Scary

Found this on youtube. Scariest close call video I've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y5RZMAxsjg

anoble66

holy crap...no wonder he was screaming ....very close

Danbo!

As much as i'd like to say i'd have gone after your man and hoped to catch him in traffic, I've had close calls (none that close) and have been left swearing and cursing in shock too. Jesus though, that was something else!

chakattack

I'm scared just watching that!

I've had the similar but it was a micra not an artic! Anyone here use a helmet cam for situations like this?

jwshooter

close ,if i was coming to a round about and 40 tons was just on it i would air to the side of caution.


drive offensively ,cycle like your barack obama in coon county.

jetsonx

The cyclist in question approached this roundabout with way too
much speed.

Other road users, whether motorists or cyclists, are unpredictable at the best
of times. As the other poster has said you always err on the side of caution, this cyclist did not.

Doctor Bob

It's pretty amazing that he was smart enough to call out the reg. number.

As for chasing down the HGV, I'm having palpitations just sitting here in my PJs.

Danbo!

jetsonx wrote: »

The cyclist in question approached this roundabout with way too
much speed.

Have to agree with this, but it seems the HGV driver did too. A lot of drivers look to their right but dont see anything. I remember helping my sister learn to drive and I told her to look left. As she looked forward again I asked what did she see, and she couldnt tell me. Basically, a lot of drivers look, if they dont see a car or headlights, its clear to go. Got burnt myself by someone doing this and took a nasty hit from a car pulling out of an estate. Her whole bonnet covered in 15 stone of cyclist

Doctor Bob wrote: »

It's pretty amazing that he was smart enough to call out the reg. number.

He's been on the news talking about how he shames drivers by uploading videos of incidents on the net, so i'd say he's well used to filming from an evidence point of view.

Looking at this guys youtube channel, he has hundreds of videos of accidents, near misses, confrontations with drivers etc.. If someone told me they got involved in that much **** while cycling to work I'd tell them to change their cycling style.

Cant make my mind up about this guy however. I've cycled 100k a week for 6 years in dublin at this stage, and have had 1 hit, a good few near misses, but not enough to warrant hours of video footage. From his videos he has some strange habits. Taking primary position a lot when it appears unnecessary, and always seems to wait amongst groups of cars 2 or 3 car-lengths from traffic lights, after filtering past loads of cars.

Captain Havoc

If you look at the video he climpses left so he should have been aware of the lorry and paid more attention to his intentions. I know he had the right of way but I agree with the sentiment that he should have been more cautious entering the roundabout. When two cars colide you can find someone who's at fault and insurance will be paid, with cyclist vs motorised vehicle the cyclist is so vulerable that it really is paramount that we take into account the stupidity and ignorance of others. Most people are grand but it only takes one clown.

BostonB

The HGV should be done for dangerous driving. The cyclist took for granted he'd be given right of way. He only glanced at ithe HGV, when he should kept an eye on it continously.

high horse

He never once cycled in the cycle lane! :rolleyes:

IM0

yeah in the video you can see the HGV on the roundabout before the cyclist gets there, or should I say the HGV is past the point of no return when he approaches the roundabout, cyclist should have pulled up sooner, no use being right and dead

Lumen

Wearing a video camera to record incidents dramatically increases your chances of being in one.

Why else would you bother?

SerialComplaint

I love the sound effects on his vids, particularly the classy Glawegian swearing.

mmclo

Stee wrote: »

Looking at this guys youtube channel, he has hundreds of videos of accidents, near misses, confrontations with drivers etc.. If someone told me they got involved in that much **** while cycling to work I'd tell them to change their cycling style.

I got that impression too, there's being in the right technically and there's showboating about it. Look at the white van clip, worst the van driver did was dwadle behind him, he unleashes a torrent of abuse when the van passes him. The Van brakes which was wrong but somehow I didn't feel a lot of sympathy.

...there's a huge amount there...check out the clyde cycling tunnel!!

BluePlanet

me@ucd wrote: »

yeah in the video you can see the HGV on the roundabout before the cyclist gets there, or should I say the HGV is past the point of no return when he approaches the roundabout, cyclist should have pulled up sooner, no use being right and dead

I disagree.
At 28 seconds you can see the cyclist is completely on the roundabout, the HGV is not.
I'd wager that this is a common accident spot on this roundabout, the layout is poor. 2 roads nearly parellel to one another entering in fairly close proximity.

The vehicle should always yield to traffic coming from the right.
Sorry but there's no excuses for the HGV for not observing traffic (bike) coming from his right.

Lumen

BluePlanet wrote: »

The vehicle should always yield to traffic coming from the right. Sorry but there's no excuses for the HGV for not observing traffic (bike) coming from his right.

That's not the point. The HGV is unarguably wrong, but the incident looked to be avoidable by a cyclist employing proper observation and anticipation. He is either deliberately cycling to provoke incidents, or is just plain incompetent.

Good cycling/driving is about anticipating and compensating for the mistakes of others.

I looked at a couple of his other videos. His cycling skills are not impressive.

Doctor Bob

Stee wrote: »

He's been on the news talking about how he shames drivers by uploading videos of incidents on the net, so i'd say he's well used to filming from an evidence point of view.

Looking at this guys youtube channel, he has hundreds of videos of accidents, near misses, confrontations with drivers etc.. If someone told me they got involved in that much **** while cycling to work I'd tell them to change their cycling style.

Cant make my mind up about this guy however. I've cycled 100k a week for 6 years in dublin at this stage, and have had 1 hit, a good few near misses, but not enough to warrant hours of video footage. From his videos he has some strange habits. Taking primary position a lot when it appears unnecessary, and always seems to wait amongst groups of cars 2 or 3 car-lengths from traffic lights, after filtering past loads of cars.

I'd have to agree with this. He does seem to go out of his way to defend his rights, and even to go out of his way to get into situations where he has the chance of defending his rights, where the obvious course of action would simply be to take a deep breath and let it go.

That's not to excuse the behaviour of the HGV driver, btw, which was horrendous by any standard.

It's not a sentiment I often espouse, but in this case Stanley Baldwin's line seems quite apt: I would rather be an opportunist and float than go to the bottom with my principles around my neck.

Muller_1

Not sure what city he's riding in but Dublin looks a lot safer.

blorg

Muller_1 wrote: »

Not sure what city he's riding in but Dublin looks a lot safer.

Glasgow

Danbo!

Doctor Bob wrote: »

and even to go out of his way to get into situations where he has the chance of defending his rights

His youtube channel would be no fun otherwise

I watched a few more videos of his this morning, this guy actually just irritates me. He cycles in an "I own the road" manner a lot of the time. Im not denying there are a lot of situations there caused by poor driving, but these can be avoided with, as said by another poster above, anticipation and concentration.

dave.obrien

This guy p1sses me off. He's repeatedly taking serious risks with his own life, and endangering others at the same time. I know the retort is going to be "but he had right of way" but he clearly is living to the letter of the law instead of the spirit of it.

The law is designed to engender a mutual respect between road users, regardless of their vehicle, and this guy is an example of one of those road users who does not have the respect for others that they deserve (especially given that they're several tonnes of metal with an enormous amount of momentum).

I know that technically he had right of way, but anyone would be aware of an artic moving onto what was a clear roundabout that close to your entry time. As a cyclist in that case, I would have waited, maybe been a little annoyed at the driver not seeing me, but accepted it. This guy has a whole channel dedicated to all of those times where he has decided that his right supercedes his responsibility to use the road with intelligence and understanding of the physics and foresight of other road users. Does he just cycle around waiting for incidents where he can nearly get himself hospitalised just so he can point out how evil drivers are?

I am a cyclist, and I drive. I believe that drivers should be more aware of cyclists, and exercise the same level of respect towards them as they would every other road user, and sadly this is not the case. Unfortunately, too often cyclists are painted (or paint ourselves) as being good, with motorists being evil. This guy shows that it's a two way street.

Rant over. Calm descending.

Right, who's for cake?

Doctor Bob

I just had some lovely banana bread at coffee break, so all is right with the world again.

dave.obrien

Haha! I think I've some brioche downstairs... Wrote that last comment after coming back from a 2 hr spin, how is brioche as post cycle grub?!

BostonB

Sometimes on a bike (or car) its safer to surrender your right of way in order to defuse a potentially dangerous situation. Hes not doing this.

DirkVoodoo

I agree, putting yourself in harm's way so you can upload videos of "irresponsible" driving on youtube is pretty stupid and the guy is going to end up killing himself.

We have all had near misses, they are bad enough when they are genuine mistakes or lack of observation on your own part (dangerous driving is a separate issue), but to try and deliberately put yourself in harm's way is bizzare to say the least.

Esroh

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I agree, putting yourself in harm's way so you can upload videos of "irresponsible" driving on youtube is pretty stupid and the guy is going to end up killing himself.

We have all had near misses, they are bad enough when they are genuine mistakes or lack of observation on your own part (dangerous driving is a separate issue), but to try and deliberately put yourself in harm's way is bizzare to say the least.

Hit the nail on the head here. I reckon he is an attention seeker(as said his Youtube would not get the views if it as about being a passive cyclist). If you were to see this from his actual eye vie as part of a test on what would you do next, 99.99% of people would take it the Artic should be let go.

seamus

Yeah, I'm agreed with Lumen here. It's tough to see from the video because you only catch a glimpse of the front of the truck before the cyclist enters the roundabout, but you can see (and can guess from experience) that well before he even got to the roundabout he should have spotted the truck and been able to tell that the truck was going too fast to intend to stop.

Cycling offensively and cycling assertively are not the same thing. Any assertiveness trainer will tell you that being assertive is not the same as always getting your way. A certain part of it is avoiding confrontation with the complete assholes. Driving offensively, your car gives you some room for error, but cycling offensively you have no room for error. If the other party doesn't back down, you're fncked, as this guy discovered.

projectmayhem

high horse wrote: »

He never once cycled in the cycle lane! :rolleyes:

In fairness, the state of some cycle lanes means it's much, much safer to sit on the road then in the cycle lane.

Lumen wrote: »

That's not the point. The HGV is unarguably wrong, but the incident looked to be avoidable by a cyclist employing proper observation and anticipation. He is either deliberately cycling to provoke incidents, or is just plain incompetent.

Good cycling/driving is about anticipating and compensating for the mistakes of others.

I looked at a couple of his other videos. His cycling skills are not impressive.

+1

Looking at his other videos he's putting himself in compromising scenarios for the sake of YouTube hits. If I came into a roundabout and a HGV was anywhere near it, I'd rather sit there for an extra 2 mins stationary then potentially put myself near the HGV and it's various blind spots.

mmclo

I've only had one or two near misses, and that would be stretching it, in two years back cycling. When I cycled before in college I had several spills...the main difference is I am just far more safety conscious and read up a bit on cycle craft etc.

I could set up a web cam at the first junction inside the phoenix park from Castleknock (towards Ashtown Gate) and I swear 95% of motorists stop to allow cyclists cross...a bit embarrassing as I'm usually in the wrong gear!

The problem with our friend is he's like the boy who cried wolf in that it detracts from the rarer and more serious stuff and also the terrible junction and road designs people have to endure