video - cycling through dublin traffic

ando

I just spotted this video on Google, it shows what it’s like cycling through the city during rush hour traffic which I’ve never done, fascinating video when all you know is driving, he saves a lot of time too, i might give my bike a chance yet!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6622988120159554144&q=dublin&pl=true

Ernie Ball

My commute is about 4 miles from the city centre out to the stillorgan dual carriageway.

In a car, it takes 45 minutes to an hour.

On a bicycle, it takes almost exactly 25 minutes.

Bluetonic

ando wrote:

he saves a lot of time too

We'd all save time if we had such blatent disregard for the rules of the road.

Magown3

Bluetonic wrote:

We'd all save time if we had such blatent disregard for the rules of the road.

Who yanked your chain? You're just pi55ed that you saw your car sitting in traffic while he whizzed by on the bike.

Bluetonic

Magown3 wrote:

Who yanked your chain? You're just pi55ed that you saw your car sitting in traffic while he whizzed by on the bike.

I'd love to see some of the pedestrians he has no consideration for raise their fist and smack him one as he cuts in and and out of them.

lostexpectation

that looks like it was done by the boards own cyclopath

really cool song that

hmm traffic doesn't look toooo horrible

Magown3

Bluetonic wrote:

I'd love to see some of the pedestrians he has no consideration for raise their fist and smack him one as he cuts in and and out of them.

Take a look again at the video and you'll clearly see that not one of the pedestrians looked up an down the road before trying to cross or get out of the car. Even the lady with 2 kids in tow didn't check if there were bicycles or motorbikes coming. It's their own fault if they feel "cut up" by him.

youcancallmeal

Magown3 wrote:

Take a look again at the video and you'll clearly see that not one of the pedestrians looked up an down the road before trying to cross or get out of the car. Even the lady with 2 kids in tow didn't check if there were bicycles or motorbikes coming. It's their own fault if they feel "cut up" by him.

Welcome to a cyclists life. The worst is when in heavy traffic going between stationary buses/trucks, pedestrians have no concept of cyclists and dont even check to see. It seems that they think if they dont look they cant be held responsible for any accidents

That guys cycle isnt too bad, I would have turned right at the swan centre and then gone down by Ranelagh. There would have probably been less traffic.

He got a good run at the lights too...

Did you see the Learner Sticker in the big 4x4 just as he comes into Rathmines? What kind of person in the city/suburbs learns to drive in that??

gerrycollins

i must say he had a good run cycle lane left clear and anyways those roads are always backed up morning noon and night would love to see a video of a road thats not so congested or in the afternoon when the traffic is not so bad

Alkers

Bluetonic wrote:

We'd all save time if we had such blatent disregard for the rules of the road.

Like when?
Going through Rathmines is a nightmare on a bike. As you can see, the amount of people who get out of cars/step off the footpath etc... is ridiculous, every single time I cycle through there I have one or two near misses like in the video. If he had have left his house 5seconds earlier the woman and her two kids would know all about it.

unkel

Thanks for posting, Ando. A lot of it used to be part of my commute. Yes, on a bike at first. The traffic seemed very light though - it was worse in my time which is a good few years back. Anybody any ideas? Maybe it was either earlier or later than peak time or during holidays?

Simona1986 wrote:

Going through Rathmines is a nightmare on a bike

Yes it is. 7:40 into the video coming up to the canal is where I had my worst cycling accident in Dublin. A woman abruptly swung open the passenger door of a car and I went into it full speed

BTW I thought the cyclist was pretty well behaved and didn't cycle particularly fast or aggressively either

Sparky

I reckon judging by traffic, since I live in the area, its just before peak time.

And I have to agree Rathmines is a horror on a bike, especially women and kids.

John R

unkel wrote:

Thanks for posting, Ando. A lot of it used to be part of my commute. Yes, on a bike at first. The traffic seemed very light though - it was worse in my time which is a good few years back. Anybody any ideas? Maybe it was either earlier or later than peak time or during holidays?



Yes it is. 7:40 into the video coming up to the canal is where I had my worst cycling accident in Dublin. A woman abruptly swung open the passenger door of a car and I went into it full speed

BTW I thought the cyclist was pretty well behaved and didn't cycle particularly fast or aggressively either

He was pretty fast alright but not really aggressive. There are plenty of cyclists who do go too far, speeding through pedestrian lights is all too common now but he seemed OK to me.

Just at 11 mns is where I had my last and by far worst crash on the bike. A van drove out of a side street straight into me, sent me flying across the road where a car just managed to stop about 12 inches infront of me. Suddenly out of nowhere staring at a screeching tyre bearing down on me; not pleasant at all, thank fuk for ABS. On top of that the prick in the van just sped off driving over the bike in the process. Never caught the guy, a witness had a partial plate but the guards really didn't want to know.

I haven't really cycled much since then, took a while for my leg to recover and I had got out of the habit, that and changes of circumstances.

colincarnate

That French lad should phuck off back to his homeland... where there's no traffic jams mind.

zokrez

Great video. I have walked, cycled and driven that route for years and I know where he lives ! I wonder what type of camera he used and how was it mounted on the bike. I emailed my sister in Australia and she said it was better than getting a present of a packet of tayto for the memories !

Ok there were a couple of times that a cop could have given him a ticket but i reckon his cycle was fairly indicative of a daily commute for a cyclist. I really miss the bike for work but i need my car for work so cycling is not an option.

BTW, from the link page I came across a couple of other videos where I knew people in them ! Bizarre. Thanks for the link.

Bluetonic

Simona1986 wrote:

Like when?

For one, cutting through predestrian traffic lights.

copacetic

Bluetonic wrote:

I'd love to see some of the pedestrians he has no consideration for raise their fist and smack him one as he cuts in and and out of them.

but where is his blatant disregard for the rules of the road?
thats rubbish, he stops at lights etc etc and has to avoid various cars in cycle lanes and pedestrians who step out into moving traffic without looking. as far as I can tell we see about 30 car drivers with blantant disregard for the rules of the road and about 15 pedestrians. He only does a few minor things for his own safety...

Bluetonic

daveym wrote:

but where is his blatant disregard for the rules of the road?
thats rubbish, he stops at lights etc etc and has to avoid various cars in cycle lanes and pedestrians who step out into moving traffic without looking. as far as I can tell we see about 30 car drivers with blantant disregard for the rules of the road and about 15 pedestrians. He only does a few minor things for his own safety...

Firstly I'm not here to debate whether or not 'car drivers' or 'pedestrians' have had blatent disregard for the rules of the road.

Secondly I'm not going to watch through the video again and jot down the running time where he's broken the rules of the road. Take a look at when he meanders through people using a pedestrian crossing and tell me if he's breaking the rules of the road (circa 7min 54 secs). One of many.

Justifying his actions by saying 'as far as I can tell we see about 30 car drivers with blantant disregard for the rules of the road and about 15 pedestrians. He only does a few minor things for his own safety...' doesn't really cut it to be honest.

ondafly

He was the best behaved cyclist I have ever seen on the road (never seen one stop on red, when they are turning left ! i.e. leeson st. bridge), but thats probably because he knew he was being recorded. Shame the camera wasn't on his head, then we could judge better, if he looks over his shoulder to see if its clear etc.

I'm guessing the video was done around 8:30am - I do part of that route daily around 7.20am, and its nowhere near as busy.

copacetic

Bluetonic wrote:

Firstly I'm not here to debate whether or not 'car drivers' or 'pedestrians' have had blatent disregard for the rules of the road.

Secondly I'm not going to watch through the video again and jot down the running time where he's broken the rules of the road. Take a look at when he meanders through people using a pedestrian crossing and tell me if he's breaking the rules of the road (circa 7min 54 secs). One of many.

Justifying his actions by saying 'as far as I can tell we see about 30 car drivers with blantant disregard for the rules of the road and about 15 pedestrians. He only does a few minor things for his own safety...' doesn't really cut it to be honest.

what do you mean it doesn't cut it, it doesn't have to. I read your comments about 'blatant disregard' and then watched the video and couldn't believe how careful he was. basically you are full of it as far as I am concerned and i'm sure most people watching it would agree..

Bluetonic

daveym wrote:

what do you mean it doesn't cut it, it doesn't have to. I read your comments about 'blatant disregard' and then watched the video and couldn't believe how careful he was. basically you are full of it as far as I am concerned and i'm sure most people watching it would agree..

All it takes is for him to break the rules of the road once, which I have proven, for my point of view that he had 'blatent disregard' to be true. Whereas your view that you 'couldn't believe how careful he was' obviously falls short becasue of the above. Do you disagree that someone who takes a decsion to break the rules of the road is not doing it blatently? Maybe if I travel 'carefully' in my car for the majority of my journey I can break a few rules, is that it?

As to whether I'm full of it or not, I don't see how this is relevant or why you bothered to mention it, regardless of if its true or not. Quite a pointless thing to say.

zokrez

The video is 2 years old. Traffic far worse now.

dalk

ondafly wrote:

(never seen one stop on red, when they are turning left ! i.e. leeson st. bridge)

I think it should be made legal to take a left turn at a red light if it is safe to do so, just like it is in the US (except obviously its a right turn there)...

Anyway, watched the start of the video, the camera angles annoyed me and seeing as i cycle everyday, it was typical of my journey, except i don't go through pedestrian lights if someone is using it (i know i am still breaking the law)...

jman0

The only time he was a bit dodgy was turning right at Portobello bridge while the pedestrians were crossing.
He should have chosen a different route to avoid having to do that.
But for a poster to concentrate on that incident alone is quite ridiculous being the case that throughout the entire video we see cars ignoring rules of the road, blocking the road at intersections, blocking cycle lanes, pedestrians getting out of cars w/ out looking etc.
I'd say he's a well behaved cyclist. I didn't like overtaking the bus (on the left) while it's parked at a bus stop. People are entitled to enter/exit the bus just then and it'd make for a nasty collision.
I've cycled (most) this same route for nearly a year and i'd guess it's just before the rush.

Thanks for posting it.

Magown3

Bluetonic wrote:

tell me if he's breaking the rules of the road (circa 7min 54 secs). One of many.

Bluetonic wrote:

All it takes is for him to break the rules of the road once, which I have proven

Make up your mind would you... Did he break the the rules "many" times or "once"?

<controversial>
IMO he broke the rules only once at the pedestrian lights but so what, we've all broke the law at some stage or another, let's face it.
</controversial>:D

Mucco

A lot of people are commenting on whether the cyclist sticks to the rules of the road.
Let's have a game of 'spot the illegal driving' instead.
The first I saw was someone parked in the advanced stop line at the lights, gave up watching then.

M

Bluetonic

Magown3 wrote:

Make up your mind would you... Did he break the the rules "many" times or "once"?

If you had grasp of proper English you'd realise the difference betwen the two sentences when read in context.

copacetic

Bluetonic wrote:

If you had grasp of proper English you'd realise the difference betwen the two sentences when read in context.

that's hardly fair, you yourself seem to have your own way of spelling blatant and also a personal definition where it means nothing.

Magown3

Bluetonic wrote:

If you had grasp of proper English you'd realise the difference betwen the two sentences when read in context.

If you said that he broke the rules of the road "many times" and then backed it up with just one example then you haven't proved your arguement at all.

Bluetonic

Magown3 wrote:

If you said that he broke the rules of the road "many times" and then backed it up with just one example then you haven't proved your arguement at all.

When did I say I was trying to prove my argument? Answer, as it may take you some time to find it, is never. If you read slowly and put your finger under the words you'll see I used one example example to disprove the statement that the cyclist was 'careful'. I didn't attempt to prove my own statement with example as it can be easily seen.

I'm sure you can PM with any other issues you may have, let keep this thread on topic, or at least related to good, bad or indifference usage of the roads by cyclists, motorists or pedestrians.

Alkers

He may broken a light but that doesn't prove he wasn't carefull.
It is very possilbe to break a red light or go on a footpath on a bicycle while still being carefull. I don't see the cyclist in question putting anyone in danger anyway.

Bluetonic

Simona1986 wrote:

I don't see the cyclist in question putting anyone in danger anyway.

www.specsavers.ie

Pigeon Reaper

I agree wholeheartedly with Bluetonic. The cyclist should not even be on the road. It is quite obvious from the video that the cyclist is a danger to themselves and others. The fact that the cycle lanes are blocked does not entitle this obvious lunatic to try and move out into the rest of the road. The cycle lanes should be removed as they are underutilised and would better serve cars which have limited road space resulting in traffic jams. I personally think that Bluetoxic would agree wholeheartedly with me in saying that all cyclists are a danger to themselves and others as they do not queue with normal traffic. Instead they commit this absolutely antisocial reckless act of making progress when it is obvious that car are stopped for a reason. The number of cyclist deaths can be directly attributed to their complete lack of safety concerns. They deem it normal to move at over 20KM which is in fact faster than the average car in Dublin without any roll cage, airbags, seatbelt or bull bars. If a car pulls out in front of them from a side road it is the cyclists responsibility due to moving when other traffic stopped and by not having the correct width of a car which is a requirement to be noticed by my fellow car drivers like Bluemovie. Therefore I say we should ban all cyclists and motorcyclists as they damage the car when you hit them unlike the pauper pedestrians. I also wish to ban all trucks, buses, and non-car like vehicles from the roads as they slow traffic considerably.

Alkers

:rolleyes:

Bluetonic

7.46 mins - crossing continious white line
7.47 mins - cycling on wrong side of the road

It's a hideous video and should be shown to kids at an early age of how not to cycle.

Magown3

Hey Pigeon Reaper.... ever thougth of a career in politics? You'd go really far with an attitude like that. :rolleyes:

Pigeon Reaper wrote:

The cycle lanes should be removed as they are underutilised and would better serve cars which have limited road space resulting in traffic jams.

Yes.... cycle lanes are the reason that Dublins traffic is ridiculus. :rolleyes:

Pigeon Reaper wrote:

drivers like Bluemovie.

Bluemovie????? It's Bluetonic.... You're mind was clearly elsewhere at the time of writing.... LOL

ubu

Clearly Pigeon Reaper was taking the piss, and you havent copped onto that fact, as for the video, the cyclist was not behaving in an irrational manner, his movements were all predictable and he wasnt weaving in and out of cars etc, i would break far more lights than he did if i was cycling into town. people need to get rid of their holier than thou attitude, unless they have never broken a single law which i find impossible to believe is the case.

roadmanmad

This is an interesting thread. I am not familiar with all the Dublin areas but I was not impressed by this Guy's riding.

Lets see, he

pulled in front of two cars at lights.(in front of one on the canal as the light changed)

Did not take any degree of evasive action for the lady with her children and the lady who got out out the car (and yes they were all in the wrong)

passed buses on the inside (at a pace that if the bus moved in, he was comprimised or if a passenger walked out, he would have not been able to react).

did not follow any cycling etiqute like the others on the canal who were queueing up behind each other.

cycled on a footpath.

tried hard to catch the guy on the racer along the canal (admittedly he was going fast) and only caught him at the lights.

intimidated the cyclist when he caught up with the two together at the set of lights. the body language of the cyclist before he knew that someone was right on his wheel and after is noticeable.

cut the cyclist who kept pace with him after he crossed the canal. As they both approached the on coming car, he did not go out to allow the other cyclist out.


Cyclists without standards in their behaviour put themselves and others at risk. It is a good piece of video action. Good Cycling - never. It is amazing: not that they are so many accidents, but that there are so few.

I see crap driving everyday, some of it potentially fatal: but I do not want someone to say that my cycling behaviour is bad. For the record I about 2k miles a year commuting and about the same every year on the road.

mike65

Interesting glimpse into a world of which I know nothing.

Before condeming the cylcist for 'nearly' running over the errant child and mother I would need to know the lens on the camera, they are usualy wide angle so give a false indication of speed and distance.

On the other points, clearly riding on the pavement in front on a bus shelter is dumb as was crossing the box junction going right when pedestrians had the right of way so cutting straight through them. The other thing that struck me was that he did'nt seem to glance over his shoulder once if he had the camera view would have shifted to the right. I would like to have an idea of whats going on behind me.

Finally whatever happened to bells? Not 'cool' anymore it seems but quite handy.

Mike.

Cerdito

At around 8.40 in the video he pulls up at lights, with about 5 other cyclists, none of whom break the lights. I was wondering why, until I spotted the Garda car on the opposite side of the road!

Reminds me of a sign I saw at traffic lights in Galway City this week:

"Under Irish Law, a bicycle is classed as a car"

Makes sense - cars are definitely forbidden from breaking red lights, and when was the last time you saw one driving on the pavement?!

APM

although the garda car along with the securicor van & army appears to be transporting a lot of money and wouldn't have noticed or cared about the cyclists....

Civilian_Target

I'd say, to be honest, that that cyclist's fairly agressive - if that was me I'd take another 3 or 4 mins about it, and not skip traffic up the middle of the road, because that's just asking for it.

Incidentally, had he hit the women and child they would have been *entirely* to blame: they got out of their car into a lane of traffic without looking! If it had been a bus there instead....

Tony

I've both driven and cycled this route and yes he definitely broke the rules of the road and some pedestrians did not look correctly before they crossed the road. He also stopped at some red lights which is something you rarely see cyclists do. I'm wondering why cyclists always react to criticisms by citing bad behaviour by motorists and vice versa, two wrongs dont make a right. Far better for everybody if all obeyed the rules of the road and behaved with commonsense and courtesy to others.

Anybody care to do the same with a car?

We can criticise your driving and notice every time you break a law...

Tony

thanks for reinforcing my point.

KeRbDoG

The bus travelers POV
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1012916215672191995&q=dublin&pl=true

PauloMN

Bluetonic is spot on the money from what I saw on that video. That cyclist, while obviously skillful, is very over-confident, and does indeed break many many rules of the road.

Folks, regardless of whether you are on 2, 3, 4 or more wheels, nobody owns the road. The cycle lanes through Dublin are not perfect, they turn into bus stops, normal lanes etc. - that cyclist was cycling like he had absolute right-of-way in every situation regardless of any other road user or pedestrian.

Weaving in and out of cars on narrow lanes is nuts. Cyclists are NOT entitled to do that.

I saw no cases where he was cut up by a car. The only things I saw where he was put at risk was the woman and child (she should be teaching the child better road awareness than that) and his two-wheeled friends on the mopeds. All dangerous driving on that video was carried out by 2 wheelers.

Then he cycles right through a pedestrian crossing where people have a green man. I hope he cops on sometime soon, the way he cycles besides buses will someday result in him being dragged underneath one.

m4cker

Tony wrote:

I'm wondering why cyclists always react to criticisms by citing bad behaviour by motorists and vice versa, two wrongs dont make a right. Far better for everybody if all obeyed the rules of the road and behaved with commonsense and courtesy to others.

because when you get pissed on on a daily basis by by speeding big metal boxes, going through a pedestrian light at 15 mph when no body is there doesn't seem that bad.

Car driver myself but still remember and see from others what it is like to cycle. Every Gard should be put on a bike for a couple of weeks to get first hand experience in order reign in the behaviour of some drivers.

Get on a bike people and see what its like before you condemn any thing he does.

Tony

m4cker wrote:

because when you get pissed on on a daily basis by by speeding big metal boxes, going through a pedestrian light at 15 mph when no body is there doesn't seem that bad.

so getting pissed off is good reason to break the rules you criticise others for breaking? Breaking the rules of the road is not a matter of degree, you either stick to the rules or you break them. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. Some Cyclists dont just break pedestrian lights they break all lights just as some motorists do. As I've said I am a cyclst myself.