takes 2 minutes to snip out the relevant 10 seconds on footage and add it to a compilation video.

homerjay2005

seen a cyclist yesterday cycle in between two buses (despite there being a cycle lane to the left of the 2nd bus), then at the lights he stopped, waiting for lights to go green and then cut accross the 2nd bus and eventually joined the cycle lane about 1 second before the bus took off. paid no attention to the driver beeping furiously at him - soon became clear why, he had headphones on and seemed totally zoned out of what he was doing. very lucky he wasnt killed.

no helmet either.

schemingbohemia

homerjay2005 wrote: »

seen a cyclist yesterday cycle in between two buses (despite there being a cycle lane to the left of the 2nd bus), then at the lights he stopped, waiting for lights to go green and then cut accross the 2nd bus and eventually joined the cycle lane about 1 second before the bus took off. paid no attention to the driver beeping furiously at him - soon became clear why, he had headphones on and seemed totally zoned out of what he was doing. very lucky he wasnt killed.

no helmet either.

Was there a left-turn at the junction? If there was it's not advisable to cycle up there given that many drivers (including "professional" drivers) tend to indicate as they turn rather than in advance which is too late for cyclists to notice so he could have been crushed by the bus if it had decided to turn left.

Helmets aren't going to stop crush injuries.

Lambay island

homerjay2005 wrote: »

seen a cyclist yesterday cycle in between two buses (despite there being a cycle lane to the left of the 2nd bus), then at the lights he stopped, waiting for lights to go green and then cut accross the 2nd bus and eventually joined the cycle lane about 1 second before the bus took off. paid no attention to the driver beeping furiously at him - soon became clear why, he had headphones on and seemed totally zoned out of what he was doing. very lucky he wasnt killed.

no helmet either.

I'm not sure what no helmet and to a lesser degree headphones have to do with anything here. I don't wear headphones cycling myself but a lot of them u can hear traffic or disable one side to hear. Very similar to using the radio in you car. Helmet is not compulsory either and does very little in terms of protection if you are hit by a bus for example from your post. Doesn't sound like this particular cyclist did much wrong if anything at all. Just because a bus driver is beeping him doesn't mean they are in the right either(often points to a frustrated driver).
If he decided not to use the cycle lane prior to the lights , there is a number of reason why he may not have, all pointing towards his own safety.

CramCycle

homerjay2005 wrote: »

seen a cyclist yesterday cycle in between two buses (despite there being a cycle lane to the left of the 2nd bus), then at the lights he stopped, waiting for lights to go green and then cut accross the 2nd bus and eventually joined the cycle lane about 1 second before the bus took off. paid no attention to the driver beeping furiously at him - soon became clear why, he had headphones on and seemed totally zoned out of what he was doing. very lucky he wasnt killed.

no helmet either.

Do you mean a bus in front and a bus behind, or a bus on both sides. I wouldn't do the latter as they often move far more than driver realises and have seen people get pinched before. If it was the former, not sure what the problem is, I do it quite alot on the N11 to avoid dangerous junctions.

I have bus drivers beep at me on other occasions, mainly private ones that do not realise why I am where I am. I tend to ignore these as well, as other than looking to check there is nothing else going on, gettign involved with them brings nothing useful to my commute or theirs.

papu

Motorists really need to be reminded of when to use a horn. From the RSA

Only use a horn to warn other road users of oncoming danger or if you need to make them aware of your presence for safety reasons. Using a horn does not give you an automatic right of way. Never use the horn to provoke a reaction from or to rebuke another motorist.

Annie get your Run

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I am now keeping all close pass videos and compiling them. I found a handy app to do it, where it only takes 2 minutes to snip out the relevant 10 seconds on footage and add it to a compilation video.

Sorry if this is OT but can you tell me what app you're using Alanstrainor?

Alanstrainor

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Sorry if this is OT but can you tell me what app you're using Alanstrainor?

Sorry, I know this wont be terribly helpful to most... it's not an app for a phone, it's a application I installed on my linux machine called Shotcut. Nice, free and easy to use.

I believe that Microsoft are due to release a new version of moviemaker soon (which is what people used back in Windows XP days.

Borderfox

Had an unmarked Garda car come up past me on the Trim road today at max attack, frightened the gick out of me. Going to review the video later as it was close enough. Had a word with him at the car he stopped up further and asked him nicely to keep his distance when overtaking

Alanstrainor

Borderfox wrote: »

Had an unmarked Garda car come up past me on the Trim road today at max attack, frightened the gick out of me. Going to review the video later as it was close enough. Had a word with him at the car he stopped up further and asked him nicely to keep his distance when overtaking

How did that interaction go?

Borderfox

He didn't seem to pay any attention to me

Kaisr Sose

Borderfox wrote: »

He didn't seem to pay any attention to me

Sure why would they - they are the law and the law will win every time.

Borderfox

That seems to be the way

magicbastarder

OT, but as I'm reading this page, I'm being served ads for orderfox.com. I hate to think what sites are prompted by my username.

I love Sean nos

homerjay2005 wrote: »

seen a cyclist yesterday cycle in between two buses (despite there being a cycle lane to the left of the 2nd bus)

Are you advising that people cycle up the left side of large vehicles? :eek:

TheChizler

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Are you advising that people cycle up the left side of large vehicles? :eek:

No problem if there's space, they're stopped, and not at the top of a queue for a junction.