Near Misses Volume 2 (So close you can feel it)

AndrewJRenko

VonLuck wrote: »

They totally have the right, but that won't stop drivers being pissed off as a result. You might think "so what", but an angry driver is more likely to perform risky manoeuvres like in the video. I'd prefer to be alive instead of right.

An angry driver will always find another excuse for being angry.

Duckjob wrote: »

Another problem with some cycle paths is lack of safe accessibility. By that I mean in some cases getting on to the path while operating within the typical traffic environment could itself be a risky maneuvre.

I tried to point out this concept over on C&T in a thread where certain posters were complaining about people on bikes not using the 100m stretch of cycle path up to the royal canal at North Strand Marino.

I was explaining that if i'm doing 35-40kph in the bus lane towards the canal, with a 14 tonne double decker bus behind me in the bus lane, hot on my heels ( a common enough real world scenario) , the last thing I can do safely is slow my speed in the bus lane down to the 15-20kph which would be necessary to make the somewhat tight turn into the cycle path, over a kerb (where if I get the angle wrong and end up hitting the floor on the bus lane I'm dead), to enter a fairly confined space where people are walking. Therefore, in such instances its simply safer to continue on the bus lane at the speed I'm going up to the lights.

Needless to say my explanations fell on deaf ears with certain posters who, despite having no experience of cycling that stretch themselves, still felt qualified to reject the experiences of someone who cycles it regularly, and make their pronouncements that use of the bike lane is safer.

I think I posted multiple tweets, maybe five tweets from different people showing vehicles blocking the ****ty cycle lane, but that wasn't a good reason for not using the lane either.

07Lapierre

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

An angry driver will always find another excuse for being angry.



I think I posted multiple tweets, maybe five tweets from different people showing vehicles blocking the ****ty cycle lane, but that wasn't a good reason for not using the lane either.

Is this the "perfectly adequate" (or was it the "more than adequate") bike lane at North Strand?
Given the current weather conditions, that same cycle path will be lethal this week!

CramCycle

Not sure if anyone here has been on the N11 near UCD over the past few months. Just to vent my annoyance at the lazy ass builders doing the works on the cyclepath, bus stop and footpath. They have the temporary hoardings up for a footpath and cyclepath for awhile now but f*ck me, the turn at the end of the bike path is so tight you have to either cut your speed to less than walking pace or bunny hop like Peter Sagan and go up on the grass. It would have been so easy to just extend it by 5 m and have a more gradual merge. Also the tarmacadam they ****ed there as a ramp, has no one pride in their work anymore. Also continuously just parking int he hoarded off area for sh1ts and giggles. Interestingly, no hassle from anyone for taking the lane for 100m. I often find myself at close enough to traffic speed but in general people have been really decent, to the point where the majority of cyclists on that route going onto the N11 main traffic lane, from those on a casual jaunt at 5kmph to the UCD racing team tipping 60kmph. It's almost as if they have realised that even a cyclist at walking pace, isn't really any delay overall in the grand scheme of things.

Wildly Boaring

Not a near miss but an angry man

Cycle paths both sides of road white this morning so I cycled up the road (the inhumanity)

Got lifted out of it by angry little chubby fella

bazermc

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Not a near miss but an angry man

Cycle paths both sides of road white this morning so I cycled up the road (the inhumanity)

Got lifted out of it by angry little chubby fella

I was hoping for a photo of said angry little chubby fella.

Seaswimmer

CramCycle wrote: »

Not sure if anyone here has been on the N11 near UCD over the past few months. Just to vent my annoyance at the lazy ass builders doing the works on the cyclepath, bus stop and footpath. They have the temporary hoardings up for a footpath and cyclepath for awhile now but f*ck me, the turn at the end of the bike path is so tight you have to either cut your speed to less than walking pace or bunny hop like Peter Sagan and go up on the grass. It would have been so easy to just extend it by 5 m and have a more gradual merge. Also the tarmacadam they ****ed there as a ramp, has no one pride in their work anymore. Also continuously just parking int he hoarded off area for sh1ts and giggles. Interestingly, no hassle from anyone for taking the lane for 100m. I often find myself at close enough to traffic speed but in general people have been really decent, to the point where the majority of cyclists on that route going onto the N11 main traffic lane, from those on a casual jaunt at 5kmph to the UCD racing team tipping 60kmph. It's almost as if they have realised that even a cyclist at walking pace, isn't really any delay overall in the grand scheme of things.

Is it DLR or DCC area?
I find DLR are usually pretty good about responding to these types of issues.
They have a new reporting form which allows you submit pictures and pin point map locations with your submission.(which I haven't used yet)

https://cllrsportal.powerappsportals.com/report-it-frm/

AndrewJRenko

Seaswimmer wrote: »

Is it DLR or DCC area?
I find DLR are usually pretty good about responding to these types of issues.
They have a new reporting form which allows you submit pictures and pin point map locations with your submission.(which I haven't used yet)

https://cllrsportal.powerappsportals.com/report-it-frm/

DLR area - Belfield bridge is the border line

VonLuck

Skrynesaver wrote: »

I've been hospitalised off a bike twice, on both occasions I was on Irish dedicated cycling infrastructure.

Once a car turned through a traffic lane and a cycle lane without checking for cyclists and once when the lane was not treated and I lost it on black ice.

I no longer use Irish cycling infrastructure as it is, to generalise, a series of under maintained, poorly designed obstacle courses.

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

hans aus dtschl

VonLuck wrote: »

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

Oh for physical separation!

No, they mean that a driver somehow managed to drive over the super-protective-cycle-lane-paint and hit them.

The vast majority of Irish cycle infrastructure is an exercise in giving the illusion of safety. In most cases taking the lane is far safer.

breezy1985

magicbastarder wrote: »

still remains my favourite* cycle path:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2753161,-6.1902165,3a,75y,237.86h,81.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spw6lbAXTuTO9f7qQttDd-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

*not my favourite

All its missing is yield signs at every driveway

ED E

magicbastarder wrote: »

still remains my favourite* cycle path:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2753161,-6.1902165,3a,75y,237.86h,81.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spw6lbAXTuTO9f7qQttDd-Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

*not my favourite

Mine:
https://goo.gl/maps/1ontSWk5YdJAH2bX6

CramCycle

VonLuck wrote: »

Do you mean that the driver hopped the kerb into the cycle lane? There's not much that can be done about that unfortunately beyond punishing the driver. I don't know if I'd blame the cycling infrastructure, but look, I don't know the details so I can't comment.

They often don't need to hop the kerb, often the infrastructure is on the road and they don't notice you or think that the few cm given is fine when it is not. You also have a lot of times where cyclist reaches a junction before the car but the car turns through the cyclist. This happens because of lack of attention but also because the infrastructure puts the cyclist to the side and out of mind. When they get there, they simply don't register it, coupled with wide sweeping curves at the junction which encourage faster lines through the turn. There is a reason that those of us with enough confidence and experience often choose the main road rather than the infrastructure because while it appears more dangerous, it actually isn't. I'd sooner another road user disliked me, noticed me and gave me space, rather than never noticed until its too late.

From personal experience, while some incidences have been my fault, and I hold my hands up. The ones that weren't while driver fault, were added to or actively encouraged by poor infrastructure. Encouraging speeding, poor passing or simply removing me from their frame of reference until it was too late.

CramCycle

hesker wrote: »

https://goo.gl/maps/zk6D6EW4TrDzAxES8

Only one of my favourites. Sheer genius of forethought

The pavement blocked by the wall, which admittedly was there before the pavement but I mean, really, it is concreted on top and hardly of any historical significance that justifies it putting pedestrians in danger.

CramCycle

hesker wrote: »

No, I mean the cycle lane that goes around the signpost on the inside putting you in a blind spot for drivers and then immediately throws you onto the road into their path.

I always go on the outside taking the lane.

Don't worry, I got what you were highlighting, but the whole thing, not just the bike lane is a clusterf*ck. How do these people get jobs. Reminds me of the lecturer in UCD, who said the easiest way to find out who scraped through his classes and barely qualified was not to look through the class lists but go onto the council website and get a list of the engineers/architects employed directly by them.

radia

radia wrote: »

I like this one: https://goo.gl/maps/uVB5MVnBPN9XbXsq7

Not content with having cyclists bouncing up and down on a rollercoaster created by driveways, they felt the need to build a special little mini-hill into the cycle track for no apparent reason at all. The road beside it is flat.

That Leopardstown Road was a dreadful effort. I remember my uncle (not cyclist) giving out about how it had been built for cyclists and they weren't using it. I tried to explain but it was a waste of time. I recall a cycling aquaintance saying they should have just given the money to Concern or similar charities. He was right.

Seaswimmer

radia wrote: »

I like this one: https://goo.gl/maps/uVB5MVnBPN9XbXsq7

Not content with having cyclists bouncing up and down on a rollercoaster created by driveways, they felt the need to build a special little mini-hill into the cycle track for no apparent reason at all. The road beside it is flat.

Something to do with the roots of the trees maybe??


https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2768154,-6.1873541,3a,75y,166.22h,86.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQMNcFfxKByL5ilfUyEqvWg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

blackvalley

My serious near miss was several years ago back before artic trucks were banned from Dublin city center. For many years i cycled the complete lenght of the quays from Heuston station to point depot in the morning and returning in the evening. Got to know several people on nodding terms and occasionally got a helpful hand on the back or a shout to " sit in " if struggling hard into a headwind.
Heading home one evening, traffic busy about 5.30 as I approached Capel St bridge traffic lights went red . Lights go green and I moved off . Now anyone familiar with that rout will know that the road is particularly narrow for about one hundred meters before widening at civic offices.
Just before road widened I felt a felt a small push , jolt from behind and immediately thought " someone messing , saying hi " but when I looked over I was staring at the front bumper of an artic truck . Luckily the road widened at that spot and I pulled sharply to my left .
None the better from the experience I pulled over and stopped and to this day I can see the white / grey road dust from the bumper on my shorts .
As close calls go they dont go much closer than that .:eek::eek:

CramCycle

I always presumed the hump was there long before the road and they dug out the road to meet the N11.

fryup

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I think the driver here would be better off being carless to be honest!

by the looks of things he's also brainless

McGrath5

CramCycle wrote: »

I always presumed the hump was there long before the road and they dug out the road to meet the N11.

I had to change my route away from that road, the "cycle lane" would destroy your bike if you build up any speed, then drivers will actually run you off the road so they can get to the traffic lights 5 seconds faster.

CramCycle

McGrath5 wrote: »

I had to change my route away from that road, the "cycle lane" would destroy your bike if you build up any speed, then drivers will actually run you off the road so they can get to the traffic lights 5 seconds faster.

Same here, thankfully there are a few alternative routes but that lane would actually throw the bike from under you in parts, I say this as someone who rides off road a bit, it's insanity how poor it is.

Breezer wrote: »

I specifically remember cycling Leopardstown Road when I was about 16 (I’m from DLR, but not near enough to have been cycling that road regularly, so it sticks out). From memory, the works had been completed in the last year or two. To this day I swear I can feel my brain rattling around in my skull when I think back on it, and I can remember thinking “why on Earth do people cycle?” It was another 15 years before I’d take up cycling again in any serious fashion.

I remember my brother in law driving that way and he started giving out about a cyclist on the road. My partner tried to inform him, having heard it from me, why that might be. He ignored it and ranted on. A few years later he took up cycling. The smug satisfaction as I heard him giving out about the cycle lane there and that you had to ride on the road. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

Seaswimmer

CramCycle wrote: »

Same here, thankfully there are a few alternative routes but that lane would actually throw the bike from under you in parts, I say this as someone who rides off road a bit, it's insanity how poor it is.
I remember my brother in law driving that way and he started giving out about a cyclist on the road. My partner tried to inform him, having heard it from me, why that might be. He ignored it and ranted on. A few years later he took up cycling. The smug satisfaction as I heard him giving out about the cycle lane there and that you had to ride on the road. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

I tried out the new "report it" form on the DLR website. I raised all the multiple issues with the Leopardstown Road cycle lanes and asked them was there any plans to repair/upgrade or redesign them. Given that generally they are doing a lot of positive work on cycling infrastructure in the DLR area I would be surprised if they don't eventually do something with it.

Edit:(quick response below)

RE CRM 215016 Leopardstown Road cycle route

Dear xxx,

I note your request to improve the cycle route on Leopardstown Road.

We have obtained funding to improve this route in 2021 under the NTA Sustainable Transport Measures Grants (STMG) Programme 2021.
We hope to progress a design later in the year but I don’t have a timeline at this time.

breezy1985

magicbastarder wrote: »

in the car earlier, i had to slam on here - i was facing the direction the camera is, so obviously in the other lane - when a guy driving a truck cab came around that bend in the middle of the road. when i gave him that universal 'what the **** are you up to?' gesture, he gestured angrily at the cyclist he'd been overtaking.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4236522,-6.3247132,3a,75y,76.66h,79.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNp-4p7pwvh_lT_1kXgIhvA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I probably have about 10/15 passes on blind bends or hills with solid white lines every time I cycle the countryside around Limerick on a 40km spin

crisco10

Had my own near miss at the weekend just off leopardstown Road (torquay road)

Was driving toward leopardstown road here and van came around the corner half of his vehicle across the white line...overtaking a cyclist.

I'd to basically jam on the brakes and dive to the kerb to avoid contact. Was beeping him (something I hate doing), but I think he was oblivious. Caught eyes with the cyclist (a lady out for a fairly leisurely cycle) and raised my hand in a WTF gesture. I hope she knows it wasn't directed at her!

I just don't get it. The van would be at close to stopped turning up Torquay road, why the need to try and burn the cyclist on a bend, over a solid white line.

2 things:

1) Wish I had a dashcam
2) I'm so glad I wasn't 100m further up the road.

tnegun

I don't see any issue with his cycling at all, so the driver he reported made a point of intimidating him, videoing him cycling while driving and reporting him and AGS bought it and issued a fine?

kennethsmyth

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Not sure if any of you saw this but Cork Twitter user RightToBikeIt has managed to get a second fine in a matter of days following his filing a complaint. The first involved him moving left slightly to allow a car to overtake him, before returning to his line. He was fined €40 for "swerving".
Apparently this one today is for his road positioning and swerving.
Is this to get him to stop reporting them or does anyone see an issue with how he is using the road?

https://twitter.com/righttobikeit/status/1364258768549277697

Right we need to get this to a TD a news media and big it up because this is intimidation of another form by the gardai and the car driver. I’d be looking to report also to GSOC as an abuse of power. Maybe there is a cyclist who’s a solicitor who would be willing to do pro bono and get this to court rather than pay the fine.

Thargor

Did the fines come from his own video that he submitted or from the d1ckhead with the mobile phone making a complaint about him?

Company logo fairly visible on the car. Probably his own business though.

Eamonnator

kennethsmyth wrote: »

Right we need to get this to a TD a news media and big it up because this is intimidation of another form by the gardai and the car driver. I’d be looking to report also to GSOC as an abuse of power. Maybe there is a cyclist who’s a solicitor who would be willing to do pro bono and get this to court rather than pay the fine.

If the facts are as related by the cyclist in question, that needs to be reported to GSOC.

Weepsie

There's case law on a bike being expected to wobble/swerve isn't there? I'm nearly sure a judge threw out a drivers complaint about a cyclist "being all over the place" because there's a reasonable expectation on them not being able to stick to a perfectly straight line.

That's a garda making up a rule and applying it on their own bias imo. The driving is a fine and penalty points at a minimum

jive

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Not sure if any of you saw this but Cork Twitter user RightToBikeIt has managed to get a second fine in a matter of days following his filing a complaint. The first involved him moving left slightly to allow a car to overtake him, before returning to his line. He was fined €40 for "swerving".
Apparently this one today is for his road positioning and swerving.
Is this to get him to stop reporting them or does anyone see an issue with how he is using the road?

https://twitter.com/righttobikeit/status/1364258768549277697

Can’t wait to see how this plays out. If you can be fined for that then we’d all be off the roads by now, I do worse leaving the driveway.

I think the guard in question underestimated how much support this will get should the fine not be rescinded.

Eamonnator

Weepsie wrote: »

There's case law on a bike being expected to wobble/swerve isn't there? I'm nearly sure a judge threw out a drivers complaint about a cyclist "being all over the place" because there's a reasonable expectation on them not being able to stick to a perfectly straight line.

That's a garda making up a rule and applying it on their own bias imo. The driving is a fine and penalty points at a minimum

I remember being told on an advanced driving course, that "every cyclist is entitled to his wobble, drive accordingly" It always stuck in my head.

Weepsie

There's a couple of De Ronde cyclists who are gardai, and one former member (now the women's national crit champion) is also a garda I believe. I know a few other gardai in Cork who are very keen cyclists. With the crap Gardai have to put up with and the low level, time wasting stuff and paper work they need to do to get some things done, I doubt any of them would be pleased to see a colleague basically doing the opposite of what they're supposed to be.

Weepsie

Is his first fine for the pinned video? Because he does realise that signalling does not give him right of way. He signalled and moved assuming the driver (which was ****ty) would let him in. It's a petty fine nonetheless

AndrewJRenko

Seth Brundle wrote: »

It is. I think he's effectively arguing that he moved left to allow a vehicle to pass and not that he ceded right of way.

And the fine would act as a perverse incentive to NOT move left and allow a vehicle to pass in future.

ItsLikeThis

Weepsie wrote: »

Is his first fine for the pinned video? Because he does realise that signalling does not give him right of way. He signalled and moved assuming the driver (which was ****ty) would let him in. It's a petty fine nonetheless

The van definitely accelerated to get in front of the cyclist. Happens all the time when we indicate to change lane.

CramCycle

Didn't even realise he was indicating because it's not a factor. Single lane, solid white line, that driver was acting the f*ckhole. Cyclist barely moved over the width of a ruler.

Weepsie

CramCycle wrote: »

Didn't even realise he was indicating because it's not a factor. Single lane, solid white line, that driver was acting the f*ckhole. Cyclist barely moved over the width of a ruler.

He's changed his pinned video. I Was referring to the one from JAn 17. He moves in to a different lane. It's a bus stop and then a filtering lane. He cedes any right of way imo by doing so.

No excuse for ****ty driving, but indicating is not right of way and that's one of the basic rules. That said, if he doesn't move there he's probably getting into the kerb when the lane ends

Doesn't deserve a fine, and the driver definitely does.

CramCycle

Imagine you were driving and there was room to merge but just as you start merging the car behind speeds up to cut you up. I think its a petty fine. I don't think he done anything wrong, he doesn't assume right of way, there was space and the van speeds up to block him off. That's dangerous driving and generally just sh1tty behaviour.

Paul Kiernan

Yes, it is ****ty behaviour by the driver but probably not illegal. Technically the cyclist is changing lanes. But he obviously has no other choice! Part of the problem is the road design which forces slower moving traffic to move out into a faster lane. Why aren't the arrows the other way round, so the vehicles have to move safely into the inner lane?

CramCycle

Even if the cyclist was to blame for changing lanes suddenly or without warning (he indicated and IMO it was pretty obvious what was going to happen), the driver fails on numerous counts. He speeds up to perform dangerous overtake (dangerous driving), if he failed to see that the inside lane was finishing and that the vehicle ahead of him was indicating and he didn't adjust his speed (driving without due care and attention). Merging in on the cyclist is vehicular assault and so on. I'm really struggling to see, and maybe there is something wrong with my driving, an issue with the cyclist. If a car is ahead of me and indicating to move into my lane, I adjust to allow it as to continue on the presumption I have the right of way is dangerous. Now there are obviously exceptions for certain circumstances but in reality, they are few and far between and this was not one of them.

Paul Kiernan

It's not clear to me that the van speeds up? But even if he does the road in front of him (his lane) is clear. Yes, it's ****ty, discourteous behaviour. To me the cyclist is in a far weaker position than if he was pulling out to pass a parked car. In that case, even if he was on a wide road doing 20km/h with a stream of cars passing him at 50km/h each car passing him is technically overtaking and responsible for doing it safely. In this case the cyclist is changing lanes and the onus is on him to ensure it's safe to do so.

breezy1985

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

It's not clear to me that the van speeds up? But even if he does the road in front of him (his lane) is clear. Yes, it's ****ty, discourteous behaviour. To me the cyclist is in a far weaker position than if he was pulling out to pass a parked car. In that case, even if he was on a wide road doing 20km/h with a stream of cars passing him at 50km/h each car passing him is technically overtaking and responsible for doing it safely. In this case the cyclist is changing lanes and the onus is on him to ensure it's safe to do so.

Looked pretty safe. No car driver would have considered that gap to small for a lane change

Paul Kiernan

hesker wrote: »

You would be better off staying in your lane to begin with as I think the guy himself now states.

He couldn't stay in his lane, it had ended!

Unfortunately any cyclist in this position is reliant on the goodwill of drivers to let him merge. It's a ****ty situation for the road designers to put him in. And as the guards are probably pissed off with him reporting people they were delighted to fine him.

I've looked at other videos posted by him and the treatment he's been subjected to by other driver's is horrendous. I don't know whether he's just unlucky or is this typical of the way driver's treat cyclists.

Paul Kiernan

It (and his other videos in particular) also raise the whole question as to how cyclists can interact with fast moving traffic safely.

a_squirrelman

buffalo wrote: »

You can gauge it from the relative speeds.

Do you not agree that he's completed his merge before the van driver starts his overtake?

You're correct, that should be when the van slowed but he only slowed and moved in on top of the cyclist when faced with an approaching car.

a_squirrelman

I think the lesson here is just don't be nice and move in to let someone pas.

Paul Kiernan

buffalo wrote: »

You can gauge it from the relative speeds.

Do you not agree that he's completed his merge before the van driver starts his overtake?

Looking at it again I can certainly see your point. He let the beemer pass and then moved out behind it. 99 times in a 100 the following vehicle, seeing it all playing out, would just slow down and stay back.

My main argument here is that the road layout should not put the cyclist in this position in the first place!

Seaswimmer

Not quite a near miss but a relatively close pass today. Fortunately car was going really slow and I was going slower as its a steep climb.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.2630872,-6.1130723,3a,75y,298.14h,88.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sX-BijA_EsUdH9JpWjpKebg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Had a good laugh about it after as it was my uncle and aunt out for a seaside drive within their 5k. They didn't recognise me but I sure recognised their car and their reg..

Beware of elderly men in Renault Scenics in the Killiney area!!

breezy1985

hesker wrote: »

That’s a personal choice. You can move over but you need to realise you have changed your situation and merge back safely, conceding priority if necessary.

He did move back safely. No one except the completely biased would say that wasnt a perfectly normal lane change. Loads of room for a bike or car or whatever to change lane and you would see similar every day without incident