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

Seth Brundle

https://twitter.com/theaislinnhayes/status/1217154671732842497

Pinch Flat

I work right beside Tara Street. An absolute mess for cycling. It's 3 / 4 lanes in places, all fast moving traffic despite it being a 30kph zone and not even a token bike lane. A complete shambles right in the centre of the city thats 100% devoted to motorised traffic.

Dr_Colossus

Seth Brundle wrote: »

https://twitter.com/theaislinnhayes/status/1217154671732842497

Came on to check if there was any notice of above, came on the scene later and suspected it involved a cyclist. Blue van with "park anywhere lights" in right hand lane and bicycle up against the wall on the bridge with a few people standing around.

Ridiculous you can't make a witness statement. Saw a driver strike a cyclists with his wing mirror on the quays a year or two ago who continued on, effectively a hit and run. Reported it to TrafficWatch who in turn contacted Gardaí but they wouldn't take my statement a few months later as the cyclists hadn't reported it.

Stark

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I work right beside Tara Street. An absolute mess for cycling. It's 3 / 4 lanes in places, all fast moving traffic despite it being a 30kph zone and not even a token bike lane. A complete shambles right in the centre of the city thats 100% devoted to motorised traffic.

Insane lane swerving there too as people try to skip the queue to turn left there. Have seen people swerve all the way across from the far right lane to jump the queue at the last second on more than a few occasions.

Duckjob

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I work right beside Tara Street. An absolute mess for cycling. It's 3 / 4 lanes in places, all fast moving traffic despite it being a 30kph zone and not even a token bike lane. A complete shambles right in the centre of the city thats 100% devoted to motorised traffic.

You know what, I only partially blame the motorists who speed there at much >30kph, I blame the fools that designed the road that way and continue to allow the road to remain designed that way.

A 4 lane road, whether in a built up area or not fosters a driving culture that is the opposite of calm, it subconciously tells drivers - "we want to carry as much traffic through here as quickly as possible".

Any signage put in telling motorists to slow down, mind pedestrians, mind cyclists etc. is incongruent with, and is going to be cancelled by the much more powerful subliminal message of how the road looks.

Exactly the same deal with the quays which look like dual carriageways. Why would you have to do 30kph on a dual carraigeway ? It doesn't make sense.
Who plans central city roads like that ? Its the polar opposite of traffic calming . It's nonsense.

5uspect

daragh_ wrote: »

Nearly wiped out here last night around 7.

I was in the bike path - a Beemer came up the filter on the left as I was passing and just kept going. There's a stop sign which they ignored.

Lyzyne Deca Drive, flashing Cree, Hi Viz Jersey and full street lighting are no match for complete lack attention and inappropriate speed.

I managed to escape without coming off by swerving right out onto the road (from the bike path) but for a few seconds it was touch and go. Any traffic behind me and I would have been toast.

I had a similar incident over a year ago here. Similar junction but lots of backed up traffic, a driver pulled out of the far side of junction and I went over the handlebars. A second car coming up the main road the opposite direction drove over me and my bike and didn't stop.

Also cosplaying as a Xmas tree in high-vis, IXON Core front light, SeeSense back light.

Pinch Flat

Duckjob wrote: »

You know what, I only partially blame the motorists who speed there at much >30kph, I blame the fools that designed the road that way and continue to allow the road to remain designed that way.

A 4 lane road, whether in a built up area or not fosters a driving culture that is the opposite of calm, it subconciously tells drivers - "we want to carry as much traffic through here as quickly as possible".

Any signage put in telling motorists to slow down, mind pedestrians, mind cyclists etc. is incongruent with, and is going to be cancelled by the much more powerful subliminal message of how the road looks.

Exactly the same deal with the quays which look like dual carriageways. Why would you have to do 30kph on a dual carraigeway ? It doesn't make sense.
Who plans central city roads like that ? Its the polar opposite of traffic calming . It's nonsense.

Nail on the head

Seth Brundle

aah, wouldn't it be nice if the quays were like this...


https://twitter.com/dublincycling/status/1216052575939833858

CramCycle

I hit a car this evening. Slow speed and the driver would have you believe it was her fault but I am pretty sure it was 50 50. As always in Stillorgan, cars kept pulling in and parking on the double yellow lines, because, well, why not, they will never get in trouble and who gives a **** about narrowing the roadway and making it more intimidating for VRUs. Anyway, I have pulled out a bit to circumnavigate the latest tool who decides the best double yellow is the one right before a turn. I give a wide berth to avoid the inevitable door opening when the car at the junction turns. They did indicate. Not early enough but they did indicate and I could have reacted quicker. I bent their wing mirror backwards. They apologised repeatedly, I went round to the window, assured them I was fine and told them to pull in further down and we would check was there any damage. I fixed the mirror, no damage. No matter how much I assured her, she was more worried about me than anything else. It was actually lovely, she didn't care about the car, her only concern was me and that spark of humanity was a wonderful thing to see, even if it is rare nowadays.

AndrewJRenko

And by contrast, this idiot very nearly seriously injured a young female cyclist this morning, and didn't seem in the slightest bit bothered by it. Go full-screen on the vid to see clearly what happened.

https://streamable.com/6xkdt

I caught up with her down the road, and after clearly blaming the driver, I suggest she should stay well out from the parked cars. Her response was that, with all the parked cars on the opposite side, she didn't feel comfortable taking the lane and holding up traffic on our side. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the jist of it. I gently tried to guide her into not feeling guilty about taking the space she needs to be safe.

Thargor

Ive been getting the DART into Tara street then walking up towards O Connell Street on the footpath most days for the last 10 years and only in the last year or two have I seen drivers attempting to run this red and nearly plough into pedestrians crossing at every single light change, theres definitely been a significant shift to crazy driving in recent times.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3474691,-6.2549367,3a,75y,208.93h,82.88t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skGQhpaHy1H_GQI94EMq7iw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DkGQhpaHy1H_GQI94EMq7iw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D135.64952%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

sy_flembeck

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Ridiculous you can't make a witness statement

Not really, what are they meant to do with it? No complaint from the injured party means legally the incident didn't happen.

Pinch Flat

Thargor wrote: »

Ive been getting the DART into Tara street then walking up towards O Connell Street on the footpath most days for the last 10 years and only in the last year or two have I seen drivers attempting to run this red and nearly plough into pedestrians crossing at every single light change, theres definitely been a significant shift to crazy driving in recent times.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3474691,-6.2549367,3a,75y,208.93h,82.88t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skGQhpaHy1H_GQI94EMq7iw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DkGQhpaHy1H_GQI94EMq7iw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D135.64952%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Yeah I work up the road and use that junction regularly enough. It's almost a given someone will run a red these days. It's not just there though - pretty any pedestrian crossing in Dublin is fair game these days.

One near me in west Dublin I use in the evenings - on a fpist chrisfmas fitness drive, so yself anx mrs PF walking the block near where I live every evening. Most times someone will run the red - a N driver the other evening. Good to see he's adapted to the ignorant driving habits so soon after passing his test.

It's near two schools and when I was walking my son to primary school I had to grab him by the hood on more than one occasion to stop him walking out in front of a car, despite it being a green man - it's regularly ignored by motorists, despite being close to two schools. On the bike, I've nearly been rear ended by a car when stopping on red. Beeped then to move a millisecond after it goes green.

CramCycle

CramCycle wrote: »

I hit a car this evening. Slow speed and the driver would have you believe it was her fault but I am pretty sure it was 50 50. As always in Stillorgan, cars kept pulling in and parking on the double yellow lines, because, well, why not, they will never get in trouble and who gives a **** about narrowing the roadway and making it more intimidating for VRUs. Anyway, I have pulled out a bit to circumnavigate the latest tool who decides the best double yellow is the one right before a turn. I give a wide berth to avoid the inevitable door opening when the car at the junction turns. They did indicate. Not early enough but they did indicate and I could have reacted quicker. I bent their wing mirror backwards. They apologised repeatedly, I went round to the window, assured them I was fine and told them to pull in further down and we would check was there any damage. I fixed the mirror, no damage. No matter how much I assured her, she was more worried about me than anything else. It was actually lovely, she didn't care about the car, her only concern was me and that spark of humanity was a wonderful thing to see, even if it is rare nowadays.

They say they come in threes CramCycle so you're up to two now this week who weren't gob****es

A good near miss today. Had the bike locked opposite the local to work shops at lunch time as I'd forgotten my lunch so had to buy something as the canteen wasn't serving anything edible so was waiting to cross the road and fella beside me heads off first and bird **** missed him by a fraction of a second. Had he not moved off when he did he'd have been dive bombed. Pointed it out as I was crossing with him and told him he should do the lotto. Bastard won 50 euro on a scratchy :mad:

Plasmoid

sy_flembeck wrote: »

Not really, what are they meant to do with it? No complaint from the injured party means legally the incident didn't happen.

Dangerous driving?

I thought the decision to prosecute or not in Criminal Law cases was up to the DPP, not the Gardai. Surely if they'd struck a wall, the Guards would (or hopefully should) be interested in following up regardless of reports from the wall.

McGrath5

Duckjob wrote: »

You know what, I only partially blame the motorists who speed there at much >30kph, I blame the fools that designed the road that way and continue to allow the road to remain designed that way.

A 4 lane road, whether in a built up area or not fosters a driving culture that is the opposite of calm, it subconciously tells drivers - "we want to carry as much traffic through here as quickly as possible".

Any signage put in telling motorists to slow down, mind pedestrians, mind cyclists etc. is incongruent with, and is going to be cancelled by the much more powerful subliminal message of how the road looks.

Exactly the same deal with the quays which look like dual carriageways. Why would you have to do 30kph on a dual carraigeway ? It doesn't make sense.
Who plans central city roads like that ? Its the polar opposite of traffic calming . It's nonsense.

I've cycled it a few times, it feels like the supporting cast of Mad Max is chasing you down.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands....

Pinch Flat

Meanwhile in Dublin we've spent 10 years and as many options trying to get a cycle track along a the liffey .

RobbieMD

Plasmoid wrote: »

Dangerous driving?

I thought the decision to prosecute or not in Criminal Law cases was up to the DPP, not the Gardai. Surely if they'd struck a wall, the Guards would (or hopefully should) be interested in following up regardless of reports from the wall.

The DPP has directed that An Garda Síochana may prosecute a variety of offences without input from the DPP. These are generally on the lower end of the scale and generally offences heard at District Court level. Google DPP general direction no3.

In theory the driver who knocked the cyclist down could be prosecuted under the Road Traffic Act without the cyclist making a statement. In reality they very rarely are.

aloooof

McGrath5 wrote: »

Meanwhile in the Netherlands....

I'm recently back from Amsterdam and all I could help thinking was:
1. "I wish Dublin was like this".
2. "I'd absolutely hate driving in the city".

After visiting places that have gotten it right, it seems so obvious that cities should be built for people and not for cars.

mr spuckler

sy_flembeck wrote: »

No complaint from the injured party means legally the incident didn't happen.

I made a complaint about a collision before (had supporting video evidence), the injured party wasn't found but the case went to court for careless driving.

Duckjob

aloooof wrote: »

I'm recently back from Amsterdam and all I could help thinking was:
1. "I wish Dublin was like this".
2. "I'd absolutely hate driving in the city".

After visiting places that have gotten it right, it seems so obvious that cities should be built for people and not for cars.

I did some travelling (by car unfortunately) around in rural NL in November and what stuck me even more that the number of bikes in the cities was seeing lovely separated cycle tracks running parallel to the roads between cities and towns.,

Even more striking again was seeing cyclists (obviously not half as many as in the cities), but of all ages including schoolkids happily riding these routes even in the most rural parts between cities and towns. I couldn't imagine seeing anything similar Ireland where intercity city/town support for cycling is virtually non-existant.

I think that there, is possible even greater of a marker of a great cycling culture, where ordinary people not only cycling in numbers in the cities, but are using cycle routes to go these longer distances. I think when you remove all the danger and apprehension that goes with having to share the road with (and particularly with hostile) traffic, what you're left with is pure stress relieving enjoyment. I also think if you do that many more people will jump for those options even on longer distances.

The really sad thing is it could be so similar here, if only our policitians would open their eyes, but they still prefer to spend most of their time banging on about electric cars in any talk about sustainable travel.

kenmm

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I work right beside Tara Street. An absolute mess for cycling. It's 3 / 4 lanes in places, all fast moving traffic despite it being a 30kph zone and not even a token bike lane. A complete shambles right in the centre of the city thats 100% devoted to motorised traffic.

ye its manic - got beeped there the other day - not just 4 lanes, but also a series of lights that people want to race.

The 'crime' that I was beeped for.. not going quick enough I guess (despite the garmin reading 32kmph..)

Its practically the only main thoroughfare fair (apart from Port Tunnel) for the whole GC Dock area if they want to go west.

Akabusi

Duckjob wrote: »

I did some travelling (by car unfortunately) around in rural NL in November and what stuck me even more that the number of bikes in the cities was seeing lovely separated cycle tracks running parallel to the roads between cities and towns.,

Even more striking again was seeing cyclists (obviously not half as many as in the cities), but of all ages including schoolkids happily riding these routes even in the most rural parts between cities and towns. I couldn't imagine seeing anything similar Ireland where intercity city/town support for cycling is virtually non-existant.

I think that there, is possible even greater of a marker of a great cycling culture, where ordinary people not only cycling in numbers in the cities, but are using cycle routes to go these longer distances. I think when you remove all the danger and apprehension that goes with having to share the road with (and particularly with hostile) traffic, what you're left with is pure stress relieving enjoyment. I also think if you do that many more people will jump for those options even on longer distances.

The really sad thing is it could be so similar here, if only our policitians would open their eyes, but they still prefer to spend most of their time banging on about electric cars in any talk about sustainable travel.

I know its a bit stereotypical, but my company has an office in The Netherlands and I used to hate having to deal with them. I found them arrogant and over fussy. However, having since travelled over there quite a lot I have found a new appreciation and understanding of them. They do things the right way and don't have our attitude of "ah sure it will be grand". It must be equally frustrating for them to have to deal with us.

CramCycle

CramCycle wrote: »

I hit a car this evening. Slow speed and the driver would have you believe it was her fault but I am pretty sure it was 50 50. As always in Stillorgan, cars kept pulling in and parking on the double yellow lines, because, well, why not, they will never get in trouble and who gives a **** about narrowing the roadway and making it more intimidating for VRUs. Anyway, I have pulled out a bit to circumnavigate the latest tool who decides the best double yellow is the one right before a turn. I give a wide berth to avoid the inevitable door opening when the car at the junction turns.

the new Dublin Academy (Dublin school of grinds) has opened up above Lidl and parents who are happy paying €6k a year in fees are too tight to pay €1 to park in the car park when picking up their kids.

It can be carnage there when the grinds classes chuck out.

crisco10

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Yeah I work up the road and use that junction regularly enough. It's almost a given someone will run a red these days. It's not just there though - pretty any pedestrian crossing in Dublin is fair game these days.

One near me in west Dublin I use in the evenings - on a fpist chrisfmas fitness drive, so yself anx mrs PF walking the block near where I live every evening. Most times someone will run the red - a N driver the other evening. Good to see he's adapted to the ignorant driving habits so soon after passing his test.

It's near two schools and when I was walking my son to primary school I had to grab him by the hood on more than one occasion to stop him walking out in front of a car, despite it being a green man - it's regularly ignored by motorists, despite being close to two schools. On the bike, I've nearly been rear ended by a car when stopping on red. Beeped then to move a millisecond after it goes green.

The Green Man is a guideline at pedestrian crossings. Always think of this heartbreaking story.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/driver-who-killed-child-6-after-breaking-red-light-jailed-for-four-years-1.3735530

I had one a few weeks ago at the pedestrian crossing near Wesley College. Was waiting to cross (with a buggy wearing its Christmas Tree lighting outfit), as I was looking at a green man a car just breezes through at a reasonable speed. I raised my hand and caught the motorists eye in a "WTF " kind of way. He literally shrugged his shoulders.
So this guy was paying enough attention to see my gesture in the dusky light, so I assume he would have seen the solid red he went through. But still proceeded because why not. Why should he wait the 60 seconds it takes for pedestrian crossing.

FouxDaFaFa

crisco10 wrote: »

I had one a few weeks ago at the pedestrian crossing near Wesley College. Was waiting to cross (with a buggy wearing its Christmas Tree lighting outfit), as I was looking at a green man a car just breezes through at a reasonable speed. I raised my hand and caught the motorists eye in a "WTF " kind of way. He literally shrugged his shoulders.

Yeah, had an unusually brazen one at the junction near RTE yesterday (as a pedestrian). Flashing green man, myself and another guy stepping onto the road when he hear a car accelerating like crazy to cross the junction. This is a big enough junction, he would have had a solid red when he took off. By the time he had passed, green man was flashing amber. I gestured at him but he couldn't give a fcuk.

Seth Brundle

Maybe we could try this ...

https://twitter.com/jeremyburge/status/1217122852765229058

...and if you doubt that it's real then take a look @ it on Streetview (on all four fourners)

tnegun

The have some crazy setups in the states very nearly caught me out when driving over there too. You can have a green right filter while the pedestrian crossing your driving through has the walk sign displayed. There is a "yield to pedestrians in the crossing" sign somewhere close by but having experienced it from the drivers seat and as a pedestrian it's a shambles!!

Stark

It's pretty much standard for grid systems over there. Having spent a good bit of time over there it actually works quite well for the most part. As long as you don't have tourists driving . Means there's always a walk light in some direction, no dead time where it's all car traffic and no pedestrian time so pedestrians effectively have full priority. I prefer it to our system of having to stand and wait while traffic turning left/right has the priority tbh.