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

Quango Unchained

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122227495#Comment_122227495

Obviously depends on which definition you use. He does stays within the law himself but he is a private citizen undertaking law enforcement without authority from any public body.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122231087#Comment_122231087

I might not entirely agree with his modus operandi, but there's no 'enforcement' in anything he does to be fair. Enforcement is arrest/ detention/ fining/ charging/ prosecuting/ sentencing. Private citizens are perfectly entitled to present evidence of law-breaking to the appropriate authorities where it affects them.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122231087#Comment_122231087

He's not undertaking ANY enforcement. He's reporting people to the relevant authorities, same as any of us do when we see someone being burgled, or someone being assaulted. Enforcement is done by the police in all cases.

What definition of vigilante are you using?

magicbastarder

funny one today - not a near miss, dunno what you'd call it.

heading west along the runway towards st margarets, the traffic was all backed up (spillover from the M50 which was at a standstill). there's a hard shoulder lasting maybe 100m near the end of the road, so i swung in there to overtake the stationary traffic; but the 'hard shoulder' is delineated with traffic cones. i popped back out into the main lane about 5 or 10m in front of a stationary artic beside one of the cones, and i felt something impact my foot or pedal, an immediate tearing noise and then a loud hissing noise; although still with something heavy on my foot. ****, i thought, puncture; but i'd actually managed to hook a sandbag (which was sitting on the base of the traffic cone) onto my pedal and had dragged it maybe 5m up the road with me. it was the noise of it dragging along the road which sounded like a hiss.

to be fair to the lorry driver, he thought it was funny and sat there till i extricated myself, returned the sandbag, and got going again. gave me a friendly beep of the horn.

munsterfan2

When there's a solid white line on a bend, no problem, just undertake on the house entrance…. https://streamable.com/ypxkj5

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239511#Comment_122239511

Did that just happen? WTF

munsterfan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239584#Comment_122239584

Yup, this morning between Carickmacross & Ardee. I have the reg plate from the video… is there any point reporting ?

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239511#Comment_122239511

I didn't need to watch the clip to know that it was either a BMW or an Audi with fancy wheels and blacked out windows.

Appalling stuff. We had one yesterday where the big BMW SUV driver decided to overtake on a solid white line and a bend. He had to jump on the brakes, stop dead on the other side of the road, because sure enough a car came around the corner towards us. He got a good blast of the horn for his troubles. Pure brainless stuff.

Paddigol

Edit: double post

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239756#Comment_122239756

Definitely. That's too much of a disregard for so many rules of the road, not to mention criminal reckless driving offence, to let it go. Hopefully he has a few other notes on his record and the powers that be might actually crack down on him at some point.

CramCycle

Coming home in my car yesterday and there was a group of cyclists ahead. Small group, enjoying the fine weather but the road was too windy for an overtake. Anyway, I sit in for maybe 2 minutes (if even, probably only 1), road straightens up and widens out. Once it is clear, I overtook but the Merc SUV behind me, does the same but then starts blasting the horn and shouting (so it looked like in my rear view mirror), out the window at the cyclists. Not sure what the point was, their formation wasn't tight but it really didn't change anything as you couldn't safely have overtaken anyway. I took the reg but doubt it is worth my time to even report.

Steoller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239756#Comment_122239756

Bandit country. Thought I recognised the road. Once you pass the Carrick roundabout on the N2 heading north, all bets are off on the driving you'll see.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122240761#Comment_122240761

Surely a public education campaign on the point of cycling two abreast would help to alleviate a lot of the grief and stress on the roads. Even for drivers - presumably a good proportion of them would relax a bit more if they understood that the cyclists in front of them weren't just being ignorant asshats?

1. If they were to single out, they'd single out more or less in line with the outermost rider (in other words, you'd still have the same space for an overtake). Why? because that's the safest line to ride a) so as not to be run into the ditch, b) so as not to invite dangerous overtakes, and c) so that you're not cycling in kerbside detritus likely to increase your chances of a mechanical.
2. If 6 cyclists two-abreast were to single out, you'd need to cover approx. 20 metres for an over take instead of just 10. The opportunities to make such a pass on secondary roads are much lower.

Like, its been done to death on here - countless posts over the years trying to talk sense into someone who comes on for a rant. We all understand the logic, but try having that reasonable, calm conversation with the likes of your Merc SUV driver above… pointless. I know from experience, most family and friends who don't cycle are oblivious to the reasoning for two abreast in groups.

VonLuck

Question about close passes and cycle lanes. If I am cycling in a cycle lane with dashed white lines (I think it's officially called a cycle track?) and a car is driving past, do they still have to give 1.5m distance from me legally speaking? I'm not sure if it's considered overtaking as they are technically in a different lane, but the risk is still the same.

It happens all the time where people see the dashed line and then drive tight to it.

magicbastarder

they don't have to give you 1.5m as it stands, unfortunately - the proposed change to the law to stipulate that was not passed, and it remains a guidance only.

if it's not actually considered an overtake, i suspect the law is silent on it.

CR 7

Crossing a narrow bridge(on foot!) yesterday evening, the SUV coming from behind just couldn't wait for me to make it the less than 50m to the other side and just had to squeeze me into the stone wall to avoid the oncoming van that had stopped(due to the narrow bridge). All in a 50km/h zone.

He then happening to be driving back out of my estate when I got there a few minutes later so I flagged him down and tried to have the polite conversation with him.

"You should try to leave a bit more space when overtaking pedestrians."

"I do loads of cycling and I thought I gave loads of space, I consider myself a very good driver."

"I could have put my hand out and touched the car as you passed."

"You know, I'm actually a cop..."

"Then you should have even more awareness around more vulnerable road users."

He drove off then, obviously had been expecting me to apologise for daring to question a "cop"...

I know I was jogging and not cycling, but there's no equivalent thread and it's the same basic issue anyway, a lack of care towards anyone not in a car. It's a narrow bridge I have to cross if I want to run from home without driving to start somewhere. There's no footpath on the bridge, but it's only wide enough for one modern car at a time anyway so traffic generally waits at either side to give way and that leaves enough space for pedestrians/cyclists. The footpath is only on one side of the road either side of the bridge so you have to go on the same side of the road in both directions.

I'm still undecided on whether I'll bother to report it, he didn't seem like the type to accept there's a better way to behave around pedestrians/cyclists.

De Bhál

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258146#Comment_122258146

If I had to live in the same estate as him I wouldn't be reporting it to be honest. You've highlighted to him face to face how he was wrong and you'd hope if he was anyway decent he'd wait behind the next time this happens.

"You know I'm actually a cop"…. not someone I'd want dealings with really. Did he say "cop"?

CramCycle

Do you know people who say "do you know, I am a cop", are more often than not, not actually cops. If it was me I'd have taken the reg and report to the local Super that someone is impersonating Gardai in order to be intimidating. What he is, but didn't say, is a bit of a Walter Mitty type but at least Walter kept his fantasies in his head.

magicbastarder

i've had that too myself. a woman who nearly ran me off my bike on st martin's row in chapelizod and objected when i slapped the side of her car to let her know i was there. there was some exchange about calling the gardai, and she said 'i am a garda'.

she floored it when i said 'right then, i'll call the gardai and also tell them you were impersonating a garda'.

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258342#Comment_122258342

I've yet to meet a Garda who would refer to themselves as a "cop"

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122257763#Comment_122257763

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122257768#Comment_122257768

There is a specific offence of dangerous overtaking of a cyclist, and another general offence of overtaking causing inconvenience. Neither specify a distance.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258146#Comment_122258146

Vast majority of my running is on lanes and I find if I think someone is going to cut it close despite enough room or skim at speed I find holding my arm out to the side(not like I'm trying to flag a taxi, just a 45 degree angle) usually gives them pause for thought and they usually make eye contact and see me as a person again.

Although I may reconsider if I ever get my hand broken at some point!

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258885#Comment_122258885

Yeah I also do a lot of running on the road. Same experience, the behaviour changes completely when you male eye contact.

I'm also a demon for going a car a rap on the side if it's too close, i'd not advise that. Have had 2 men stop to explain how shite they are at driving.

As with cycling I find that "taking the lane helps". I run a couple of feet out from the ditch. Not in the middle of the lane but enough to stop a genius from squeezing past me.

I get more space on the bike than running generally. Running and walking are a right eye opener for phone and touchscreen use.

CR 7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258630#Comment_122258630

That's exactly what I was thinking as he said it, any "cops" I know don't go around using it as a get out of jail card. Also, I was already skeptical of his claim of doing "loads of cycling" without the physique to match...

sy_flembeck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258678#Comment_122258678

Speaking as someone relatively recently retired from the Guards, we'd have collectively called each other many things. 'Cop' was never one of those things. If that was the wording he used then he's not what he says he is

MojoMaker

I think it wasn't in Ireland, which might explain it.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122257763#Comment_122257763

A dashed cycle lane is a shared lane, so realistically it may as well not be there in terms of a safe overtake. The point of them is to emphasise the right of a cyclist to be there in the first place, but unfortunately some drivers think once they overtake without encroaching across the lines it is a safe overtake.

DJD

Had a horrible close pass on Kellystown Road on the way up to Ticknock earlier. White van blew past in the face of an oncoming car. Felt like they came within a hairs breath of hitting me. Unfortunately didn't get reg.

Seth Brundle

Just stumbled upon this UK Law Firms Q&A page on close passing cyclists - amusing (and familiar as a recipient of these experiences) reading the questions at the bottom of the page...

https://www.motoroffence.co.uk/close-pass-the-ramifications-of-driving-too-close-to-a-cyclist/

hesker

“Obviously I don’t wish to take this to court but do feel that was not an unsafe pass but more unfortunate that the location and speed of the road resulted in the incident.”

Pathetic