First "nearly got squished" moment

camroc76

Mornin' all,
Occasional poster and well obviously a lurker... Sitting in work trying to type as coherantly as possible after my first "nearly got squished moment" involving, Nissan 4*4 and me. Coming down Sandyford Road (with all its new road markings) about 100 metres from the junction at Dundrum (where the road has a pinch point), i was cycling along nicely with all the new surface and all...Nissan driver decides he cant wait 5 minutes to turn left and head for the M50 so in his infinite wisedom decides to try and cut down the cycle lane and of course forgets to check his mirror...for a bout 3 seconds i was leaning into the 4*4:eek:..before my manic thumping of his window finally dawned on him that something was up :rolleyes:
Various hand gestures and a quick but efficient verbal exchange ensued, he speeds off...and then i remember LICENCE PLATE !!!!!:D doh !!

Vent over but still very angry !!!!

TinyExplosions

Glad you didn't come off mate. Cup of tea is what you need to regain the zen calm.

Not really related, but what pissed me off today was a Garda Traffic Corps 4x4 that couldn't wait at a red light, so sticks on the blues to go through the junction (I was waiting to turn left, so he went through on my green light), only to turn them off and patiently join the queue of cars at the next red light... what a wanker!

kenmc

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Not really related, but what pissed me off today was a Garda Traffic Corps 4x4 that couldn't wait at a red light, so sticks on the blues to go through the junction (I was waiting to turn left, so he went through on my green light), only to turn them off and patiently join the queue of cars at the next red light... what a wanker!

Ah come on now Tiny, you know full well that the donuts were getting cold.

camroc76

Thanks, so am I:) only started to communte by bike so it was a bit of a shock..

kenmc

welcome aboard! Avoid them cycle tracks if possible. Lethal things.

TinyExplosions

kenmc wrote: »

Ah come on now Tiny, you know full well that the donuts were getting cold.

Oh I know it's just common jealousy

WicklowRacer

Same this morning, coming from Sandyford Road down towards the Beacon Hotel, wanker turns left across the cycle lane. I jam on, hit the car on the LHS. He winds down the window, calls me a "big thick" and can't I see the road? I call him a c**t (in front of his kids, sorry about that) and off we go...

camroc76

WicklowRacer wrote: »

Same this morning, coming from Sandyford Road down towards the Beacon Hotel, wanker turns left across the cycle lane. I jam on, hit the car on the LHS. He winds down the window, calls me a "big thick" and can't I see the road? I call him a c**t (in front of his kids, sorry about that) and off we go...

Its a pity really..i actually really enjoy the cycle down from Stepaside and have stuck at it even with the wind and rain...Next problem...how to get over being overtaken by that guy on the hybrid..:o

tunney

Meh, who actually remembers their first accident.

Was it the time I cycled into a car? (my fault)
Or was it the next time I did this (my fault)
Or the third time in two months I did this?
Or was it the time I cycled into a gardai car head on? (my fault again, they loved seen me fly across the bonnet).
Or was it the time I tried to descent the Dublin mountains in the ice?
Or was it the time I got hit by a car because riding with no lights?
Or was it the time a granny pulled out into me?

(All before I was 16.......)


Crashes are part and parcel of cycling.

Squishes on the other hand - just cycle offensively in the middle of the lane (car lane that is) and while you'll anger people there will be f*ck all "nearly squished" moments. A good defense is a good offense.

AstraMonti

Ah this was the rage morning? I was cycling down on Goatstown rd... and a nice suv decides to get out of his freaking parking without looking on his right. I was at around 35km/h and i found it extremely difficult to brake on such short notice.. Luckily he didnt see me at all so he didn't brake as he was going out .. if he would brake that would probably end with me fitted in his door.. When i eventually stopped and started shouting at him he had a weird look on his face.. like.. "i didn't do anything, why is he shouting". Bad thing was that he had children on the car Oh well.. nothing happened..

Glad you are well camroc76

ROK ON

tunney wrote: »

Meh, who actually remembers their first accident.

I do. A parked ambulance pulled out of its parking space as I was cycing to school about 20 years ago. Hit me a fair wallop,, ended up all over the road. The paramedics jumped out and saw that I was ok.
I always thught that it was ironic that I nearly lost my life due to the mistake of people who are trained to save lives.

OP: Hope that you are ok. COunt youself lucky and move on. That is all we can do really.

Shazbot

tunney wrote: »

Crashes are part and parcel of bad cycling.

Just thought I'd fix that for you.

It's a hazard cycling and I'm glad to hear you're ok OP. I'm sure you're an observant cyclist otherwise you would have been under the 4x4. It's near misses like this that make us better cyclists and open our eyes to the dangers of being on the road.

TinyExplosions

Shazbot wrote: »

Just thought I'd fix that for you.

It's a hazard cycling and I'm glad to hear you're ok OP. I'm sure you're an observant cyclist otherwise you would have been under the 4x4. It's near misses like this that make us better cyclists and open our eyes to the dangers of being on the road.

I've got to agree with Tunney here, crashes are part of cycling. Accidents happen no matter how careful you are (just as the owner of the broken wrist on here atm -we were doing nothing wrong, just happened to go over a patch of ice at the wrong moment).

I'm a firm believer that if you cycle regularly, it's more a case of when you'll have a spill rather than if. The trick is keeping the Mean Time Between Spills (MTBS) as high as possible. Unless of course you're Blorg, in which case it's a weekly spill or he doesn't feel like himself

ROK ON

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Not really related, but what pissed me off today was a Garda Traffic Corps 4x4 that couldn't wait at a red light, so sticks on the blues to go through the junction (I was waiting to turn left, so he went through on my green light), only to turn them off and patiently join the queue of cars at the next red light... what a wanker!

Similar thing happened to me me last year. Was in Chinese take away on Navan Rd, so were 2 Gardai. I was served first and walked home with takeaway. Very shortly afterwards, Gardai pulled out sirens balzing to travel the 150/200 meters or so to turn in at the Navan Rd Garda station.

Nearly choked on a prawn cracker in laughter.

Ghost Rider

That must have hurt...!

WicklowRacer wrote: »

He winds down the window, calls me a "big thick" ..

WicklowRacer

Ghost Rider wrote: »

That must have hurt...!

It did.. I dont mind being called stupid.. but fat really hurts.

Raam

camroc76 wrote: »

before my manic thumping of his window finally dawned on him that something was up :rolleyes:

I banged on the window of a car which did similar to me. The person driving it accused me of criminal damage.

Exchanges like that can shake you up, but you get over them swiftly enough.

kenmc

"criminal damage" < "attempted murder"

Raam

kenmc wrote: »

"criminal damage" < "attempted murder"

I must remember that one

short circuit

Nothing as life threatening interesting as some of you here .. Decided to leave home at a strange time of 8:45 ... never again ... Mommies & Daddies dropping kids to school have full control of the roads, cycle lanes & foot paths.

And loony lolipop ladies thinking of evil ways to bring cyclists off .. if I had been 2secs slow ... or not on the drops .. my teeth would have been embedded into the stop sign.

And finally along the quays .. guy decides he is not waiting around for the traffic to turn right and pulls into cycle lane just as I am going past .. but sees hears me quick ... so not really a near death experience ..

kenmc

short circuit wrote: »

Nothing as life threatening interesting as some of you here .. Decided to leave home at a strange time of 8:45 ... never again ... Mommies & Daddies dropping kids to school have full control of the roads, cycle lanes & foot paths.

In other words full control of everything, except the cars.:rolleyes:

Thats one of the reasons I leave before 7:45. Almost no school run traffic at that time.

unionman

Raam wrote: »

I banged on the window of a car which did similar to me. The person driving it accused me of criminal damage.

Exchanges like that can shake you up, but you get over them swiftly enough.

Invariably I think of a really very clever, reasonable and floor wiping remark for the offending motorist on the way home. Fat lot of use it is to me then...:o

Raam

unionman wrote: »

Invariably I think of a really very clever, reasonable and floor wiping remark for the offending motorist on the way home. Fat lot of use it is to me then...:o

All I could think of at the time was, "No.... no I didn't" as I shook my head slowly and smiled at him.

dub_skav

WicklowRacer wrote: »

Same this morning, coming from Sandyford Road down towards the Beacon Hotel, wanker turns left across the cycle lane. I jam on, hit the car on the LHS. He winds down the window, calls me a "big thick" and can't I see the road? I call him a c**t (in front of his kids, sorry about that) and off we go...

That beacon junction is a death trap in all directions. I cycle home in the evenings and cycle past the front door of the Beacon Hotel, the (now famous) cycle lane should have right of way over turning traffic, but the cars just blaze on by.
At least I know it now so take that junction extremely carefully, god help a cyclist who doesn't know the junction and assumes cars will know to yield.

Chips Lovell

unionman wrote: »

Invariably I think of a really very clever, reasonable and floor wiping remark for the offending motorist on the way home. Fat lot of use it is to me then...:o

I think you're selling yourself short. Your "rear ending" riposte was a pretty good one.

unionman

el tonto wrote: »

I think you're selling yourself short. Your "rear ending" riposte was a pretty good one.

Ah yes, 'Dinner and a Movie', a useful one. Well, the first time I thought of it was on the way home from a rear end moment which left me a bit stunned. Now I have it ready as an instinctive response, it has come in handy a few times. To the annoyance of one motorist, it made his passenger seat partner (wife presumably) laugh out loud.

I could use a few more like that one.

tomcollins97

WicklowRacer wrote: »

Same this morning, coming from Sandyford Road down towards the Beacon Hotel, wanker turns left across the cycle lane. I jam on, hit the car on the LHS. He winds down the window, calls me a "big thick" and can't I see the road? I call him a c**t (in front of his kids, sorry about that) and off we go...

Ever heard of not overtaking on the inside? Maybe this should apply to cyclist also. Car's are no allowed to do this so drives don't expect anythign to ther left. Maybe if you wait your turn in the queue of traffic & don't cycle right up the front at the lights this won't be a problem?

DirkVoodoo

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Ever heard of not overtaking on the inside? Maybe this should apply to cyclist also. Car's are no allowed to do this so drives don't expect anythign to ther left. Maybe if you wait your turn in the queue of traffic & don't cycle right up the front at the lights this won't be a problem?

He was in a cycle lane. Its not undertaking in that case.

tunney

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Ever heard of not overtaking on the inside? Maybe this should apply to cyclist also. Car's are no allowed to do this so drives don't expect anythign to ther left. Maybe if you wait your turn in the queue of traffic & don't cycle right up the front at the lights this won't be a problem?

Surprised you didn't mention road tax there. A very blinkered "cyclists are unimportant" viewpoint. A cycle lane is another lane of traffic, motorists can turn left across a lane of traffic when it is not safe to do so.

TinyExplosions

tunney wrote: »

Surprised you didn't mention road tax turning me on there. A very blinkered "cyclists are unimportant" viewpoint. A cycle lane is another lane of traffic, motorists can turn left across a lane of traffic when it is not safe to do so.

Fixed as per boards rules

tomcollins97

tunney wrote: »

Surprised you didn't mention road tax there. A very blinkered "cyclists are unimportant" viewpoint. A cycle lane is another lane of traffic, motorists can turn left across a lane of traffic when it is not safe to do so.

If a motorist does this they are breaking the law - if a cyclist does it nothing happens. A bit like when cyclists run red lights and cycle with no lights..

TinyExplosions

tomcollins97 wrote: »

If a motorist does this they are breaking the law - if a cyclist does it nothing happens. A bit like when cyclists run red lights and cycle with no lights..

If there's two lanes of traffic, the inside lane is allowed to 'undertake' if it's moving. The cycle lane is another lane of traffic, therefore it's allowed and perfectly legal.

kenmc

xactly. otherwise on a dual carriageway the inside lane would have to remain in place until the entire outside lane was empty.

crisco10

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Ever heard of not overtaking on the inside? Maybe this should apply to cyclist also. Car's are no allowed to do this so drives don't expect anythign to ther left. Maybe if you wait your turn in the queue of traffic & don't cycle right up the front at the lights this won't be a problem?

Undertaking is allowed in slow moving traffic. (Define slow? but thats a whole other argument). Thats what is says in the ROR!

Unionman, what are these retorts? I need something to boost my armoury other than "emmm...you can't emm do that" That doesnt really have an impact so to speak...

NeilMcEoigheann

i had a nearly got squished moment last week and if you think 4x4 is bad try dublin bus.

WicklowRacer

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Ever heard of not overtaking on the inside? Maybe this should apply to cyclist also. Car's are no allowed to do this so drives don't expect anythign to ther left. Maybe if you wait your turn in the queue of traffic & don't cycle right up the front at the lights this won't be a problem?

Yes I have heard of it. But its completely irrelevant in this case because the car overtook me and then turned left across the cycle lane immediately, causing me to collide with the passenger side of the car.

DirkVoodoo

its ok Wicklow, after reading a few of his posts I think it is clear he is either hitting keys at random or doesnt know what he is talking about.

unionman

crisco10 wrote: »

Unionman, what are these retorts? I need something to boost my armoury other than "emmm...you can't emm do that" That doesnt really have an impact so to speak...

When you find yourself in a dangerously close to the back wheel situation, near rearending or general tailgate intimidation, my weapon of choice is 'Hey, if you want to rear-end me it's dinner and a movie minimum'. You can vary this, for example, 'Taking me from behind? The very least I'd expect is dinner and a movie first!'...that kind of thing.

The potential downside is that you reinforce stereotypes about cyclists and sexual orientation, but hey, that's part of the fun!

Ghost Rider

I'd estimate that the average car weighs 80 times more than the average bike and occupies about 20 times the amount of space. It also has the power to travel several times faster. So how could the risk of harm incurred by a cyclist breaking a red light be comparable to that of a driver?

It doesn't take a statistician to observe the contrast in risk between a bike and a car, but to find a comparison might well take a lawyer...

tomcollins97 wrote: »

If a motorist does this they are breaking the law - if a cyclist does it nothing happens. A bit like when cyclists run red lights and cycle with no lights..

Civilian_Target

Good to hear your OK camroc. Had one of those moments on Friday with a Puegot 306. I really shocked myself with how abusive I was to him when I caught up.... that's what nerves will do!

Every cyclist takes a tumble, it's only a matter of time. Haven't had one in a couple of years now... but of all of them I can only think of one I could have avoided.

ChipPanBuddha

tomcollins97 wrote: »

If a motorist does this they are breaking the law

So essentially, a motorist who doesn't yield to a vehicle in an outer lane who wishes to cut them up in order to take an exit on the left is breaking the law.:eek:

kenmc

no

ChipPanBuddha

Serves me right for attempting to apply the logic of tomcollins97.

blanco

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Ever heard of not overtaking on the inside? Maybe this should apply to cyclist also. Cars are not allowed to do this so drivers don't expect anything to their left. Maybe if you wait your turn in the queue of traffic & don't cycle right up the front at the lights this won't be a problem?

Don't worry Tom, I fixed that for you. Wouldn't want you looking like a cupid stunt