Minor vandalism of illegally parked cars?

eightyfish

I get very annoyed at cars parked in solid-line cycle lanes, 4x4s parked with their wheels in cycle lanes, vans parked in such a way that you're forced to stop and mount the path on foot to get around them etc.

I've though many times about vandalising them in minor ways - sticking stickers on the windscreen that you have to wash with hot water to remove, pulling back wing mirrors, or even scratching the paintwork with my brake handle when they leave no room for a bike to pass.

While I have dreamt of undertaking such revenge, especially for really ignorantly/dangerously/illegally parked cars, I've never actually brought myself to do it.

I was wondering if anyone else has?

petethedrummer

How many posts before the inevitable happens? I'll go for 9. Not including guess posts.

Morgan

eightyfish wrote: »

I get very annoyed at cars parked in solid-line cycle lanes, 4x4s parked with their wheels in cycle lanes, vans parked in such a way that you're forced to stop and mount the path on foot to get around them etc.

Get a grip. Just cycle on the road.

kenmc

In the past I've considered printing out official looking stickers with the dublin crest on it and sticking them to windscreens or windows, but never bothered, mainly cos I'm far too lazy - by the time I get to where I'm going I'm not longer pis.sed off enough to care.

Trojan

Think about it, yes. Do it, no.

Chips Lovell

Countdown to TimAllen intervention in 5..4...3...

amjon

eightyfish wrote: »

I get very annoyed at cars parked in solid-line cycle lanes, 4x4s parked with their wheels in cycle lanes, vans parked in such a way that you're forced to stop and mount the path on foot to get around them etc.

I've though many times about vandalising them in minor ways - sticking stickers on the windscreen that you have to wash with hot water to remove, pulling back wing mirrors, or even scratching the paintwork with my brake handle when they leave no room for a bike to pass.

While I have dreamt of undertaking such revenge, especially for really ignorantly/dangerously/illegally parked cars, I've never actually brought myself to do it.

I was wondering if anyone else has?

This is complete and utter knacker talk, you should be ashamed of yourself.

ROK ON

If I gave in to every act that p**sed me off, i would be dead from bitterness a long long time ago.

Let it go and get on with your life.

humbert

I've been tempted too but I'm not going to do it. The problem is that the Gardai don't do anything about it.

Those little moped riding bastards at 4 Star Ranelagh that use it as a parking lot really annoy me.

Lumen

Criminal damage is a crime. Crime does not pay. Just ask Tim.

Chips Lovell

If everyone responded with acts of violence to minor irritations, we'd live in a very interesting society.

Anyway, as Morgan says, just cycle on the road.

snubbleste

Take photos, forward them along with a strongly worded letter to the garda superintendent for the area that an garda siochana are failing in their duty of care towards traffic (including cyclists) by failing to remove vehicles deliberately obstructing or restricting movement.

eightyfish

snubbleste wrote: »

Take photos, forward them along with a strongly worded letter to the garda superintendent for the area

This would probably be a more constructive approach indeed.

Trojan wrote: »

Think about it, yes. Do it, no.

Think about it, grin, cycle on. I have seen one cyclist doing it though.

amjon wrote: »

This is complete and utter knacker talk, you should be ashamed of yourself.

humbert

el tonto wrote: »

Anyway, as Morgan says, just cycle on the road.

Obviously that's the only alternative but as I'm sure you know it's often less than trivial to veer out into a fast moving stream of traffic to go around an obstacle like that.

eightyfish

humbert wrote: »

Obviously that's the only alternative but as I'm sure you know it's often less than trivial to veer out into a fast moving stream of traffic to go around an obstacle like that.

Or slow moving/static traffic during rush hour. Big fat 4x4 in cycle lane. Nowhere to go but left onto the path, on foot.

(Take-the-road-solution used most of the time however. It's when this is not an option and I have to stop and go out of my way to get around the obstacle that I get annoyed.)

petethedrummer

eightyfish wrote: »

I've thought many times about vandalising

While I have dreamt of undertaking such revenge, especially for really ignorantly/dangerously/illegally parked cars, I've never actually brought myself to do it.

Just in case anyone misread.

seamus

You can bang on the side of the vehicle/window with the palm of your hand. Scares the bejaysus out of some people. Use with caution though, and don't waste your time doing it when there's no-one sitting in the thing.

Also, unless you're willing to stop and explain what they're doing wrong, this will just make Tim the driver hate cyclists even more.

eightyfish

seamus wrote: »

and don't waste your time doing it when there's no-one sitting in the thing.

*LOL*
Yes, it doesn't work with parked cars.

blue chuzzle

did everyone here know that almost all cycle lanes are only cycle lanes during rush hour and have times like parking in the city centre?

this annoys me enough to bash stuff. cars are allowed to ignore cycle lanes only when they dont need to?

blorg

Call the clampers, they are happy to get tips on where they can go and whip up some easy revenue. Seriously.

Diarmuid

blorg wrote: »

Call the clampers, they are happy to get tips on where they can go and whip up some easy revenue. Seriously.

What is the point in a clamper? It will only prolong the time the car is stuck in the bike lane. A stiff fine would work far better.

I really don't understand the obsession with clamping in Ireland

Nietzschean

Diarmuid wrote: »

What is the point in a clamper? It will only prolong the time the car is stuck in the bike lane. A stiff fine would work far better.

I really don't understand the obsession with clamping in Ireland

any car illegally parked in a clear way is towed by the clampers though and clamped elsewhere.. cars are normally only clamped on the spot if its an actual parking space they've been in too long...

humbert

Ooh, think this might be a number for the speed dial.

Beasty

blue chuzzle wrote: »

Am I reading these signs correctly - this is a cycle lane from 7am until 7pm, but traffic is allowed to obstruct it by parking in it between 10am and 12noon?

Tea_Bag

well there's always the option of learning to do a bunny hop. nothing major, just big enough to let you hop onto the pavement and back off when there's an asshole parked in the way. you dont even need to slow down, just hop on/off.

Gavin

Hop onto the path ? Pathetic. Just bunnyhop over the car.

blorg

Diarmuid wrote: »

What is the point in a clamper? It will only prolong the time the car is stuck in the bike lane. A stiff fine would work far better.

I really don't understand the obsession with clamping in Ireland

Clamping comes with a fine attached and it will stop them doing it again. They have got quite active clamping cars in the shared parking/bike lane in Ranelagh and I think it has reduced the amount of parking there during the hours of operation of the bike lane (which is morning and evening rush hour only.)

blorg

Beasty wrote: »

Am I reading these signs correctly - this is a cycle lane from 7am until 7pm, but traffic is allowed to obstruct it by parking in it between 10am and 12noon?

That combination of signs means:

- Drivers cannot park in it at all 7-10 and 12-19 as it is a clearway. This status is independent of its status as a cycle track.
- Between 10-12 drivers can park in it but only if loading/unloading their vehicle and there is no alternative parking. They cannot stay for longer than 30 minutes (as it is a non-mandatory cycle track during this time but not a clearway.)
- Outside these times drivers can park in it freely (as it is not a cycle track at all outside 7-19.)

Note that were it not for the clearway sign and there were just the cycle track sign the 10-12 status loading/unloading/30 mins allowed would apply to the track 7-19 as it is a non-mandatory track (dotted line.)

seanybiker

go to http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com and print out some of the leaflets. I put em on a few cars for the laugh once or twice.

Chips Lovell

humbert wrote: »

Obviously that's the only alternative but as I'm sure you know it's often less than trivial to veer out into a fast moving stream of traffic to go around an obstacle like that.

It's pretty straightforward. Look over you shoulder, check that the way is clear, signal, then move out into the lane. I do it every day.

monument

blue chuzzle wrote: »

The caption for this photograph: "There was a garda beside me when I was taking this photo. He moved out of my way. It nearly looked as if it was waiting for the driver of the van".

el tonto wrote: »

It's pretty straightforward. Look over you shoulder, check that the way is clear, signal, then move out into the lane. I do it every day.

+1

And those who are new to this please pass like this...

\
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/
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^

Start pulling out a good distance away from the parked car. Do not cycle right up to the back of the car or van and try to pull out at a weird and dangerous angle.

blorg

monument wrote: »

And those who are new to this please pass like this...

\
.|
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/
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^

Start pulling out a good distance away from the parked car. Do not cycle right up to the back of the car or van and try to pull out at a weird and dangerous angle.

Indeed, and if there are cars parked at intervals just stay out of it entirely, as if there was a continuous line of cars- it is dangerous to swing in and out... you need to choose a line that you can keep in a straight direction.

dub50

Had this problem on my commute of approx 10 cars parking in the cycle lane at Prospect Hill apts on the Finglas Road, It can be a dangerous enough stretch of road with cars speeding up the bus Lane in the evening so the cycle lane is quite important here.

Anyway reported it to the guards in Finglas station twice, to no avail, actually stopped a garda car one evening at the cycle lane pointing it out to them, they told me it was nothing to do with them, wrote to local councillors who done the usual nothing, but one wrote back and this is a good bit enclosing a letter from a Guard in Finglas Station who patrols on bicycle and he stated in the letter how he finds it very frustrating that all these cars park in this stretch of cycle lane and he expressed his concerns about safety on this stretch of road.

In the end, photographed offending vehicles in the cycle lane and sent on to Dublin City Council, they wrote back to say the clampers would watch it and two days later on the way home from work all vehicles in the cycle lane were clamped, the lane has been clear since then, 12 months back, so the clampers are defintely worth contacting.

damomeasa

i syampathize with your feelings.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

seanybiker wrote: »

go to http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com and print out some of the leaflets. I put em on a few cars for the laugh once or twice.

While these notices do convey the desired message, they don't really carry much weight.

On a recent commute I found the below article discarded in a gutter:


This, it seems, is how the gardai notify someone who is to be fined for parking illegally. I can only imagine how annoying it would be, as a driver, to realise I may be fined.

I can post a high quality scan later...in case the photo isn't very clear and legible:pac:.

po0k

Parking on cycle lanes is a bastard, but there are going to be a lot of people getting bikes and cycling around for whom cycling in Dubllin is a new experience ie. myself
Mistakes will be made, I just hope none of them are fatal.

I currently walk, drive and use the bus in Dublin, and eyeing up bikes for the BikeToWork scheme.
I am sometimes amazed by all modes of road use and the amount of silly stuff that happens, mostly down to population and activity.

The pace of cyclists particularly.

When I lived in Galway I walked, cycled and learnt to drive around the city in that order.
When I cycled, (pre-car) there was regularly no place to go other than join the flow of cars or temporarily use the footpath (dismounting if it wasn't clear).
Often it was easier to just act like another vehicle and own the section of road I was on when traffic was moving.
I liked cycling fairly fast so I easily kept pace or outran traffic. Great fun, had a sort of 'running with the bulls' element.
Tried to be concious of my space and the conditions, turning my head to know what was behind me*, what was coming up, what could be coming, watching for indicators when waiting at traffic lights etc.
I never got hooted at while doing this, so I'm going to assume I didn't piss off any drivers too much.
I didn't take the piss either, keeping to one side or the other as appropriate, getting out of the way when it was practical.
Being well lit up helped alot, it's good to see the luminous vests everywhere over here.

It had the distinct advantage of making who ever is behind you fully aware of your presence.
I may be wrong, but I believe the rules of the road treat cyclists as vehicles in some regard. Obviously, the above couldn't really apply outside of Dublin's city centre, but inside it, I see an awful lot people who should make use of gears.

Maybe I'm missing something, like hearing of or seeing enough people getting mashed, but:
Why don't most cyclists I see vary their speed to accommodate bus activity in order to keep themselves moving
ie. if it's pulling in ahead of you slow down, allow it to pass, look behind you switch behind it to the outside and over take it like a car would
or
if it's slowing down/crawling waiting for you to pass by the busstop, accelerate, drop a gear if you need to and let it pull in.

Or is it a "rabbit-in-headlights" effect, where you just keep her nice and steady and let the big noisy metal monster grow tired and leave you alone?

I've yet to have a go on a fixy.
Bikes need brake lights.

*Bus or Micra? - think braking distance in the rain on a dark, miserable November evening

Morlar

eightyfish wrote: »

I get very annoyed at cars parked in solid-line cycle lanes, ...
I've though many times about vandalising them i... even scratching the paintwork with my brake handle

If you do that then you deserve whatever happens if you get caught doing it to the wrong persons car. Some motorists are arseholes, just as some cyclists are too. Get over it.

cyclopath2001

Morgan wrote: »

Get a grip. Just cycle on the road.

Keeping the length of a car door between you and the illegally parked cars and inducating, keeping your right arm fully extended, indicating, for whole manouvre. Don't worry about the line of cars stuck behind you, they'll understand.

blorg

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Keeping the length of a car door between you and the illegally parked cars and inducating, keeping your right arm fully extended, indicating, for whole manouvre. Don't worry about the line of cars stuck behind you, they'll understand.

More often than not following cars actually don't give out about it, if someone does just ignore them give them a friendly wave, or indeed point to the car parked in the cycle lane... Staying entirely out of a cycle lane with parked cars in it is the correct and safe thing to do (leaving as you say a door length to avoid being doored.)

SerialComplaint

Sean_K wrote: »

While these notices do convey the desired message, they don't really carry much weight.

On a recent commute I found the below article discarded in a gutter:


This, it seems, is how the gardai notify someone who is to be fined for parking illegally. I can only imagine how annoying it would be, as a driver, to realise I may be fined.

I can post a high quality scan later...in case the photo isn't very clear and legible:pac:.

Is this an official notice from a Garda, or is somebody attempting to warn off illegal parkers?

eightyfish

Morlar wrote: »

If you do that then you deserve whatever happens if you get caught doing it to the wrong persons car. Some motorists are arseholes, just as some cyclists are too. Get over it.

I would never do that, I said I'd thought about it. So I started a thread about it. I have also thought about sleeping with Christina Ricci but there's no chance of that happening either.

seamus

po0k wrote: »

I may be wrong, but I believe the rules of the road treat cyclists as vehicles in some regard. Obviously, the above couldn't really apply outside of Dublin's city centre, but inside it, I see an awful lot people who should make use of gears.

You're quite right pook - the ROTR and the legislation both consider bikes to be vehicles in the true sense of the word. The only difference really is that you can dismount and relocate them without having to "drive" them to the new place.
Gearing is a funny thing. I'm convinced that a lot of people learn to ride on a gearless bike as a child, maybe upgrade to something with a couple of gears as a young teenager, but then pack it in when they hit 15/16/17 and they don't understand gears beyond, "fiddle with them until it's easier to cycle".

I put my fiance on an MTB a few weeks back and her first comment was, "Why are there two gear thingies?". The bike she got when she was 10 and the only one she ever used only has five gears. So you'll have tonnes of people returning to cycling/commuting who've never had more than 5 or 6 gears or who've just plain forgotten how to use them and choose to churn along at the same gear rather than "risk" the chain coming off by changing gears. Yes, I heard that one too - "You should avoid changing gears because this makes the chain come off".

Or is it a "rabbit-in-headlights" effect, where you just keep her nice and steady and let the big noisy metal monster grow tired and leave you alone?

I don't think people are scared of the traffic, but they're bull-headed and, "I'll go as fast as I like, stop pressuring me". The same people exist in cars too. These are the guys that stop in the middle of the road when they're turning right or drive up the arse of the car in front of them, preventing you from overtaking.

kenmc

Sean_K wrote: »

While these notices do convey the desired message, they don't really carry much weight.

On a recent commute I found the below article discarded in a gutter:


This, it seems, is how the gardai notify someone who is to be fined for parking illegally. I can only imagine how annoying it would be, as a driver, to realise I may be fined.

I can post a high quality scan later...in case the photo isn't very clear and legible:pac:.

I likes it..... now where did I put photoshop? :pac:

rubadub

el tonto wrote: »

Countdown to TimAllen intervention in 5..4...3...

he must be off looking up new words & phrases in his spanking new thesaurus- "what-what old boy, fetch my top hat & monocle!"

eightyfish wrote: »

I've though many times about vandalising them in minor ways - sticking stickers on the windscreen that you have to wash with hot water to remove, pulling back wing mirrors, or even scratching the paintwork with my brake handle when they leave no room for a bike to pass.

They did the stickers in UCD which is a good non-damaging deterrent. There would be other "non vandalising" deterents, like locking an old banger of a bike to the car.

There is a stretch in sandyford opposite the beacon near a londis with a cycletrack (might be a cycleway though can't remember) and I actually think people do think it is parking spaces. Thing is sandyford is full of traffic wardens but I think they are only concerned with non payment of parking fees.

blorg

rubadub wrote: »

There is a stretch in sandyford opposite the beacon near a londis with a cycletrack (might be a cycleway though can't remember) and I actually think people do think it is parking spaces. Thing is sandyford is full of traffic wardens but I think they are only concerned with non payment of parking fees.

People don't think it is parking spaces, they just don't care.

eightyfish

rubadub wrote: »

There is a stretch in sandyford opposite the beacon near a londis with a cycletrack (might be a cycleway though can't remember) and I actually think people do think it is parking spaces.

This is the case also on Marrowbone Lane, outside the Council building of all places. Cycle lane looses its orange paint and then runs past building. Every day lots of cars parked there.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

SerialComplaint wrote: »

Is this an official notice from a Garda, or is somebody attempting to warn off illegal parkers?

I had suspected the latter as well, but your guess is as good as mine.

kenmc

Sean_K wrote: »

I had suspected the latter as well, but your guess is as good as mine.

Yeah, methinks if it was an actual cop they would just leave a parking fine, not a note about a parking fine. Unless of course the dog ate their finebook.

Hagar

When was the last time you heard a motorist say I'm going to damage the next bicycle I see chained up in the wrong place?
OP you should visit a professional, your criminal anti-social tendencies indicate that you may need anger management therapy.

kenmc

Hagar wrote: »

When was the last time you heard a motorist say I'm going to damage the next bicycle I see chained up in the wrong place?

It's usually "I'm going to damage the next cyclist I don't see " - happens pretty much every day..

eightyfish

Hagar wrote: »

When was the last time you heard a motorist say I'm going to damage the next bicycle I see chained up in the wrong place?
OP you should visit a professional, your criminal anti-social tendencies indicate that you may need anger management therapy.

The groundskeepers at DIT say it all the time!

Since when is possible to be guilty of a thought crime? I've never done anything criminal in my life. (Well, okay, I stole a Kinder egg from my local shop when I was six, but that's it.)