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

It's usually the 3rd and subsequent ones that don't. Same thing at roundabouts if the first person indicates it seems to reminds some to use theirs.

standardg60

John_Rambo wrote: »

I'm in the car now for the foreseeable future. Freelancing with heavy gear so the bike isn't an option. When I was employed by a company I used to commute on the bike the gear was already there.

Have any of you notice when driving cars or vans if you hang back and give the cyclists space, indicate and give them lots of room the driver behind you seems to do the same?

Yes!
Also haven't yet had a beep from the car behind telling me that i was holding them up. They seem to be happy enough when it's another car slowing them.
It's a slow process but even doing one at a time helps.

CramCycle

John_Rambo wrote: »

Have any of you notice when driving cars or vans if you hang back and give the cyclists space, indicate and give them lots of room the driver behind you seems to do the same?

It definitely improves it, you can see them in your rear view mirror giving space and I know statistically it doesn't happen that well, that often. As said above though, once one returns to form , that is the end of the good will, also the few who will blindly follow such manoeuvres is also astonishing, not sure what is worse.

magicbastarder

John_Rambo wrote: »

Have any of you notice when driving cars or vans if you hang back and give the cyclists space, indicate and give them lots of room the driver behind you seems to do the same?

it's quite simply follow the leader, and has its flipside. i.e. 'the guy in front of me thought it was safe to overtake so it's safe for me too'.

MojoMaker

Left hooked in the Phoenix Park last night. Twilight but I was lit up like a Christmas tree as usual (Strip Drive on high setting!).

Coming from Furze road towards Chesterfield Ave and turning left at the small roundabout to head for Castleknock gate. Absolutely melon head in a black '07 non-M-series 520d decides to drop a gear and get to the little roundabout ahead of me - I'm about 50m back when he starts his move and I'm moving at a regular crisp pace. He had no idea was I going left or straight on and he got to the roundabout about 8-10m before me and swung hard left (no indication). I had to ditch to avoid a collision. Let a roar as I went down and he slammed on the brakes coming to a stop, but then took off again - obviously thinking "too much trouble". I didn't catch up with him at the lights but thankfully another motorist stopped to help.

I'm fine, bike is ok save for scratched bar tape. Left knee knows something happened to it this morning, but otherwise - lucky out.

Camera time I think

:mad:

buffalo

Trekker09 wrote: »

I actually said that to him! One of the guys that works for me knows him and apparently he was reported to the Guards a couple of months ago for reckless driving!

Will he be getting a second report? I hope so!

Seaswimmer

MangleBadger wrote: »

Cycling along Leopardstown Road which has possibly one of the worst cycle lanes I’ve encountered so I’m sure on the road. 2 lanes, minimal traffic. Some gob****e in a pickup truck still felt the need to give me a good 5 second blast as he overtook me in the also empty outside lane.

Put in my annual query to DLR about the cycle lane on Leopardstown Road and got this response. But I won't hold my breath.


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.

Regards

Trekker09

buffalo wrote: »

Will he be getting a second report? I hope so!

Yup, done and dusted.

Smee_Again

doughef wrote: »

DELETED POST

You've got it wrong. The motorist pissed off the cyclist who responded with equal parts pettiness and truthfulness.

Seth Brundle

doughef wrote: »

DELETED POST

You should head out on a bike sometime. You'd be surprised at how little it can take for a driver coming up behind a cyclist to become agressive. The cyclists presence sets them off.

CramCycle

MOD VOICE: Doughef is on holiday, please do not respond to their posts in thread as they cannot reply.

ARX

MangleBadger wrote: »

Cycling along Leopardstown Road which has possibly one of the worst cycle lanes I’ve encountered so I’m sure on the road. 2 lanes, minimal traffic. Some gob****e in a pickup truck still felt the need to give me a good 5 second blast as he overtook me in the also empty outside lane.

I use Rocwood/Leopardstown Road/Leopardstown Ave to avoid the worst of that.

The cycle lanes around the Park shopping centre in Cabinteely and the lane on Stillorgan Park Road are rotten as well. The new lanes on Lr Kilmacud Road near the Stillorgan shopping centre appear to be a thin layer of asphalt on top of sand and they are already rough - they will probably be in bits in a year or two. Even in Ireland a new road would never be constructed to such a poor standard.

I've twice cycled the length and breadth of Europe, and Dublin (in particular DLR and Dublin City) has the worst roads and cycle paths I've seen, with the exception of a handful of back roads in rural Poland (eg the DW354 that runs past the immense Turów open-pit coal mine) and some unpaved rural roads in Lithuania and Latvia. Warsaw has great cycle lanes.

Funnily enough, German cycle lanes are often really bad. In the countryside they have tree roots growing through them and are covered in a fine sand which cakes on your bike when it rains. In Hamburg they are in bits (or were when I was there).

Dowee

Took my 16 year old nephew out for a 50km spin today as he was raising money for charity by doing it. Was crossing the bridge near Blessington over the reservoir which is a slightly narrower than normal road.

There was a group of cyclists coming the opposite direction and a car coming behind me. I figured there was enough time to let him pass before we met the other group so singled out. He passed through. I didnt realise there was another car behind him, he went through too, it was a little risky as we were pretty close to the group coming the other way now but worse was to come.

Then as the other group of cyclists are passing us in the opposite direction a third vehicle, a van, pushes through so close to me I thumped the side of it. The other group all yelled at him too as he nearly went into them also.

To top it off 100m later I caught up to him at the T junction (to turn right towards Lacken). Middle aged husband and wife, I expected confrontation as I know what hitting a vehicle tends to do to these people. But not a peep from him. I yelled at him asking why he couldn't have waited 5 seconds. But was just met with the blank straight ahead stare. I'm hoping that somewhere in the vast wasteland of his head he knew he shouldn't have done it as I've never had a vehicle thump not lead to a confrontation before.

You try to be accommodating to drivers in situations like this but it often just leads to idiots pulling maneuvers like this. If I'd stayed two a breast it would have prevented it all.

micar

Dowee wrote: »

was just met with the blank straight ahead stare.

Have had that happen to me.

Probably didn't think you'd catch up.

Refused to engaged cos he knew he fu€ked up.

Not man enough to apologise.

standardg60

I always take centre lane on that bridge, the surface is dreadful and not worth the risk of accommodating someone to pass unless the other lane is clear. Most motorists are patient, but once had one practically lean on the horn most of the way across (even the rowers looked up to see what the commotion was).
He eventually overtook, but of course was still waiting at the T-junction when i got there.

ARX

standardg60 wrote: »

Most motorists are patient, but once had one practically lean on the horn most of the way across (even the rowers looked up to see what the commotion was).

Could leaning on the horn in this way be construed as assault? From the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997:

2.—(1) A person shall be guilty of the offence of assault who, without lawful excuse, intentionally or recklessly—

(a) directly or indirectly applies force to or causes an impact on the body of another, or

[...]

(2) In subsection (1) (a), “force” includes—

(a) application of heat, light, electric current, noise or any other form of energy, and

[...]

(3) No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.

hesker

ARX wrote: »

Could leaning on the horn in this way be construed as assault?

I’d be doubtful but I’m under the impression there is a law against improper use of a vehicle’s horn.

CramCycle

Could leaning on the horn in this way be construed as assault? From the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997:
.....
(3) No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.[/I]

Not in that context as if you read the full sentence, they could argue that beeping a horn is not intended to cause injury (I don't agree) and they could argue they didn't know you would find it unacceptable (but they would be lying).
On the same note, failure to leave appropriate distance between you and the vehicle in front (presuming they were not leaving enough distance as is often the case), driving without reasonable consideration, driver found to be driving carelessly. Fair amount of points and fines and a court appearance quite easily if the gardai were interested.

robinph

CramCycle wrote: »

Not in that context as if you read the full sentence, they could argue that beeping a horn is not intended to cause injury (I don't agree) and they could argue they didn't know you would find it unacceptable (but they would be lying).
On the same note, failure to leave appropriate distance between you and the vehicle in front (presuming they were not leaving enough distance as is often the case), driving without reasonable consideration, driver found to be driving carelessly. Fair amount of points and fines and a court appearance quite easily if the gardai were interested.

A tap on the horn would be to warn someone of something. Leaning on the horn for the duration of driving close behind a vulnerable road user would be intimidation if nothing else.

ARX

ARX wrote: »

(3) No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.[/I]

CramCycle wrote: »

Not in that context as if you read the full sentence, they could argue that beeping a horn is not intended to cause injury (I don't agree) and they could argue they didn't know you would find it unacceptable (but they would be lying).
On the same note, failure to leave appropriate distance between you and the vehicle in front (presuming they were not leaving enough distance as is often the case), driving without reasonable consideration, driver found to be driving carelessly. Fair amount of points and fines and a court appearance quite easily if the gardai were interested.

I think that clause 3 is to be construed as follows: no offence is committed if all 3 of the following conditions hold:

1. The force or impact is not intended or likely to cause injury (intimidation rather than injury is (I assume) the usual intention so we'll take this as true);
2. It is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life;
3. The defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.

If any of those is false then (by my amateur reading) an offence is committed.

I imagine a good prosecution could successfully argue that it is not "generally acceptable" or that the defendant did know that it was "in fact unacceptable to the other person". This of course is purely academic, as such a prosecution is never going to happen.

suffering golfer

Got a nasty fishhook yesterday. Approaching an junction with the lights starting to change to amber, car behind suddenly sped up overtaking me by the lights and turned left on top of me. If I didn't see him turning the wheel and slam on my brakes, it would have been very nasty. Guy must have been brain dead to drive like that. Hate the way people see changing lights as a signal to speed up rather than slow down.

CramCycle

Ahead of a van at a red light, turning right, as they were also (although no indicator), got through and he drew level and then turned into me (left, immediately after the turn). I managed to swing into the turn and roar. He stopped and shrugged his shoulders and mouthed something. The peds at the lights and another white van man waiting to head the other way look shook, much like myself, they were probably convinced that an ambulance was about to be called. Absolute muppetry. There is not a hope in hell he didn't know I was there, ahead at the lights, ahead for most of the turn (except that is where he drew level with me), and at his front light as he turned. An absolute f*cker. What is wrong with people, even if what I had done was illegal or a provocation (it was neither), why would you do that.

Wildly Boaring

I got over taken here

R150
https://maps.app.goo.gl/d53t8hKYbyzJYRmg8

Yep. On a blind, 90 degree bend, with a junction coming in from the right.

As a runner and buggy pusher were waiting to cross and a passat was waiting to come out from the side road.

And he gave me a good 2m!!!!
He went into the opposite lane altogether.
Madness.

Wildly Boaring

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I got over taken here

R150
https://maps.app.goo.gl/d53t8hKYbyzJYRmg8

Yep. On a blind, 90 degree bend, with a junction coming in from the right.

As a runner and buggy pusher were waiting to cross and a passat was waiting to come out from the side road.

And he gave me a good 2m!!!!
He went into the opposite lane altogether.
Madness.

Not really a near miss at all but passed there the other evening, except I took the ****ty road from Colp over to the Piltown Rd to head to Bettystown. Just before the GAA Club had a clown along side me with the window down asking for directions to the cemetery , it's right f'n next to it but he's busy looking at me and ignoring the road in front of him :eek:

MojoMaker

CramCycle wrote: »

Ahead of a van at a red light, turning right, as they were also (although no indicator), got through and he drew level and then turned into me (left, immediately after the turn). I managed to swing into the turn and roar. He stopped and shrugged his shoulders and mouthed something. The peds at the lights and another white van man waiting to head the other way look shook, much like myself, they were probably convinced that an ambulance was about to be called. Absolute muppetry. There is not a hope in hell he didn't know I was there, ahead at the lights, ahead for most of the turn (except that is where he drew level with me), and at his front light as he turned. An absolute f*cker. What is wrong with people, even if what I had done was illegal or a provocation (it was neither), why would you do that.

Individuals with loud voices, seen and heard in visible circumstances - media, opinion, news, social, tv, heck even boards, contribute to a feeling that it's ok to act this way, that cyclists are undeserving of care & attention because....hi-vis.....tax.....red lights......mutter.

People like Mannix Flynn who get cycling-supported initiatives stopped help create the impression that cyclists are somehow a "nuisance", need to be challenged and brought to heel, or sometimes simply frightened, in order to cease their exasperating two-wheeled endeavours and leave the roads for the dominant traffic form - the private car.

Seth Brundle

Paging AJR...
One in 10 motorists admit to texting while driving

One in 10 motorists admit that they regularly text on their mobile phone while driving, according to a new survey from the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

The survey found 9 per cent of motorists also admitted to talking on their handheld mobile phone while driving, or to regularly checking phone apps.

The figures were taken from an online survey of 1,241 motorists, conducted in December 2020.

The survey findings were published ahead of the upcoming May bank holiday weekend, with the RSA and An Garda Síochána warning motorists over dangerous behaviour.

Fighting Tao

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Paging AJR...
One in 10 motorists admit to texting while driving

Every vehicle (except emergency ones) should block all mobile signals.

Smee_Again

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Paging AJR...
One in 10 motorists admit to texting while driving

Surprised it’s that low.

Although not everyone who does will admit that they do.

Seth Brundle

Fighting Tao wrote: »

Every vehicle (except emergency ones) should block all mobile signals.

I'd disagree - there are meaningful reasons for car occupants to need a mobile signal.
We just need proper enforcement along with a fine that matches the consequences of the offence.

Fighting Tao

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I'd disagree - there are meaningful reasons for car occupants to need a mobile signal.
We just need proper enforcement along with a fine that matches the consequences of the offence.

Proper enforcement and fines won’t happen though.