Traffic Target Practice

eightyfish

One the bike a few days ago I got hit with a ball thrown by some scumbags using the traffic for target practice. There's nothing that shocks the system quite like something hitting you when you're on a busy four-lane road. First you're shocked, then you get very angry, then you feel rather silly, and by the time this all happens you're two hundred meters down the road.

Next time, I was thinking, I'll take the ball.

This happen to anyone else?

zzzzzzzz

eightyfish wrote: »

One the bike a few days ago I got hit with a ball thrown by some scumbags using the traffic for target practice. There's nothing that shocks the system quite like something hitting you when you're on a busy four-lane road. First you're shocked, then you get very angry, then you feel rather silly, and by the time this all happens you're two hundred meters down the road.

Next time, I was thinking, I'll take their balls.

This happen to anyone else?

FYP

Raam

A bird flew into the side of my head once.
Had a banger thrown at me.
Had water thrown at me. They missed, hah!
And the other night was slapped on the back of the head.

Chips Lovell

I had a five year old boy step out on the road and swing a plank of wood at me just yards from my house last night.

eightyfish

el tonto wrote: »

I had a five year old boy step out on the road and swing a plank of wood at me just yards from my house last night.

Nice.

unionman

el tonto wrote: »

I had a five year old boy step out on the road and swing a plank of wood at me just yards from my house last night.

That'd never happen in Inchicore*

*It would be a ten year old at least, and it would be a metal pipe / brick / sword rather than a plank of wood**

**only jokin':)

blorg

Yes, happens to just about everyone. My girlfriend gets it more than me, they will often pick on someone smaller than them. Generally out of a car window, although your case sounds like it was peds and younger kids? Report it to the gardai, I know of cases they have followed up.

Chips Lovell

unionman wrote: »

That'd never happen in Inchicore*

*It would be a ten year old at least, and it would be a metal pipe / brick / sword rather than a plank of wood**

**only jokin':)

Don't worry, I've seen it all before, so much so that I wasn't even surprised.

Came up the street, saw the kid with the plank, said to myself "bet you he'll take a swing at me" and what do you know...

Gavin

Had water mixed with egg thrown on me. Someone shouted right in my ear. Some kids threw a conker at me and hit me right on the bonce.


Probably would have gotten the same abuse if I was walking by

72hundred

Yoghurt last summer was the first and only to date an object was thrown at me. Home was near by though so I didn't have to put up with the smell for long!

blue chuzzle

the loud shout in the ear is the weapon of choice for the scumbags walking around town (usually there will be 3 of them standing waiting to cross the road and the one standing nearest the road will lean in to roar in your ear)

get a bit further out and then you get kids with stones on the side of the road or spitting from pedestrian overpasses(westside) and then after that your in the clear...


...until your on the way home again.

ChipPanBuddha

Had a Micra full of scumbags roar in my ear as they passed me on the Greystones-Bray Road a few weeks back. Dodgy enough road on the bike as it is without someone trying to startle you and possibly taking a fall. Idiots. Sadly, it's to be expected though.

mikemac

Ah, cycling around Galway during rag week was the prime time for this messing.

Had eggs, empty drink cans and the obligatory roaring all done to me by passing cars.

Of course it was always done on a open road so they could speed off and never in heavy traffic when I could catch up and confront them, hmmm.....

Húrin

back in February snowballs were thrown at me. I liked it.

victorcarrera

I was crapped on yesterday by our feathered friends. So Im taking in the bird feeder for forty days and forty nights.

gzoladz

Had an egg thrown at me, he missed.
4 weeks ago a scumbag was free walking in the middle of Gardiner St and he shouted at me. I didnt know what to expect when I saw him coming soI raised my arm to protect myself and unwillingly I punched him in his shoulder.

Nothing serious, just the hit.

eightyfish

gzoladz wrote: »

Had an egg thrown at me, he missed.
4 weeks ago a scumbag was free walking in the middle of Gardiner St and he shouted at me. I didnt know what to expect when I saw him coming soI raised my arm to protect myself and unwillingly I punched him in his shoulder.

Ha!

vektarman

I've had unintelligible garble shouted at me from passengers in passing cars and vans, not very often thankfully, I can never understand the logic of why people shout out their windows at cyclists, maybe it's some kind of primeval apelike act...I've also had water thrown at me once or twice, at least I hope it was water

Amalgam

More annoying is someone trying to set you up, I was spat at in the center of Dublin, the clattery old Ford the spit came from was packed with five rough looking men.

I just kept cycling. It affected me a fair bit for the rest of the day. Gutted and angry.

SerialComplaint

ChipPanBuddha wrote: »

Had a Micra full of scumbags roar in my ear as they passed me on the Greystones-Bray Road a few weeks back. Dodgy enough road on the bike as it is without someone trying to startle you and possibly taking a fall. Idiots. Sadly, it's to be expected though.

mikemac wrote: »

Ah, cycling around Galway during rag week was the prime time for this messing.

Had eggs, empty drink cans and the obligatory roaring all done to me by passing cars.

Of course it was always done on a open road so they could speed off and never in heavy traffic when I could catch up and confront them, hmmm.....

vektarman wrote: »

I've had unintelligible garble shouted at me from passengers in passing cars and vans, not very often thankfully, I can never understand the logic of why people shout out their windows at cyclists, maybe it's some kind of primeval apelike act...I've also had water thrown at me once or twice, at least I hope it was water

You really have to start noting registration numbers and reporting these cases to the Gardai. Your mobile phone probably has a 'voice recorder' facility, so it will just take a second to make a note of the registration/colour/make of the car, and you can then report it to the Traffic Watch line 1890-205805. You should then get a callback from the local Gardai and you can decide how to handle it. You might need to drop into the station and give a statement. The registered owner of the car (who will not necessarily be the driver, it might well be the tough guy driver's mammy) will then get a visit from a uniformed guard, which just might cool the tough guy's jets a little.

**Timbuk2**

Sounds good, SerialComplaint.

But I wonder - do the Gardaí take something like that seriously? I know they should, as it is potentially very dangerous what some people do to cyclists and all, but the Gardaí are sort of infamous for having their own ideas of what is worth their time and what isn't.

Has anyone ever had a good response from the gardaí when complaining about an incident like this? (I'm not being doubtful or contradictory, I'm genuinely curious as I witnessed disgraceful abuse yesterday)

SerialComplaint wrote: »

You really have to start noting registration numbers and reporting these cases to the Gardai. Your mobile phone probably has a 'voice recorder' facility, so it will just take a second to make a note of the registration/colour/make of the car, and you can then report it to the Traffic Watch line 1890-205805. You should then get a callback from the local Gardai and you can decide how to handle it. You might need to drop into the station and give a statement. The registered owner of the car (who will not necessarily be the driver, it might well be the tough guy driver's mammy) will then get a visit from a uniformed guard, which just might cool the tough guy's jets a little.

Caroline_ie

victorcarrera wrote: »

I was crapped on yesterday by our feathered friends.

That happenned to me last weekend ... on my right shoulder. The b*stard really went for it too, it actually hurt when it hit me.

ROK ON

Caroline_ie wrote: »

That happenned to me last weekend ... on my right shoulder. The b*stard really went for it too, it actually hurt when it hit me.

Supposed to be good luck, you know.
(Do the lotto).

zzzzzzzz

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Sounds good, SerialComplaint.

But I wonder - do the Gardaí take something like that seriously? I know they should, as it is potentially very dangerous what some people do to cyclists and all, but the Gardaí are sort of infamous for having their own ideas of what is worth their time and what isn't.

Has anyone ever had a good response from the gardaí when complaining about an incident like this? (I'm not being doubtful or contradictory, I'm genuinely curious as I witnessed disgraceful abuse yesterday)

I was very skeptical of what the gardai would & wouldn't take seriously up until a couple of months back.

I was out on a training spin with a friend of mine out around howth. We were on our second lap and we'd just passed by the grave yard. There's a slight downhill there so we were tipping along at a decent pace on a fairly wide road - I was a couple of feet off the back of my mate's wheel.

An oil truck passed me by - gave me plenty of space and then proceeded to pull in on top of the other guy. Literally, on top of him! - he was doing some speed and had to hop the curb. Luckily he's over 20 years on the bike and he managed it ok - otherwise he would have been brown bread under the wheels of that truck.

I took off up the road after the truck when it had sunk in what had happened. Noted the company name, and the reg. Couldn't catch him though as there's no traffic lights until you hit the village which was a good distance away. Luckily for him, I think. God knows what would have happened if we'd caught him.

Turned around and got back to my mate - told him the reg so we wouldn't forget it. He was fairly shaken up. We were discussing if it was worthwhile going to the garda station. We'd heard stories of the gardai not following things up because the victim wasn't injured. We were sure that the driver had done it on purpose, so in the end I convinced my mate that we had to report it so we went straight to the station.

The garda on duty seemed to actually give a sh1t, took notes of our story, said she'd follow it up and get back to us. We'd probably have to come in and make a statement at a later date.

Anyway, a week later he heard from the Garda. She'd contacted the company, and contacted the driver. She said she really read him the riot act and he hadn't realised he'd nearly killed someone. He said there was a car coming the other way and he had to pull in earlier than he would have liked. He was very apologetic she said, and seemed genuinely very sorry.

Because of his response, my mate decided not to pursue it any further and I think I would have done the same. The garda said she'd explain to the driver that he's really being let off the hook here and he could have lost his license, etc. etc. had it gone ahead. He'll think twice when he's passing a cyclist again - and that's all we wanted.

Really glad we reported it in the end, and while we may have just been lucky with the garda we got, I think any sort of incident like this on the road that puts a life in danger needs to be reported.

ROK ON

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

I was very skeptical of what the gardai would & wouldn't take seriously up until a couple of months back.

The garda on duty seemed to actually give a sh1t, took notes of our story, said she'd follow it up and get back to us. We'd probably have to come in and make a statement at a later date.

@Aidan: Reality is that it more than likely depends on the Garda involved. Like every other walk of life we will have diligent professional Gardai and lazy irresponsible Gardai. I was knocked off my bike a few months back, and had the misfortune to report to the latter type - in all my follow ups I was made feel like I was interupting his day.
I hope that when these incidents happen (and they will keep happening), that we reprt to the diligent Garda.
However, the events should always be reported and followed up.

short circuit

I had a run in with a Dublin once a couple of months back ... when I caught up with the bus and asked the driver why he had nearly run me into the curb ... he said it was to teach me a lesson.

I got the route no., reg and the time ... and wrote a letter to Dublin bus giving exact details. I was actually surprised to get a letter back saying that the matter had been sent to the garage where the bus was operated from and that the garage manager would take action. Now, it might just be a standard reply to all such complaints ... but did make me feel that Dublin bus considered my life of some worth.

I've heard that in case you feel you aren't being dealt with due regard by the guards, you can demand the guards name and number ... someone posted here that this seems to get them off their arses rather quick.

nitrogen

I haven't lived at home for many years, and then, never cycled in cities. I am actually very shocked at how cyclists have been bullied by kids and teenagers.

Is this just common to Dublin? I lived all over London for years commuting by bicycle and never came across individuals as depicted in the above comments (Excluding dangerous drivers). I now live in Japan where your odds at winning the lottery would be much greater than ever meeting a Japanese youth that would be known as a scumbag back home.

Maybe I'm just lucky never to have experienced Dublin but why does this seem to be common?

Anyway, keep up the good work and report anything.

Gavin

It's not common, it's only happened to me once or twice a year

Húrin

Caroline_ie wrote: »

That happenned to me last weekend ... on my right shoulder. The b*stard really went for it too, it actually hurt when it hit me.

Again, as SerialComplaint said, you've got to start taking make and models and registration numbers, and start making some serial complaints.

Caroline_ie

Húrin wrote: »

Again, as SerialComplaint said, you've got to start taking make and models and registration numbers, and start making some serial complaints.

i think the make was seagull, not quite sure i got the year right tho :P

SerialComplaint

Caroline_ie wrote: »

i think the make was seagull, not quite sure i got the year right tho :P

Could you pick him out of a line-up? Did you keep a sample for DNA testing?

SerialComplaint

SerialComplaint wrote: »

Could you pick him out of a line-up? Did you keep a sample for DNA testing?

Don't worry about it. I've got an informer on the inside who will rat him out. He's my stool pigeon.

cosmic

ah yes, the old shout in the ear is a pretty frequent one. As is the odd scumbag who pretends to run out and push you off your bike - hilarious.

Other than that, I had an egg thrown at me one night a few years ago. A half empty water bottle with the lid off was another not so nice one. Oh, and a snowball in February - that was the worst, because the roads were so ridiculously icy that it was dodgy enough cycling anyway, let alone while being used as snowball target practice. Just around the corner from the snowball scumbags though, there were two Gardai walking so I told on the little sh*ts and the Gardai went round to them!

Ah yes, as if stupid drivers hitting you because they don't look when they turn, or random pedestrians stepping onto the road without looking (because apparently the bike lane doesn't count) weren't enough to be worrying about!