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

AndrewJRenko

Suvarnabhumi wrote: »

On the way home today. If you know Templeogue village heading towards Terenure, theres no right turn onto Dodder View Road, so I always cross at the pedestrian lights (they have bike lights on them too). Anyway, me and a pedestrian waiting to cross, we get green and a van takes the (no) right turn and through the pedestrian crossing beeping at us as he comes through.

I have it on camera, he was driving an Enterprise rent a van. Have a clear picture of the reg. Contemplating reporting it, will have a think about it over night.

Enterprise provide loads of vans to An Post.

magicbastarder

well, enterprise may take a dim view if you tell them you're reporting it to the gardai.
though i don't know what the policy would be there on how to deal with it.

anyway, for me this evening - northbound on the old N1, had passed white's agri, coming towards this junction:
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.5335241,-6.1954716,3a,75y,341.85h,79.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXkxl3erFZ66_AtsqPtnKUg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

there was a guy in a large tractor, pulling a large trailer full of hay bales, waiting to pull out from the road on the right there. he decided to start pulling out when i was maybe 100m from the junction, and he didn't exactly have the acceleration of a ferrari; common sense for me might have been to slam on but i had a slight attack of the red mist so i decided i wasn't going to let him bully me off the road. so i kept going and made him hit the brakes. i'd say he was about 16.

crosstownk

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Enterprise provide loads of vans to An Post.

And to lots of other companies and individuals. Not sure why you're singling out An Post....?

sy_flembeck

crosstownk wrote: »

And to lots of other companies and individuals. Not sure why you're singling out An Post....?

An Post was my instant thought too. Probably because they are in my estate daily

AndrewJRenko

crosstownk wrote: »

And to lots of other companies and individuals. Not sure why you're singling out An Post....?

Because most of the Enterprise vans I see around here have a postie in the driving seat.

Suvarnabhumi

Breezer wrote: »

Please do. I was raging I didn’t have a camera this morning when the truck driver did the same thing. If a pedestrian is on the road in front of you, you STOP. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the wrong, or if you think they are. You just stop. You don’t keep going and beep the horn. That’s how people get killed.

I reported the incident. I looked at the video again last night and he cuts across oncoming traffic and another cyclist to make the illegal right turn.

I would suggest getting a camera, as the evidence is pretty clear here.....

https://ibb.co/mJMLkDf

Hurrache

That still is pretty damning, 2 green lights for you guys he's driving through and obviously he knows you're there crossing.

ARX

Suvarnabhumi wrote: »

I have it on camera, he was driving an Enterprise rent a van. Have a clear picture of the reg. Contemplating reporting it, will have a think about it over night.

If you go down to your local An Post depot in the evening you might spot the van there.

Seth Brundle

ARX wrote: »

If you go down to your local An Post depot in the evening you might spot the van there.

No point - that would just set up a confrontation.
Head to the gardai with it and let them follow up on it.

That and the picture shows it unlikely a postman.

secman

The usual left hook attempt this morning, heading down greenhills Road and as i aporoached the left turn into Ballymount just before the Maxol station i was overtaken by an Audi estate who the braked hard to take the left turn, there's a cycle lane the whole way down the Greenhills road. I had to brake hard as he cut across me. The driver simply didnt take my speed into account as it wasn't a safe manoeuvre by him.

hold my beer

I hatethe Greenhills Road with a passion. The planners should hang their head in shame.

CramCycle

I'm starting to think that I am the problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmuF-0P4tk

Had a guy slow merge into the bike lane going up to Sandyford to block the bike lane even though he didn't have the physical space to undertake the car (even without me there) he was trying to undertake, so he had to stop. Another lad in Shankill over took me coming up to one of those traffic islands in the middle of the road and pulled in on me. I hit the window, and he didn't even notice, turned left less than 30m later. I went after him, I really think he had no concept of what I was trying to tell him. He just said OK.

I mean, is it just me, at this point I hope it is because otherwise, it means there are alot of brain dead, half asleep, no concept of space, people operating vehicles that could kill with ease. Mena being the issue would actually be a sense of relief.

07Lapierre

CramCycle wrote: »

I'm starting to think that I am the problem


Had a guy slow merge into the bike lane going up to Sandyford to block the bike lane even though he didn't have the physical space to undertake the car (even without me there) he was trying to undertake, so he had to stop. Another lad in Shankill over took me coming up to one of those traffic islands in the middle of the road and pulled in on me. I hit the window, and he didn't even notice, turned left less than 30m later. I went after him, I really think he had no concept of what I was trying to tell him. He just said OK.

I mean, is it just me, at this point I hope it is because otherwise, it means there are alot of brain dead, half asleep, no concept of space, people operating vehicles that could kill with ease. Mena being the issue would actually be a sense of relief.

there's another possibility:
https://www.thejournal.ie/national-drug-and-alcohol-survey-2019-2020-5481966-Jul2021/

I cycle through Malahide and when i see the amount of people sitting outside drinking alcohol, i cant help wondering how many of them drove to Malahide?

5uspect

A new park opened a few minutes away from us and we put the kids in the urban arrow and went over to check it out. Lovely playground!

On the way back we wanted to get ice cream so we needed to turn right off the main road. We signalled and moved across the lane and the dozy fool coming up behind us just shoved past us and on her way. Again, completely unaware.

fat bloke

5uspect wrote: »

A new park opened a few minutes away from us and we put the kids in the urban arrow and went over to check it out. Lovely playground!

On the way back we wanted to get ice cream so we needed to turn right off the main road. We signalled and moved across the lane and the dozy fool coming up behind us just shoved past us and on her way. Again, completely unaware.

Or. Completely aware, and just didn't give a flying f....

Duckjob

CramCycle wrote: »

I'm starting to think that I am the problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmuF-0P4tk

Had a guy slow merge into the bike lane going up to Sandyford to block the bike lane even though he didn't have the physical space to undertake the car (even without me there) he was trying to undertake, so he had to stop. Another lad in Shankill over took me coming up to one of those traffic islands in the middle of the road and pulled in on me. I hit the window, and he didn't even notice, turned left less than 30m later. I went after him, I really think he had no concept of what I was trying to tell him. He just said OK.

I mean, is it just me, at this point I hope it is because otherwise, it means there are alot of brain dead, half asleep, no concept of space, people operating vehicles that could kill with ease. Mena being the issue would actually be a sense of relief.

You’ve just made me want to watch Falling Down all over again. Id forgotten how good it is....

Thargor

Duckjob wrote: »

You’ve just made me want to watch Falling Down all over again. Id forgotten how good it is....

Like Terminator 2 and Goodfellas, if I see it on ITV4 or some other random channel at 2 in the morning I just have to watch it no matter how many times Ive seen it.

magicbastarder

i dunno, i suspect it hasn't aged well. i saw someone with a fake DFENS reg plate a couple of years ago and wondered if they knew he wasn't *meant* to be a hero. at least, that's how i remember the movie.

hold my beer

I haven't seen it in years but I bet it stands up very well. Man loses rag at everything will always resonate

silverharp

the skinny is, better not to change lanes to pass cyclists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HckuL116g4

hesker

silverharp wrote: »

the skinny is, better not to change lanes to pass cyclists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HckuL116g4

Very poor advice from that instructor. Encouraging the learner to straddle lanes with no mention of safe passing distance. The safe passing distance should be the first principle, then by all means he can advise that straddling can be a safer approach. But as it stands his advice is just going to encourage close passing.

Edit: he does mention giving plenty of room but that is too vague and overall the learner is going to distill his advice down to a simple dangerous concept.

Wildly Boaring

I'm with him.

Right he could have been more descriptive of the space.

But in 2 lanes the straddle position (with plenty of space) has got to be the safest for the cyclist.

It completely stops dick manouvers like the Yaris undertaking the truck.

I'd much rather a HGV straddle the 2 lanes going past me.

cletus

He seems to be dealing very specifically with dual or multiple lane carriage ways. There's definitely the risk of you fully change lanes to the right, that somebody may overtake you on the left in that instance. In Ireland, you're not supposed to overtake on the left unless the traffic is slow moving, or stop start.

In the particular instance in the video, what he says makes sense.


As an aside, it bugs me to no end that he say undertaking in that video

silverharp

it wasnt a risk I'd have considered, that some muppet would go up the inside, parked in my brain hopefully

smacl

Personally, a fast moving dual carriageway is the last place I'd be by choice on the bike in the first instance. That said, straddling lanes while giving safe passing distance does seem like the better option here.

Odd close pass on Wednesday, I passed an accident in Dundrum where a fire engine was blocking the road and holding up traffic in the opposite lane. Police car with sirens came tearing towards me in my lane giving me no time to get to the kerb and stop. Guessing that they were on the way to do traffic control for the accident but scared the crap out of me.

Duckjob

hesker wrote: »

Very poor advice from that instructor. Encouraging the learner to straddle lanes with no mention of safe passing distance. The safe passing distance should be the first principle, then by all means he can advise that straddling can be a safer approach. But as it stands his advice is just going to encourage close passing.

Edit: he does mention giving plenty of room but that is too vague and overall the learner is going to distill his advice down to a simple dangerous concept.

His advice seems well intentioned and I can see a certain logic in what he's saying but I think it misses the mark slightly -

The problem in his example isn't that the truck gave too much space by going to lane 2, it's that the cyclist's position in that case was not assertive enough to take control of lane 1.

If the cyclist was commanding lane 1 properly, then the truck driver going to lane 2 still would not leave enough space for a squeeze through between them.

Even if the truck had not been overtaking, but had just been driving normally in lane 2 along with other traffic, the cyclist by his/her positioning would still be leaving themselves open to those sort of dangerous drivers.

It's an interesting video but I think it's more a lesson for cyclists in the importance of defensive cycling than it is for motorists on how to overtake safely.

buffalo

Beeped at by a driver this morning because I wasn't using the cycle lane to cross the M4 (three 100km/h slips to navigate along the way).

He wasn't actually delayed in any way, so I gave him a big smile and a wave and told him to have a great weekend.

Seth Brundle

buffalo wrote: »

Beeped at by a driver this morning because I wasn't using the cycle lane to cross the M4 (three 100km/h slips to navigate along the way).

He wasn't actually delayed in any way, so I gave him a big smile and a wave and told him to have a great weekend.

Whereabouts was this?

Wishbone Ash

smacl wrote: »

... Police car with sirens came tearing towards me...

A 'Police' car in Dundrum? I didn't know the PSNI operated so far south!

Apologies smacl - just one of my pet hates. Years ago at work, i was asked to report to the 'Police Station' in Swords. I never made it there and am still searching for it!